Kookaburras captain Aran Zalewski has referred to as time on his worldwide hockey profession, forsaking a legacy that spanned 14 years and noticed him grow to be one of the crucial adorned gamers of the fashionable period.
Fuelled by ardour and immense love for the game, Aran grew to become a triple Olympian and a daily captain with the aspect, serving to the lads’s nationwide staff to an Olympic silver medal in 2020, a World Cup title, two Champions Trophy titles and three Commonwealth Video games gold medals in 268 appearances.
“The Kookaburras have performed such a big position in my life for therefore lengthy,” Aran stated.
“Stepping away from a staff that I like and have so many good recollections with is the explanation it’s arduous as a result of I look again with a lot gratitude, a lot fondness and a lot positivity.”
He concedes his choice to retire following the Paris Olympic Video games didn’t come straightforward, as he weighed up his means to proceed whereas juggling household and his long run profession.
“I actually tried to present myself the absolute best probability to play in addition to I might on the Olympics this yr, and I felt like I used to be in actually good condition, I used to be mentally actually ready to play effectively.
“I questioned if I’m persevering with to develop as a lot as I did over these 14 years as a Kookaburra and after I considered that, I felt like I wasn’t serving myself in addition to I might, but additionally not the staff and what it must preserve enhancing, rising, and evolving.
“I’m at peace with that call and understanding that I can depart hockey and depart the Kookaburras a cheerful man. Despite the fact that all the things in Paris didn’t go our method, I nonetheless look again on even that have with some positivity.”
After a dream debut in opposition to India at 19 years of age in Bunbury, simply over an hour from his hometown Margaret River, Aran quickly grew to become a constant, star midfielder for the Kookaburras.
“My journey with the Kookaburras is a mirrored image of the journey I took by way of my life and rising up in Margaret River as a child with a dream and I used to be fortunate sufficient to comply with that dream and get to dwell it for such a very long time,” he stated.
“I liked the easy issues. I liked getting a bunch of fellows collectively and making an attempt to perform one thing and having a standard aim to do one thing collectively that we’d keep in mind.”
Simply months earlier than his third Olympics in April 2024, Aran celebrated a fairytale, full-circle milestone he’ll all the time keep in mind, as he recorded his 250th cap for the Kookaburras in entrance of a packed dwelling crowd with household and mates in opposition to India on the Perth Worldwide Pageant of Hockey.
It wasn’t lengthy after this the captain loved a second he’ll always remember with the staff.
“One second that I maintain very near my coronary heart was having the entire staff down in Margaret River at my home for dinner,” he displays.
“It was the collaboration of two very massive components of my life, my household and the Kookaburras, and having all of them collectively in a single place was very particular. I loved that evening extremely.
“Once I look again on my entire expertise with the Kookaburras over 14 years, it positively formed me and it formed me into the person that that I’m in the present day and that I’m happy with.
“I couldn’t have gotten that have anyplace else, so I’m simply extremely grateful to everybody who performed a component in that journey.”
