Being selected as part of an Australian Masters hockey squad’s medical team is nothing new for renowned physiotherapist Sharon Dixon.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Her selection to go to Rotterdam, Netherlands next year is different though - not only is Sharon the only NSW representative, she is to head the medical team!
Sharon will oversee six physiotherapists and two massage therapists looking after eight teams.
She has applied four times for national selection and been chosen each time, a glowing endorsement of the work that she does helping to get the best out of the players.
After four years of declining to go to state championships, Parkes’ Gary Phipps convinced Sharon to go and from there she went to Bunbury with the NSW team.
Since then, she has been going to state championships in field hockey to look after Parkes’ veterans mens teams.
Sharon has also been looking after the Illawarra mens indoor side at the indoor state championships since 2009.
Sharon has now been to nine national championships including visits with the NSW team to Bunbury (WA), Canberra twice, Launceston (TAS), Wollongong, Perth, Gold Coast, Hobart and Sydney.
She stopped going to these championships in 2007 due to family commitments.
It wasn’t until 2011 when Sharon got asked to go to Singapore with the Over 40s team that she got back into the representative side of the sport.
She has now been to Singapore (2011), England and Ireland (2012) and New Zealand (2013) with the national squads.
Sharon was excited as well as humbled by her selection for next year’s Masters World Cup.
“I am thrilled to have been selected again,” Sharon said.
“We get picked just the same as the players do and it is a great honour to not only represent Australia this time but to head the medical team,” she said.
Asked which of her trips she enjoyed the most, Sharon struggled to single one out.
“They have all been great.
“I love meeting new people and experiencing different towns and countries.
“I guess if I had to single one out it would be this year’s Trans Tasman Cup competition in Auckland.
“Australia won nine out of the 10 matches on the final day to win the cup.
“It really was the best feeling,” she said.
Before next year’s Masters World Cup in Rotterdam, Sharon will join the Over 40s, 45s, 50s and 55s for eight days of trial games in Barcelona, Spain.
From there the teams head to the Netherlands for what is sure to be an exciting tournament.
“I am so lucky I have the support of my loving and generous family which allows me to follow my dreams,” Sharon said.
The Masters World Cup will be held in June next year.
