THE goal of returning to State League 1 is propelling Kirsten Rolt and her WestVic teammates as they strive to continue their unbeaten season when senior hockey hopefully resumes in coming weeks.
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At just 17, Rolt is one of the younger players on the top-of-the-ladder team, but her output has been far from the the role of a junior.
The Ballarat Grammar student, who is completing her VCE this year said she was loving every minute of being part of the successful side.
"It's been an amazing feeling coming away with a win every game," she said. "I think we've done quite well in staying humble, not getting too ahead of ourselves, we know there's a lot of work to go.
"I'm not sure about everyone else, I am a little bit surprised with how we're going because we have a number of girls who are moving up this season.
"If I'm honest, I wasn't expecting to go as well as we have been, it's been a nice surprise so far."
Unlike a lot of other sporting organisations in recent weeks, WestVic's women's team were not as affected by the lockdown as they were scheduled to have a bye the first week. The scheduled clash at the weekend was the only one postponed. Rolt said she had done her best to remain game fit.
"I've done a few runs, some at-home workouts, so far it's only been one week for us. Obviously, there's never such a thing as good timing, but I have to say it was probably a bit better for us.
"We had training this morning non-contact, the biggest thing you miss is the team and the other people around you to push and challenge you."
Rolt first started playing hockey aged 10 when her family moved to Ballarat.
"We did a little bit of hockey at school and at that stage I hadn't set myself on a sport, I was playing a whole lot of different sports and this was something different I'd never done before.
"I started playing locally and I just really loved the environment and I got involved at WestVic at under 16s.
"It's my first senior year this year, I have done a couple of years of filling in a couple of times for the women's team as a 14-15 year old, there was quite an age gap particularly in 2019 when we were in State League 1, just one division below Premier League, it was a huge difference in the way they played, but I think that experience has really helped me adjust."
Rolt said the prime goal for the team was the return to State League 1, but to do that they would need to continue to attract more players, as a State League 1 team needs to be able to field a reserves team.
"To help us move up, we need to encourage as many to play WestVic women," she said.
"It's a really great environment to be part of. Obviously for a lot of people it's been a bit hard this year with the concerns of travel to Melbourne, but that's why we have the school programs to get others involved. For our game we need to stay consistent and don't get ahead of ourselves."
