Great Southern guns — blasts from the past: A dream to compete at the Olympics leads Albany’s Tricia Heberle to decorated life in sport

The suspension of sport amid the coronavirus crisis has given the Advertiser the opportunity to look back at some of the region’s finest sporting talent from yesteryear. This week in our Great Southern guns – blasts from the past series, we profile international hockey star Tricia Heberle. An ambitious teenage girl in Albany dreamt of one day playing hockey for Australia at the Olympic Games. That dream was created in front of the television, watching the 1976 Olympics and from that moment on, a brilliant career flourished in the sport she loved. After three Olympic Games and counting, Tricia Heberle has worked hard to achieve a life in sport and she is enjoying a wonderfully satisfying ride at the top level that many could only dream of. In 1976, women’s hockey was not even an Olympic sport but Heberle was determined to set lofty goals, and so began her quest to pull on the green and gold on the biggest international stage in the sporting landscape. Heberle began her education at Spencer Park Primary School and then Albany Senior High School, where hockey become the priority through country week, Great Southern carnivals and Lower Great Southern competition. Her rise was rapid, and in 1983 the talented full-back was part of Australia’s team that won a bronze medal at the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur and she was an inaugural AIS hockey scholarship recipient when the centralised high performance program started in Perth in 1984. Heberle went on to achieve the biggest goal of them all, playing for Australia at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles as her team narrowly missed a medal, taking fourth place. A second World Cup appearance came in 1986 in Amstelveen in the Netherlands, where Australia finished sixth. “As a teenager watching the 1976 Olympic Games I had a dream of going to the Olympic Games,” Heberle said. “Women’s hockey wasn’t even in the Olympics at that time so I was a bit ambitious in my thinking, but I’ve always set goals and had the ambition to explore the world. “I was an international athlete from 1980-87 and was fortunate to play in some big global and national hockey events and enjoyed the LA Olympics,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of great experiences but to be honest, representing the Lower Great Southern (Albany) and ASHS at great southern carnivals and country week are still highlights for me.” Heberle retired from international hockey in 1987, but that paved the way for a decorated and highly successful coaching career at the top level. She became an assistant coach and performance analyst with the Hockeyroos in their golden period under Ric Charlesworth that included the gold medals in 1996 in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney along with a host of other global success. Ranked the No.1 team for much of seven years, the Hockeyroos also won World Cup, Commonwealth Games, Champions Trophy and Oceania Cup gold medals in that period. Heberle then forged a strong partnership with the England women’s hockey team and, as their head coach, led them to a silver medal at the 2020 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. She has also held numerous positions at Hockey Australia, including high performance director, worked with the Department of Sport and Recreation, and, since 2014, has run her own sports consultancy company. “I got to go to three Olympic Games as a hockey participant. I cherish all of those experiences and now feel lucky that I can continue my Olympic journey working with Team Ireland,” she said. “I’ve worked really hard to stay in sport and to make a living out of doing what I love. “My last role with Hockey Australia was as high performance director, the inaugural HPD at the time, and in essence Ric Charlesworth’s boss, and at the time I was the only female HPD in the whole Australian sports system. “I currently work across 19 different Olympic sports and this is heaven. “I’d like to think that my Albany roots and family have kept me humble and that’s a good way to exist.” The 61-year-old lives with her partner in Hemel Hempstead, 35km from London, and is working towards a fourth Olympic Games — this time in a different capacity. Heberle is working for the Olympic Federation of Ireland as the high performance lead and Chef de Mission for next year’s Tokyo Games. “Chef de Mission is a really demanding role as you’re pretty much the team Ireland Olympic manager,” Heberle said. “I’ve worked with the OFI since late 2017 and it’s been a fantastic experience. “Ireland is a small country and sporting nation and they punch above their weight in respect of their attitude to competition. “I am not working directly with hockey, but the Irish women’s hockey team qualified for their first ever Olympic Games, so that’s pretty exciting and I’m trying to share my experiences and help them as much as I can.” Heberle still has family in Albany, including her brother Ron, and enjoys visiting a favourite spot, Doubtful Island Bay, east of Bremer Bay, when she comes home to the place she was born and spent her first 17 years. She bought the old family home in Campbell Road when her parents died and plans to retire in Albany after the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Living in the UK during the cornovirus pandemic has been a challenge in itself for Heberle, with the country coming out of lockdown last week. “It’s pretty sobering, and to be honest I haven’t felt terribly safe living in the UK, but it is what it is,” she said. “We were in lockdown in the UK for seven weeks and have come out but there is still strict guidelines on travel, work and socialisation. I used to fly in and out of Dublin for three-four days each week to work but I can’t return to work in Dublin until at the earliest August 10 — surreal experience.” Heberle said she wouldn’t have her life any other way. “I’ve had, and are living, a life rich in different experiences and exposure to many different places, people and things,” she said. “That’s what I wanted and set out to do, and I have nothing to complain about.”