Even in a team environment pursuing your sporting dreams can sometimes feel like a lonely quest.
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Hockeyroos co-captain Georgina Morgan knows that only too well.
In the last three years the Armidale native has spent probably as much time off the field as on it, rehabbing from what seemed one injury after another.
The constant struggle took a toll not only physically, but mentally. How much she said she probably didn't realise until coronavirus hit with the force of one of her drag flicks and the world as she has known it for the last five years changed.
Now, as the defender resets her focus on Tokyo 2021, she does so with a refreshed outlook and a renewed appreciation for how fortunate she is do what she does, and an even greater desire to again represent her country on the Olympic stage.
She is still over in Perth, deciding to stay over there with her partner.
She also joked that as much as she "loves coming home" she would have driven her mum and dad crazy "after a week or two".
Not someone who really enjoys sitting idle, in lieu of being able to get out on the hockey pitch, Morgan has turned to pedal power.
"I brought a road bike towards the end of last year, which has turned out to be a pretty good investment because I've been doing a fair bit of that," she said.
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Hampered by a toe injury and unable to do a lot of extra running, she was spending a lot of time either water running or swimming, or on the bike in the gym so she decided to look into getting a bike.
"Coming into summer in Perth I thought I might as well bite the bullet and do it," she said.
"It's ended up being a bit of a release for me.
"The bike is a good way to decompress from the week and tune out and have a bit of a think."
It has also been nice to push herself in another way, she said, and do something different purely for the enjoyment.
Over a month now since the program was shut down, Morgan admits there have been some tough days.
"I definitely had a couple of weeks where I was really flat especially with the Olympics being postponed," she said.
"We were only like four months out and to be told you're going to be waiting another 16 months."
"And when we didn't have a return date to training it was like the brakes have really been put on."
That said, the news of the postponement was, while disappointing, also a bit of a release as she battled to get her body right.
After missing the latter part of last year with a hip flexor injury, she then suffered a quad tear at the beginning of training in January and was unable to play any of the domestic Pro League games.
"I kind of felt like I was hitting a brick wall. I'd get back to full training and then I'd get a niggle," Morgan said.
She was back to full training but her body wasn't coping with the training load and she was probably "underdone in areas".
Now she has a chance to get her body right, and "build a really good base".
"I was sort of chasing in a sense where I wanted to be and now I kind of feel like I've got a chance to get ahead," she said.
I was sort of chasing in a sense where I wanted to be and now I kind of feel like I've got a chance to get ahead
- Georgina Morgan
The frustration of being confined to the sidelines was for Morgan only amplified by being one of the side's three co-captains (she was appointed alongside Emily Chalker (nee Smith) and Jodie Kenny at the start of 2019). It was a huge honour but as someone who likes to lead by example rather words, not even being able to train left her feeling a bit lost about her role.
"As part of the leadership group I've always thrived on how I train and led by how I train. Not being on the pitch was a bit tricky for me and I felt like I wasn't doing what I needed to do for the team," she said.
But by the same token she knows she has the trust of her team-mates.
"They know what I've been through and how hard I've worked and what it means to me," she said.
Counting down the days until she can get back out on the pitch, Morgan expects when as a group they are able to get back together there will be a real energy and excitement.
"It's good for all of us, the whole squad, to reset, and be like why are we doing this, why are we training six days a week and living away from our families?" she said.
"And maybe get a bit of that love back, because it's been taken away a little bit in the sense that we can't get out on the pitch."
Part of the side that finished sixth in Rio, she believes it is going to be a "really special Olympics campaign".
"And I think the Olympics in general are going to be a huge celebration of hopefully overcoming all the hardships that have happened and really celebrating," she said.
"I feel really lucky to hopefully be part of something that's going to be a once in a decade kind of thing."
