Port Macquarie hockey star Annika Toohey returns from South Africa with Australian All-Schools team

You don’t normally associate South African safaris with potentially taking one of your key strikers out before the first test.

That was what could have happened to Port Macquarie hockey star Annika Toohey when a bug flew into her eye.

It momentarily blinded her a couple of days before the start of the three-test series late last month.

“It was pretty hard to beat the safaris – they were pretty good especially the sunsets and we saw all the animals,” she said.

“(The bug in the eye wasn’t good but) I got on the field so that’s all that matters.”

While some members of the coaching staff had concerns she wouldn’t be able to play, the teenager not only took her place, but scored the first goal in Australia’s 2-1 first test defeat.

Unfortunately, Australia suffered 3-1 and 2-0 defeats in the following two tests to lose the series 3-0 in Pietermaritzburg.

The teenager arrived home in Port Macquarie last week after the 18-day tour with the Australian All-Schools team – a trip she labelled “once in a lifetime.”

Toohey said the difference between the two sides was the South Africans composure in the key moments.

“It was very close and came down to a couple of key moments and how we handled it probably wasn’t as good as how they handled it,” she said.

“They took a couple of good opportunities, had really good strength on the ball and really fast strikers who could usually make something out of nothing.

“We didn’t quite capitalise on ours.”

Toohey said the team “learned the hard way” what was required to be successful at a high level.

“You have to take your chances,” the teenager said.

“We had opportunities but they were scarce; we didn’t execute our short corners and at that level you need to.

“The whole thing was a once in a lifetime experience.”

While disappointed to lose all three test matches, the talented striker brought plenty of positives back to the Hastings.

The Tacking Point Thunder Omni striker said continued enjoyment of the game would help to ensure her first appearance in the green and gold wouldn’t be her last.

“Other things start to take a toll on a lot of people my age,” she said.

“But the main thing for me is to keep enjoying (playing hockey), keep improving and we’ll see where that goes.

“I went over wanting to improve my game as a striker with such good quality players around me and I think I was able to.”