One quarter of the Black Sticks Olympic team are St Cuthbert’s Old Girls!
Published July 2, 2021
We are so incredibly proud that four members of the 16-strong team of Black Sticks hockey players heading to the Japan Olympics attended St Cuthbert’s, including the captain, Stacey Michelson.
The above photo was captured at the airport as the girls left to play in Perth in two doubleheaders against Australia. Pictured left to right, with the year they graduated from St Cuthbert’s are:
- Liz Thompson (2012)
- Stacey Michelson (2008), Captain
- Julia King (2010)
- Katie Doar (2019)
In a Black Sticks press release New Zealand Women’s Head Coach Graham Shaw said she was excited about the potential of the new players to the team, in particular their youngest additions, including St Cuthbert’s Katie Doar. Previously, in 2020, Katie won the prestigious Young Sportswoman of the Year.
Shaw says “We have some exciting young talent in our ranks especially Olivia (Shannon), Katie (Doar) and Hope (Ralph) who have stood up in recent years and all have huge futures in the black dress.”
New Zealand Women’s Captain Michelsen, currently the most capped New Zealand women’s player of all time with 291 matches, said the team was pleased to be finally heading to Tokyo after such a long wait.
“All the players are so thrilled to hear their names selected for Tokyo. It has been a long training period leading to this point, but now, with less than 50 days to go, you can feel the excitement amongst the group.”
Congratulations Liz, Stacey, Julia and Katie. We wish you all the very best of luck at the Olympics!
Hockey at St Cuthbert’s
We love hockey at St Cuthbert’s with 16 hockey teams from Years 4 – 13.
We’ve have had many amazing successes on the hockey turf!
- We have won the Parent Shield 12 out of the 16 years it has been played for!
- Our 1st XI have won the College Sport Auckland Championships for the last six years (from 2015 – 2021) and the Super City (Auckland and North Harbour) Championship from 2016-2019 (this was not contended for in 2020 due to COVID and they have not played for this yet in 2021).
- St Cuthbert’s (including Black Stick Katie Doar) won the Federation Cup in 2017 and 2019 (the top hockey tournament in New Zealand) and the Upper North Island tournament that was held in 2020. Julia King, Liz Thompson and Stacey Michelsen were also a part of the 2008 Federation Cup winning team. Liz Thompson then won it again in her last year of school in 2012.
We are extremely lucky to have our Old Girls still supporting our young athletes in their hockey journey. Julia King and Katie Doar are on the turf most Wednesday afternoons (when they are not busy representing New Zealand) to help coach our Years 4 – 6 hockey students with their weekly team trainings. Our Old Girls are also always motivated to help with school events (Cross Country, Athletics Day etc.).