One of the most capped Black Sticks players in history, Sam Charlton, is seeing her hockey career through fresh eyes.
It wouldn’t have been a shock had Sam Charlton decided to wind up her Black Sticks career a few months ago.
So much has happened in the 251-test defender’s life since the Tokyo Olympics were put on hold for a year.
She found a full-time job she loves, one she never imagined doing: helping residents at a drug and alcohol treatment centre to lead healthier lives.
She now has a husband, marrying Black Sticks veteran Marcus Child in December. (She’s still debating whether she’ll have a new name on her back for this weekend’s North versus South series; her New Zealand team-mates reckon 'Charlton-Child' has a posh ring to it).
In a parallel universe, the couple would have been on their honeymoon in Italy right now.
And the 29-year-old Charlton also has an upgraded knee - undergoing surgery for a split meniscus suffered in a club hockey match last July - and is just coming back to match fitness.
So, when her husband decided not to go to another Olympics - pulling the pin on his own 172-cap career to focus on a new career managing frozen foods for Foodstuffs - Charlton admits she thought about retiring too.
“But I’m pretty stubborn.
“I gave quite a lot to my rehab for my knee, and I don't think I would have done that if I hadn’t intended to keep playing.” A third Olympics – and with that, the chance of winning an elusive medal – kept beckoning.
“I decided I'll give it a go and see what happens. I think last year taught us there's a lot of things you can't control, so you just have to take every opportunity that arises.”
After 11 years in the side, it's put a fresh spin on the sometimes repetitive nature of training for Charlton. And Black Sticks coach Graham Shaw is happy to have a player he calls "a phenomenal athlete and team leader" back in the frame.
While the worldwide halt in international hockey has been frustrating for the Black Sticks – they haven’t played a test in 14 months - it’s turned out the timing couldn’t have been better for Charlton.
For one, it’s allowed her to sink her teeth into her new career. A qualified nutritionist who'd been working with young athletes, Charlton now runs a ‘living well’ programme at Odyssey House, an addiction treatment centre in Auckland. She helps design menus for the residents undergoing treatment, and manages the Odyssey Café, where recovering residents work and learn new skills.
“It’s so rewarding getting to help people who are in a super vulnerable place in their lives,” she says.
“I never thought this was where I’d end up, but it’s been really awesome learning so much about a whole part of life and the community that I didn't really know existed.”
But it wasn’t easy finding work. As New Zealand was plunged into Level 4 lockdown a year ago and the Black Sticks couldn’t train, Charlton struggled. “I honestly applied for everything and anything – I couldn’t even get a job washing dishes.” Until this role came up, filling in for someone on maternity leave.
"It's wild and crazy and very stressful, but what a cool moment in history. You'll be the people who went to the wacky Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games."
She was working full-time at Odyssey House until January, when she cut down to four days a week. From today, it’s down to three days and she’ll stop altogether in June to fully concentrate on the Tokyo Olympics in July.
But it’s an area she’d really like to return to. “Understanding how you can make a long-term meaningful impact takes a while,” she says.
Charlton’s recovery from surgery has taken a good degree of time and patience too.
"I've been really lucky there haven't been [immediate] milestones I had to reach like ‘there’s a test match in two weeks and I can't play’. When your recovery lags and you've got international competition coming up, it just adds an extra layer of stress," she says.
“It’s not that there hasn’t been stress this time - I've had plenty of moments where I’ve had a bit of a breakdown, and been like: ‘Oh my goodness, I'm so far behind’.”
Charlton has been there before – she injured the same knee in the final of the 2018 Commonwealth Games when the Black Sticks won gold.
“There was a quarter to go when I tore my meniscus quite badly. But they repaired it and I was back playing a World Cup maybe 13 weeks later. It was really quick,” she says.
“And it honestly gave me no trouble for two years. Then just when we came out of a lockdown, I was playing a club game and kind of felt a really similar feeling – but this time it split. It’s been a bit trickier and a lot more kind of grumbly coming back from it.”
Charlton had hoped to be back to full training in the first week of this year, and she recalls coach Shaw was “a little shocked” when she turned up further behind the eight ball.
“It’s been a pretty long road, and not an easy one for her,” Shaw says. “The knee in hockey can be a particularly tricky injury and you don’t want to rush coming back. But I really admire the way Sam’s approached that.
“She’s not only an outstanding person to have in the environment, someone who leads the team really well. But just to get back such a quality hockey player on the field – the athleticism, the individual ability she brings to the team, is just second-to-none.
“She’s a phenomenal athlete, who covers a frightening amount of ground, and you miss that a lot when you don’t have someone like that on your team. I’m just so pleased for her – and her team-mates – that she can get back on the field, because she’s such a team player.”
Although she's done most of the rehab work alone, Charlton certainly felt the love of her team-mates, especially those in Auckland.
“Grace [O’Hanlon] and Liz [Thompson] live up the road and Fran [Davies] lives down the road - in the first part of my recovery they’d drop me in baking and stuff,” she says. “Then I went down to the premier league to commentate on some of the games and that was really nice to see everyone again.”
Tauranga-born Charlton, who first played for New Zealand in 2010, is itching to play for North against South at St Paul’s Collegiate in Hamilton this Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. The games double as Olympic trials.
While the Black Sticks are now back in centralised training at North Harbour, and have been playing against local boys’ sides on Tuesdays, this will feel closer to test hockey.
“It's pretty tricky to replicate the pressure of an actual game in our training and we're all very competitive. Once we’re playing in something that resembles our regions, we get very proud and we want to win. So I think they’ll be really competitive games, which will be cool," she says. “I played a club game last week and I kept saying to the girls, ‘I'm so nervous – but excited’."
So the biggest question remains: will the Olympics actually go ahead?
“The closer you get, the more you realise this is actually happening,” Charlton says. “What’s starting to become clear is it's not going to be the same as Rio or London.”
As one of New Zealand’s Olympic ambassadors, Charlton was at a training workshop recently where three-time Olympic medallist Barbara Kendall pointed out to her how special it would be.
“She really expressed that, yes, it's wild and crazy and very stressful, but what a cool moment in history. You'll be the people who went to the wacky Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” Charlton says.
“And at the end of the day, if you win a gold medal, no-one's going to be like, ‘Oh, it was that one, you know’. You’ve still got that gold medal.”
As Charlton turns up to the Tuesday afternoon Black Sticks training, there’s a buzz in the team as the transTasman bubble date is set for April 19. It means they may finally get a test or three against Australia before the Olympics.
“Ideally the scenario would be that we could also travel through there on the way to Tokyo,” Charlton says. “It’s been bizarre coming to terms with not knowing when your next game is going to be.”
The Black Sticks coaches feel the same way.
“These girls are used to playing 25 internationals a year. But to play no games in 14 months is a real challenge,” Shaw, a former Irish international, says. “We feel they’re tracking really well – they’re as fit as they’ve ever been – but until you come up against another nation, you just don’t know.
“The girls came back in January and have been getting stronger and stronger. A real credit to them. It’s not easy to keep training. I really admire the physical shape they’re in.
“I just want a game now to test exactly where we’re sitting.”
* The North vs South matches – 12.30pm on Saturday and Sunday, and 8pm on Tuesday – will be shown on Sky Sport Next. Entry to the games at St Paul’s Collegiate is free.
