As a new era of Black Sticks emerge at the World Cup, beating world No.4 England, talented midfielder Alia Jaques tells Suzanne McFadden why international hockey got the nod over her legal career.
After five years deftly balancing her study for two degrees, a part-time job and daily intense physical exertion, Alia Jaques had to make a choice between two fields she's equally passionate about.
The hockey field and the legal field.
The young Hamiltonian, with a conjoint degree of law (with honours) and business management from the University of Waikato, was on the verge of starting out in two major careers – one as a lawyer, the other as a Black Stick.
She knew she could only truly focus on one at a time. This past summer, she worked as a solicitor for a small property law firm – a job she relished. “But hockey still had most of my love,” the 27-year-old Jaques says.
“It's really hard to split your attention between two things you love so much. But I decided I could do law at any time, and I’ll come back to it when I’m ready.”
Hockey was ready for her – the quick and industrious midfielder is now playing at her first pinnacle event for the Black Sticks women, the World Cup in Amsterdam, where New Zealand shocked world No.4 England this morning with a 3-1 victory. The Commonwealth Games in Birmingham start just 10 days after that.
But Jaques admits it’s a decision that doesn’t always rest easily with her.
“Once you’re out on the field, it’s easy. But there are moments off it when you feel you might get left behind,” she says. “And essentially that’s what I have to be okay with – whenever I return to a legal career, I’ll be starting again from scratch.”
Although she’s decided to adjourn that career for now, she’s taken a heap of transferable skills with her.
“They are two completely different careers – one sits down, one runs up and down,” Jaques says. “But they still have a lot in common.
"For both you need high standards and the same drive and determination to succeed. On the hockey field, I’m not the only one out there, and in the legal field, I’m working with my client or my team. Other people rely on you to be the best possible you.
“The ability to take criticism is huge. I learned that in hockey. You have to understand your boss, or your coach, wants the best out of you. And one of the most valuable skills are your words and how you use them – on the hockey pitch that can shift everything.”
There’s one skill Jaques isn’t able to perfect on the turf.
“As a kid, I was good at arguing with my parents,” she says. “I wasn’t opinionated, but before I went into an argument, I’d already thought of all the arguments they’d have against mine. I was pretty persuasive, so my parents thought I’d be a really good lawyer.”
During the 60 minutes of a fast-paced hockey game, though, there’s little time to plead your case on a dubious call. “You just have to grin and bear it,” Jaques laughs.
Although Jaques made her debut for the Black Sticks back in 2016, she hovered around the fringes of the team for the next few years. She earned her place in the New Zealand side for the inaugural FIH Pro League in 2019 – but the following year, Covid put the kibosh on the Black Sticks’ international hockey schedule through till last year’s Tokyo Olympics (Jaques didn't make the side, who finished eighth).
But with the Black Sticks now ushering in a new era, Jaques – who has 18 test caps to her name – finally has the chance to cement her place in the national team.
She knows the Black Sticks are up against it - a young team making its return to international sport at the World Cup.
“It’s a difficult scenario,” Jaques says. “Our team is so young and new, and we’d played only four games together leading into this - and then we didn’t have our full team because of Covid. This is the biggest stage most of us have played on.
“Our culture is great, and we’re making adjustments and fitting people together as we go. And when you’re super young, it’s so exciting to see the moments where it all comes together.”
In their opening match on the weekend, the Black Sticks – now ranked ninth in the world - pulled off a respectable 2-2 draw against world No.13 China.
But they turned heads today with their victory over England. At halftime, the Black Sticks were 1-1 - equalising in the last two minutes of the half, when Tyler Lench worked the ball into the circle and and a Katie Doar reverse shot cracked into the back of the goal.
A second reverse goal from Doar in the third spell put the Black Sticks ahead for the first time in the match, and more hard work by Lench was converted into a penalty corner goal by Tarryn Davey in the final quarter. A series of saves off the left post by defender Frances Davies ensured New Zealand remain unbeaten at this tournament.
Only four players – Davey, Davies, goalkeeper Grace O’Hanlon and co-captain Olivia Merry - remain from the Black Sticks side who won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. So the pressure to repeat that historic feat isn't as intense.
But within the new-look Black Sticks are clusters who’ve played together for most of their careers. Like Jaques and “the Midlands Girls”.
Jaques started playing hockey at the age of five, following her older siblings; her dad snapped a stick in two so she could play.
Right through high school at Waikato Diocesan she played alongside Tarryn Davey; and recent Black Stick debutant Alex Lukin was a couple of years below them. They played through the age groups for Midlands, with Frances Davies and new Black Sticks co-captain Megan Hull.
Many of the current Black Sticks team played with Jaques in the New Zealand U21s at the 2016 Junior World Cup in Chile; in the week they returned home, Jaques, Davey, Davies and Hull all made their Black Sticks debuts against Malaysia.
Alia Jaques and new Black Sticks co-captain Megan Hull made their NZ debut together in Stratford, 2016.
“The Midlands Girls - we’ve grown up together, won titles together, been through a lot together,” Jaques says.
“So when we get out on the field we have that baseline of wanting to do this together. We’re still learning to play at this international level together – up against players who already have 250 test caps under their belts.
“But it’s a perspective we need to keep holding on to. We want to keep pushing and doing the best we can - but we also have to understand that experience is only something gained through playing more games.”
Jaques has already shown plenty of patience in an international career stalled by injuries – a ruptured ACL and a stress fracture. But the girl who'd wanted to be a Black Stick since she was 10 kept pushing to make it back.
“As every Kiwi athlete knows, if you just keep plugging away at it, you should be rewarded,” she says. “I’ve been one of those kids who’s never given up, who’s gone to other people for help and who’ll do whatever I can to get there.”
Jaques concedes it hasn’t been easy juggling high performance sport with study, work and family life.
But that’s also where she’s been lucky, she reckons. Based at home in Hamilton while she studied, she didn’t have to travel as far to trainings as other players. "And Midlands hockey was super competitive, and l learned a lot," she says.
She smartly figured out how to “underload and overload” her studies around her hockey commitments. “And I was fortunate to graduate the same year I got selected in the Black Sticks squad [in 2018].”
Jaques moved to Auckland to train with the squad at the National Hockey Centre, and got a part-time job for commercial law firm Bell Gully as a legal assistant.
The first nationwide lockdown sent her back home to Hamilton, and at the end of 2020, she took a job with local property law firm, Neverman Bennett. “I loved it so much; it was like a family,” she says.
Initially she was only working during the three-month hockey hiatus, but she fit in so well with her new legal team, she stayed employed throughout the year while still playing hockey.
Then in February this year, she decided she should focus solely on hockey in a major year for the Black Sticks.
Jaques played Australia in four tests in May, scoring the Black Sticks' only goal in the drawn third test. (The night of the final match, she took a Covid test before visiting her newborn niece – Jaques was shocked it was positive, but had a very mild case).
She’s looking forward to being reunited with family in Birmingham – her parents (including her Scottish dad) are heading over from Hamilton, and Jaques' partner, Josef Holm, who's now living in Germany, will meet them there.
After the Games, Jaques will stay in Europe playing hockey for a club in Germany.
“There are about 12 of us [Black Sticks] all staying to play in Europe. One of the things we’re lacking is experience, right? So playing with all these experienced players in Europe can only help us," she says.
“We’re trying to make up for lost time.”
