Tamworth’s Kate Jenner is on the cusp of a Hockeyroos return after being named in the 2019 women’s national development squad.
The development squad are decentralised athletes, who sit under the centralised national senior squads based at the Hockey Australia High Performance unit in Perth.
The London Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist earned 116 caps for Australia but hasn’t played for the national side for a few years.
Hockey NSW’s regional coaching coordinator for the Central Coast, Hunter and Newcastle associations, Jenner’s return to the national set-up follows a strong performance for the NSW Arrows during the recent Australian Hockey League competition.
The 28-year-old featured prominently for the successful Arrows side.
“The overarching principles for selection was identifying athletes capable of progressing to the National Senior Squads through the training and competition opportunities the National Development Program provides in addition to development in their home daily training environment,” HA High Performance Director Toni Cumpston said.
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“The 2019 National Development Squad Program will provide development opportunities through the provision of visiting athlete agreement opportunities to the centralised High Performance Program in Perth and potential international competition opportunities.”
Earlier this month Georgina Morgan was named in the 2019 national senior women’s squad, as the team builds towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“We’ve selected the 2019 squad with a good eye on Tokyo,” Hockeyroos coach Paul Gaudoin said.
"We’re looking to narrow our focus towards Tokyo and have identified the key skills we believe necessary to enable success.”
The Hockeyroos, who finished the 2018 year ranked third after being runners-up at the Champions Trophy in November, will compete in the inaugural FIH Pro League from January to June next year, followed by the Oceania Cup which is the qualification event for the Tokyo Olympics.
The squad will reconvene for training in Perth on January 14 ahead of their opening game of the Pro League in Melbourne on Saturday February 2.
