It is very easy to be gobbled up in the winning and losing of sport.
As fans, we get consumed by margins, favourite players, villains and winning.
We barrack hard, jeer the ones we don’t like and the emotion of games from junior level to the highest echelon of sport consumes us.
At the recent Hockey Australia Under 14 National Championships in Brisbane, a moment was captured by a grandparent of two players sharing a special bond and moment that should slam sporting fans in the face and create a wake up to what sport can do for people.
Tasmanian goalkeeper Penny Sanderson and Western Australian full back Zara Braid embraced after the Tasmania v WA Gold game in the middle of the pitch, reminding us that the bonds created through sport are stronger than the scoreline.
Penny and Zara hold a special relationship.
They played together at club level for South Burnie Hockey Club, rep level for the NW Coast in Tasmanian State Championships, outdoor and indoor, and been part of Tasmanian sides, rooming together for the School Sport Australia 12 and Under Hockey Championships in Hobart in 2023. The pair also travelled on a Wanderers tour to Fiji in 2024.
Beyond that, they have been an emotional support for each other as young women experiencing relationships and school and athletes through winning, losing, debuts, disappointments, and injury including season ending hamstrings, concussion and knees.
Their parents encourage the relationship and help the others’ child grow as people and players through barbecues around a firepot, a couple of stubbies and countless hours in the car back and forth from the North West of Tasmania to games, trainings and trials all over the state.
In January 2025, Zara and her family moved to Perth, WA for work and opportunities for the whole family.
The move has paid dividends for Zara’s family and settling into a new lifestyle including finding the support of Fremantle-Cockburn Hockey Club have helped the young defender make her mark in a new state.
The dynamic changed but the friendship endured with both girls committing to trial their guts out for their respective states to ensure they could catch up in October.
The plan worked and the pair got the chance to catch up and compete on a national stage.
The lead in was interesting with both girl telling their parents that, given the opportunity, one was going to beat the other.
For Penny, one on one v Zara meant a full slide and doing her absolute darndest to keep her out. For Zara, it was, “If I get a stroke, I know where it’s going to go.”
Any talk on going easy on the other was duly squashed by parents and mentors of both from South Burnie Hockey Club.
The match itself, WA Gold d Tasmania 4-0 with one shot fired by Zara from a penalty corner. Whether it was a shot on target or looking for a deflection will be debated later but the play ended in a penalty stroke.
Excitedly and nervously, four parents waited to see who would step forward for WA Gold…..
It was not Zara.
Despite the scoreline, and against the odds of trails and injury and more than 13,000km of combined travel to and from the tournament (give or take!) Penny and Zara did achieve the goal they set for themselves 12 months ago when the move was known.
A testament to doing what you need to do if you want something bad enough, like this hug.
Penny told 238 Words, "it gives me another reason to play hockey."
"Even though I love it, and I enjoy it greatly, it gives me a reason to continue doing what I'm doing so I can see Zara and other friends and make new ones on the way."
In Zara's eyes, it was a long awaited chance to see someone who means so much to her.
"I just started sobbing," she said.
"I was crying happy tears.
"It meant so much to finally see her again because she is one of the buddies I know I will have through hockey for the rest of my life.
"Growing up doing hockey with her was easily one of the best things that has happened to me.
"She means a lot to me and I honestly missed her so much."
100 per cent of people who are not playing sport, particularly kids, are not enjoying the camaraderie, relationship building, life lessons and opportunities sport provides.
Hockey is a smaller community compared to cricket and football codes in Australia which allows for mateship, one of the cornerstones of the national ethos, to shine through across state lines.
This hug, above all, proves the good in sport.
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