Tambellup’s Penny Squibb firmly in the frame for next year’s Olympic Games after Hockeyroos selection

Tambellup hockey star Penny Squibb’s selection in the 2021 Hockeyroos squad has firmly put her in the frame for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. The WA defender was thrilled to be named in a new-look 25 player squad last week. Squibb impressed at the recent Hockey Australia Super Camp in Perth to force her way back into the national team, having previously played 10 games and scoring one goal for her country. The 27-year-old said her aim is now to earn a place in the team that will represent Australia at the Olympics Games. “I was pretty surprised and excited when I found out the news,” she said. “It’s been a long year with COVID-19 training at WAIS, so when I got the phone call from Goodas (Hockeyroos coach Paul Gaudoin) it was pretty exciting and surreal. “My dream is definitely to play at the Olympics, it’s been my goal as long as I can remember. “It is the pinnacle of sport, I thought it wasn’t a possibility last year when I wasn’t in the squad but it obviously got postponed. “I would love to add to my 10 caps, we will go into a pre-season now and I will come home to the farm for a bit. “I will give myself all the opportunity I can to get straight into the team but it will be a lot of hard work.” Squibb was one of four WA players to be selected in the squad alongside Georgia Wilson, goalkeeper Aleisha Power and Karri Somerville. She will return to the family farm in Tambellup over Christmas and New Year before linking back up with her national teammates for pre-season training. “I will go home for a little bit before joining the team,” she said. “I love going home, as a country kid there is nothing better. “I spent 12 weeks or so on the farm during COVID-19 and I loved it. “There is no team training at the moment, we will do a transition in January. “I will do my own six sessions a week until the start of January, we will then transition into doing a combination of running, gym and skills training each week for the remainder of the pre-season block.” Squibb said Hockey Australia was working hard to try and sort international games out, which has been difficult because of quarantine measures, in the build-up to the Olympics. Gaudoin said the selection panel’s decisions were also made with the 2022 Commonwealth Games and next Olympic cycle in mind. “This squad includes some of the most exciting and talented young players in world hockey and gives us a fantastic blend of youth and experience,” he said. “Penny (Squibb) has also shown marked improvement this year and will push our other defenders to push the bar even higher,” he said.