Through hard graft and resolve, hockey striker Tyler Lench has overcome a double injury that would've ended many sporting careers. Now, she's primed to do the hard yards for the Black Sticks in a frenetic year.
After a long stint on the sidelines, the Black Sticks’ hectic schedule over the next four months doesn’t faze Tyler Lench.
Thanks to the global pandemic, the Black Sticks have had no international play since the Tokyo Olympics last August. But in July, they'll play in the World Cup in Spain and the Netherlands, which finishes less than two weeks before the start of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, where the Black Sticks will defend their title of 2018.
But for up-and-coming striker Lench, it’s a chance to make a name for herself in the Black Sticks team after having to overcome a number of obstacles.
Moving from South Africa to New Zealand when she was 10, her first setback came at the age of 17, on the day before she was to leave for the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in China. Lench injured her ACL, ruling her out of the tournament.
"It was a bit of a double whammy, that one - your recovery looks like it's going to be a year, and you're also missing out on a really cool tournament that hockey doesn't often get an opportunity to be part of," she says.
After a tough, 12-month recovery, Lench returned to the field in 2015. Six weeks into her return, disaster struck again - a second ACL injury ruling her out for another extended period.
“That’s the one that threw me for a bit of a loop,” Lench admits, finding the time away from the sport and community difficult.
“Suddenly all your focus needs to shift to fixing yourself, rehabbing yourself, with the goal in mind of hopefully still being able to compete at a high level and make the Black Sticks.
"It was a tough transition, between 16 and 18, to focus on a proper rehabilitation programme and understand the effects of what happens if you don’t."
Still a teenager, the support from her family and friends over her rehab journey helped keep her connected with the sport, and she eventually made the New Zealand squad and her Black Sticks debut in 2021.
Lench was thrilled when she got the news she'd be playing in the series against Australia; her first cap finishing with a 2-2 draw.
“It took the best part of three or four years to come back to a place where I could compete at that high level,” she says.
“When I got told I was going to debut, it was kind of a sigh of relief that all that hard work and the sacrifices I’ve made, and my friends and family have made along the way to support me, was all worth it.”
Now 24, Lench has just two international caps to her name - she was a non-travelling reserve for the Black Sticks Olympics team. But with a raft of changes to the side that finished in eighth at the Tokyo Olympics, her experience is a valuable asset.
One of Lench’s hockey idols growing up, Black Sticks captain Stacey Michelsen, retired at the end of 2021, finishing her hockey career as the most capped Kiwi women’s player on 296 caps.
Due to injuries, retirements and others taking time away from the game, the Black Sticks have lost over 1,700 international caps since Tokyo. They will have a new head coach, with Graham Shaw recently resigning from the role to return home to Ireland.
Lench sees all the changes as a positive - a chance to ring in a new era, while also keeping the heart of the team unchanged.
“It’s a hard transition in terms of losing those experienced players, but I think the girls are all really committed to making that transition as seamless as possible,” she says.
“We’re all just working really hard to make sure we try to achieve the goals we've set for ourselves over the next six months and also moving into the 2024 Olympics in Paris.”
It might be a long stay overseas for Lench if she’s selected for the World Cup and Commonwealth Games team, with the young attacker hoping to spend a season playing in the Netherlands later this year.
“I’ve always wanted to play in the Netherlands,” Lench says. “For me, it’s a change of scenery, a change of environment to push you to become a better player.
“Because we're a small country and the pool of players who play in New Zealand is small, it gets to a point where you want to challenge yourself in a different environment.”
Several New Zealand players are looking to hone their craft overseas this year, with recent changes to the domestic hockey league.
“I think it comes down to us just wanting to challenge ourselves further so we can bring more back to the team when we do come back," Lench says.
Lench brings a lot of speed on attack to the Black Sticks, courtesy of her track background. She competed as a sprinter during her high school years in Auckland, along with a range of other sports - football, waterpolo and underwater hockey are all part of her sporting CV.
Away from the turf, she works at KPMG as a senior financial risk consultant, working at the company since graduating from the University of Auckland with a bachelor of commerce.
“It’s been the perfect place to allow me to pursue my career and my sport,” Lench says. “They’ve just been so great in allowing me to chase both dreams, which is something I’ve always been quite vehement on.
“I’ve never wanted to give up my hockey for my career or my career for my hockey, so being in a place that’s allowed that to happen has just been great.”
Working full-time, her job has taught her how to communicate with different people and integrate different ideas into a team, but it’s also the lessons she’s learned from hockey that work their way into her career.
“Being a part of a team for a lot of your life I think is taken for granted sometimes and you don’t realise what kind of positive attributes you learn along the way,” Lench says.
“When you go into a big firm, being able to take that camaraderie you’ve learnt into a place like that is so great.
“I think that’s where athletes are so good at using the skills they’ve learnt throughout their sporting career when they do transition - they're such valuable skills and you can't underestimate the value of those.”
Lench is itching to get back on the pitch, her first chance coming in the North vs South series, starting in Hamilton tonight. While Lench, suiting up for the women’s North team, is simply grateful to be playing after Covid disruptions, the series is also a chance for players to put their hand up for international selection, first for a tests series against Australia next month.
“Most importantly, it’s just putting down a strong base for myself and for the team moving forward into that May series and hopefully into World Cup and Comm Games,” Lench says.
“For me, enjoyment of hockey is so important to then play well. So that's what I’m searching for - just playing with the people I’ve played with for over 10 years of my life and enjoying the ride.”
Two of her North teammates this week are very familiar with her game. Rose Tynan and Lulu Tuilotolava played Auckland U13 hockey with Lench and were both selected in the Black Sticks squad for 2022, with Tynan receiving her first call-up.
“It’s very full circle that we once dreamt of it when we were 12, 13 years old and now all these years later, we sit here and we’re fighting for selection," Lench says. "It’s those friendships you gain through sport that are really important."
The series against Australia marks 100 years of competition between the two countries. New Zealand toppled Australia in the final of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, with a 4-1 victory securing the Black Sticks' first gold medal.
Lench’s first taste of the transTasman rivalry left her itching for more, with the games in 2021 confirming she’s on the right track.
“It showed the level I want to play at and continue to play at, and not necessarily just compete in, but hopefully one day, try to dominate those types of games,” she says.
“We’re so privileged to have the opportunity to represent New Zealand in the first place and it’s such an awesome feeling to have the fern on your chest.
“It just cemented that after all the training, all the work and all the grind you do to get there, there is light on the other side of the rainbow and how fortunate we are to do it. It’s just chasing that feeling every day.”
* The North vs South series will be livestreamed on the Black Sticks’ Facebook and YouTube pages, with the women’s games at 5.30pm on Thursday, 2.30pm on Saturday and 12pm on Sunday.
