Nothing quite beats the feeling of a medal freshly draped around your neck to show for all those hours of hard work and training.
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That feeling came for two of Parkes’ hockey veterans following the Men’s and Women’s Masters Hockey World Cup in Barcelona, Spain.
Graeme Tanswell was a member of the Australian Over 50s Men’s team who were undefeated and won gold, while Maureen Massey was goalkeeper of the Australian Over 60s Women’s team who claimed bronze.
The tournament – involving 2000 athletes from 27 countries – began on July 27 and concluded on August 5 with various age group finals and medal presentations.
Tanswell – attending his first World Cup and playing as a defensive midfielder – said his and his team’s world champion title took a while to sink in.
“It was great, we had a good team and we had great supporters with us – we had 42 in total, 18 players and the rest were coaches, managers and our families,” he said.
“It was a real team effort.”
The Over 50s side had two training matches in France prior to the World Cup – one against the French 50s team which they lost 2-1 and another against the French 40s-45s, winning 2-1.
“The first training match was the first game playing together as a team, up until then we had never played together,” Tanswell said.
“It was like a warm-up and an opportunity to get to know the players.
“It was hot but it was good.”
The Over 50s men won 8-0 over South Africa and 3-0 against Zimbabwe, and drew 0-0 with Ireland.
“That put us on top of our pool,” Tanswell said.
“We played France in the quarters and won 3-0.
“We played quite well as a team, the scores could have been bigger but the other teams defended well.”
Australia faced England in the semi-final and were down 1-0 three minutes into the game. But Tanswell’s team fought hard to win 2-1.
“Once you start playing, you get on with the job...[We] thought England would be our toughest game,” he said.
The side met with Holland in the final and won 2-1.
“Those last two games are how you want to play, you want to play hard hockey,” Tanswell said.
“We’re all quite chuffed at the win...We were focused on winning and it paid off.”
Massey and her Over 60s side played for third and fourth position in the finals.
The game was 1-all at full time and was forced into a five penalty shootout to determine the winner.
“I was the goalkeeper and we won two goals to one to take the bronze medal,” Massey said, following her sixth international tournament.
“It has been an unforgettable experience and it is always an absolute honour to represent our country.
“All games were played in extreme heat conditions, it was up to 40 degrees on some days.”
Massey’s bronze medal makes it her second medal from three World Cups.
She won gold in Rotterdam World Cup in 2014 with the inaugural 60s Australian Women’s team, she played in the Canberra World Cup in 2016 with no success and now a bronze from the World Cup in Spain.
“I am extremely appreciative of the opportunities made available to me over the last few years, despite it involving a huge amount of training,” Massey said.
“I am really looking forward to representing NSW at the Australian Masters Championships in Bunbury, Western Australia at the end of September as goalkeeper for the NSW Over 65s team.”
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