The first openly gay male hockey player in Australia's national league is set to join the Kookaburras, the Australian Men's Senior National Hockey Team.
Davis Atkin, of the Canberra Chill, will make his international debut at the Men's Pro League mini-tournament in India in March.
He was added to the National Development Squad to be considered for international competition less than six months ago, and said he could not believe how quickly he was selected to join the Kookaburras.
"You know, six months ago I was talking about making it in a year or two, maybe a bit further on," he said.
"So getting this opportunity pretty much within six months of being selected in the development squad has been a great opportunity, but one that I'm having to sort of ground my thoughts on and soak it all in."
'You can't be what you can't see'
Atkin was outed as gay in 2021, making him Australia's only openly gay male hockey player at the national level.
He took a break from his team after being outed and began posting makeup videos on social media as a form of self-expression before returning to professional sport.
"When I was coming out and having the world know who I was, I was initially very scared — and rightly so — around what that would mean selection-wise," he said.
Atkin said having a "great support group" around him, in particular former coach Ben Bishop, made him feel ready to face the sporting community as his authentic self.
"So if anyone is feeling like they are ready, or that's something they want to do, then I would very much encourage them to do so because I think I found myself.
"I'm still figuring this out today, but I found that being able to be more comfortable with myself, both on the pitch and off the pitch, has made me play better."
He said that despite struggling when he was first outed, he now considers being openly gay as a professional sportsman an opportunity to show others in the LGBTQIA+ community that it's possible for them too.
"It is something that I'm keen to be a part of and to show my face for, because I always liked the saying 'you can't be what you can't see,'" he said.
"I think it's a very important role to have someone like me being in the gay community that's now at an international level, it's not very common.
"It's just a great opportunity for my community to see people like me and have others feel more comfortable coming out in their hockey community, and hopefully more international players or national players will start doing the same."
Atkin does not take the responsibility of being one of a handful of openly gay international hockey players lightly — he said making his international debut as a gay man was something he considered for years.
"It has been something that I've thought about for a while — for years, actually — and so I've tried to plan for this day," he said.
"Obviously it's been thrust on me very quickly, but I think overall it is something that I've tried to focus on equally as much as my playing and representing the country.
"I think it's a very exciting time for sport in general, not just hockey [and] I'm very, very keen to be a figurehead in that regard."
