Kookaburra’s are very large Australasian kingfishers (genus Dacelo) that feed on terrestrial prey such as reptiles and birds. They are best known for their unmistakable call, which sounds like loud human laughter.
… Oh sorry, wrong type of Kookaburra…
We aren’t talking about these kookaburra’s.
We are talking about these ones … *enter powerful, pumping music*
Lean mean fighting machines who are dominating world hockey…
Currently ranked at the NUMBER ONE team in the world, our Men’s National Field Hockey Team (aka Kookaburra’s) are just coming off a 5th straight Champions Trophy title win. If you click the wiki link you can see how successful our boys have been over the last 30 years of competitive world games. It is has been rare for us not to have a top 4 finish. Not to mention, numerous World Player of the Year trophies stacking up in the ‘burra camp. 😀
Your question? This has what to do with your post?
Well, ladies and gent’s here is the news. I (along with my friend Lauren) got to meet a few of the lad’s at a function on Wednesday night. *HUGE SMILE*
Long story short, a friend of a friend plays for a local hockey club and knew how much of a fan I am of Jamie Dwyer. He called me on Monday and said, “My club (Greensborough Hockey Club) have a meet and greet with 3 players from the current Kookaburra’s squad, Jamie Dwyer, Mark Knowles and Glenn Simpson on Wednesday night. Do you want to meet Jamie?” I was speechless! (well, apart from saying absolutely!)
Wednesday rolls around and we (yes, remember I said Lauren came too, so I wasn’t by myself) walk into the function and there is Jamie, just chatting away to a group of boys from the senior club squad. My heart was literally about to burst. I was in the same room as 5 TIME WORLD CHAMPION OF YEAR! Lauren and I were about to order a few drinks and Steve (that’s my friend of a friend) walks in and goes “Look, there’s Jamie, he’s right over there!” I giggled like an absolute school girl.
(At this point, I won’t mention how cute some of the men were, especially Mark Knowles :))
The night continues and we are on the first break of the evening and Lauren and I are standing at the bar talking to a few people and Mark Knowles comes up to the bar. OMG. Mark. Knowles. Someone pulls him over to our group and introduces him to Lauren and I and he starts talking to us like we were long lost buddies. *My brain: You just shook hands with Mark Knowles. Ekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk. Stay calm* He is an incredibly genuine and down to earth bloke. Laughing, joking and just enjoying himself with people he had never met.
Whilst talking to Mark, Steve says, “There’s Jamie, do you want to talk to him?” He grabs Jamie and starts walking over and I really didn’t mean to but I yelped “Eeeeeekkkk” OUT LOUD! FML! School girl indeed! I shook him hand and introduced myself and we chatted for about 5-10 minutes until the next round of talks and questions had to take place. (Small side note: Everyone should know how much I LOVE Harry Kewell. He is my football idol and I just watch him in awe every time he plays. Jamie is not second in line to Harry Kewell, but equal first in sporting idols. This moment for me was HUGE! I happened to mention that to him actually and he was absolutely flattered. He even said he appreciated what I said and he also too admired Harry Kewell. :D)
I won’t bore you with too much more information, the night continued with more talks, questions from the audience and a few funny video’s of the Kookaburra boys. At the end of the night, we got a few photos with the guys and they signed the only sign-able thing that was in my bag, my blog notebook. Here are a few photos I have of the night. (We are waiting on one coming from the photographer on the night, but these are from my camera.)
(I cropped one lady out that we didn’t know. That’s why is a little off centre.)
Once we get the photo from the photographer, I’ll post it up. 🙂
We both had an amazing night and maybe next year, we will pay more attention to what hockey games are going on in the area. You never know who you are going to meet. 🙂
C. x
CANDICE ASHLEY 