2024 Committee Profiles

Belle and her two brothers have played hockey since the early 1970s and were all still playing until the close of the 2021 season when she retired. Hockey has always been an important and constant part of life. Belle was Club Captain of both Bulimba and Kedron Wavell Hockey Clubs and competed in the BWHA for many years.

She discovered Masters Hockey in 1998 and began playing in the Gold Coast Hockey Association Competition. Belle has represented at Club, District, State and National levels. She is currently a member of the Gold Coast Women’s Master’s Committee holding the portfolio of Logistics. With her recent retirement from active play, she now is able to direct her interest and knowledge to the administration and promotion of Women’s Master’s Hockey.

Belle was a physiotherapist working in the fields of rehabilitation and aged care. She was the Director of a large multidisciplinary Team and hopes to bring a range of organizational skills to her position on the HQWMC.

Deb started playing hockey at school from the age of 11 to 17 years.  After 30 years break, she returned to the game at the age of 47, introducing her children to the game of hockey. Deb has played, coached and managed at club and association level.  She has also played at State level and recently was named as shadow for the Australian 55+ Indoor Masters Team.

As long as she can remember she has volunteered in many committee roles for her local Club and Association and now is an active member of the QLD Women’s Masters Committee.

Professionally, Deb has worked in the insurance industry for many years. Along with her husband, she has been owner/operator of various small businesses, ranging from Wall and Floor Tiling to Traffic Control. Deb loves what hockey brings to her, including the wonderful lifelong friendships along the way.

Sue was a primary school teacher for 37 years prior to her retirement in 2016. During that time she coached and managed many Mackay primary school and Capricornia district school hockey teams.

Sue started playing hockey at primary school under the expert tutelage of well-known local Mackay coach Lena Saunders. She continued playing until having her children, and then resumed hockey, and then played Masters Hockey in Mackay. Sue has been a player, volunteer, Treasurer and Manager for her local association.

Sue started managing Queensland Womens Masters teams when her husband worked out of town for weeks at a time. She has managed Qld teams since 2007. She has also managed Australian Womens Masters teams in 2016 and 2018 and 2019.

Sue retired with her husband to Redcliffe 6 years ago and has been playing in the BWHA Monday Masters fixtures and has managed teams from both Redcliffe and BWHA Womens Masters.

Kathy started playing hockey at the age of 8 and has been playing in Veterans/Masters since 1992. She is passionate about everything hockey, being involved at club & association level with grassroots hockey, competition, judiciary and President. She feels she has been very lucky to have a wonderful hockey life.

In the mid-1980s, Linda resumed her professional career as a primary school teacher and later became a school principal. Promotions in this role through schools of increasing complexity saw her managing a total staff of 90 odd and working with government officials and community leaders. During this time, she developed skills in strategic planning, policy development, operational planning, budgeting and financial management, people management, and resource management. Until her career took her to locations in which hockey was not played, she was a regular member of Qld Vets/Masters teams.

Linda was an accredited AA Umpire and is a Level 2 Technical Official and Level 2 Coach. She is a Masters Coach at Queensland and Australian levels. Linda is currently a member of World Masters Hockey’s Events Committee, HA Masters Committee and Operational Group (Women), HQ Women’s Technical and Master’s Committees and is contributing to Sunshine Coast Hockey Association as a Technical Official and Women’s Masters selector.

Myra is a genuine hockey tragic and has devoted a fair proportion of her adult life to promoting the sport and ensuring that it grows in her localities. Not many can say that they started a club from scratch and nurtured its growth. Myra did this in Moranbah in the mid 1970s.

She has skills in assembling teams to get jobs done to a high standard. She has been the go-to person for the organisation of the 40^th, 50^th60^th and 75^th year celebrations for her club in Maryborough and for the 30^th and 35^th year celebrations of HQ Women’s Masters Championships and 30^th year of HA Women’s Masters Championships. A feature of these celebrations has been the extensive displays of memorabilia that Myra has encouraged others to donate or loan. She has taken a special interest in the growth of junior hockey as well as Masters hockey, coaching, umpiring and selecting.

Myra has been a fixture in Queensland and Australian Masters teams for the last 20 odd years. This hockey tragic even came out of a lengthy retirement from indoor hockey to participate as a player at the first HA Masters Indoor Challenge and was selected in the Australian team for the 2019 Masters Indoor World Cup in Hong Kong.

Kathy along with her late sister Terry, were founding members of the Tinana Hockey Club in Maryborough in 1968. Their sister Mary McKell was the coach.  All 3 girls along with another sister Carmel (Meyer) represented Qld in Masters during their hockey days.

Kathy went on to play for Australia in Masters (as did Mary and Carmel).  Although not able to play any more, she still coaches, umpires and selects.  She is currently Treasurer of the Maryborough & District Hockey Association (a position she has held since 1996).  She is a Life Member of Tinana and the MDHA.  She enjoys being creative and has taken on the Social Media portfolio for the HQWMC.

Karin found that her high school hockey experience provided a lifeline to her when she moved to Queensland from Melbourne in 1975 and could join the University of Queensland Hockey Club.  From those early days she has continued to play and enjoy competition hockey including representing Queensland in Masters both as a field player and as a goal keeper. She has also worn the green and gold as a member of an Australian team.

Karin’s professional experience as a pharmacist and then in IT service management in the government and not for profit sectors has honed her skills in corporate governance and management. She has almost unparalleled experience in sports governance as a volunteer sports administrator and Board chair, first at UQSport in the early years and then with Hockey Queensland and ultimately and still with BWHA.

Coming from a hockey family, with her father an A Grade Women’s umpire in Sydney and her mother a NSW State player, Megan was destined to follow the family tradition. She started playing at age 10 in Sydney before anyone of that age was supposed to be allowed to play.

Megan was committed to Vets/Masters hockey even before she was of Masters age, selecting and coaching Queensland teams, until she turned 35 and could then play Veterans (now Masters) She has since been fortunate enough to play in many State and Australian teams. She also cannot remember a time when she was not busy in the administration, and promotion of hockey at Club and Association level. However, with her retirement from playing this year (2024) she is looking forward to spending more time with her grandchildren and her other passion, travelling.

As a former teacher and current small business owner, she has acquired skills that assist in her role in the QLD Women’s Masters Committee.