HELEN SMEULDERS (nee Scamp , nee Aitkenhead)
Helen is the daughter of Judy Aitkenhead and the eldest of her six children, including three sisters, all of whom have been very successful in their hockey careers. She began playing with the then newly formed Souths Hockey Club in Gladstone at age six and developed her talent and love of hockey playing with family and friends. From the age of 12, Helen began her representative successes, first in the Gladstone Primary Schoolgirls team and then in the Secondary school teams at the QLD School Championships, as well in Gladstone and regional teams at the respective QLD State Age Championships. She began representing Gladstone in the senior women’s team at the age of 15 which included winning the 1980 Central Zone Championships where she was selected in the Central QLD zone team the same year. Helen was a natural leader and captained many club, school and Assn Representative teams in these younger years.

Helen continued onto University studies in Rockhampton, then nursing studies, and later Army Officer training (Captain) which meant Helen’s hockey was played on a “when could” basis. However, her talent saw her selected in the Rockhampton Senior Women team in 1985 and later the Australian Women’s Army team in the NSW Premier League in the mid 90s.

After the sad loss of her husband and later re marriage, Helen introduced her six children and husband to the game of hockey. She and her family have become part of the Bulimba Hockey Club where Helen has coached many Bulimba Club teams. In 2011 Helen was part of the premiership winning Div 5 Bulimba team along with her step-daughter Eliza. She has also coached South Brisbane Vipers Indoor club junior teams and managed Junior Brisbane Representative teams to State Championships.
Helen says her hockey highlights have been:

• playing with her mother and sisters for Gladstone at the HQ Women’s Masters (Veterans) Championships
• playing State Championships in Rockhampton
• playing at the AIS in Canberra against ACT in the NSW Premier League
• playing in and then umpiring the Family hockey game at Christmas on the Bundaberg Turf which included family from little ones up to Grandma Judy – it was like playing in a State team and just as competitive!

KAREN GRAHAM (nee Aitkenhead)
Karen started playing hockey at 4 years old, and as you have read comes from a large hockey family from Bundaberg and Gladstone origins.
It is almost impossible to count all the family members who have been involved in hockey – from grandfather and mother, sisters and brothers, husband and children to and aunts, uncles, in laws, nieces, nephews, cousins who are playing or have played hockey. Karen’s two children still play.

During her many years being involved with hockey, Karen has held many official positions within her club and association, including Branch Manager, and coach and manager of representative teams at State Championships.

Karen has played at Club, Association and State level, being part of many representative teams, and received many awards and medals.
Club and association: ‘Most Outstanding Player’ – many divisions at Club and Association level.
‘Best Club Person’
Gladstone City Council Junior Sports person – Australia Day Award
Nominated for Gladstone City Council Senior Sports Official – Australia Day Award
Australian Secondary Schools U16 Nationals, Gold Medal in the Queensland team
Queensland State Women’s Masters Championships – Division 2, Gold Medal with Gladstone Master’s Women Team
Life Membership of Gladstone Souths Sports Club,
Life Membership of Gladstone and District Hockey Association.

Karen has been a badged umpire for many years as well and now mentors the upcoming umpires. Though now in her 50s, she continues to play and umpire.

Karen’s amazing experiences include:
Being named in the Queensland team as a 10 year old at the U13 State Championships
Winning Gold medals at National and State Championships
Scoring the winning goal in a Grand Final
The friendships she has made over the years through hockey is awesome, especially one friend with whose family she was billeted on several occasions as a junior; they are still great friends and keep in constant contact.
Watching her children, nieces and nephews playing hockey and she feels very privileged to enjoy that experience, and she feels the best experience of all will be to watch her grandchildren play one day.

SUSAN KENDALL (nee Aitkenhead)
Susan, the fourth daughter of Judy Aitkenhead to play hockey, remembers watching her older sisters playing hockey in Gladstone and at Nationals. No doubt she channelled all that she had observed and been taught because Susan has had great success as a player from a very early age.

Susan started playing Minkey hockey in Gladstone in the mid 80s. She started her representative career in the U12 Gladstone team in 1987. From there she represented Gladstone/Capricornia every year progressing through U12, U13, U15 and U18 to opens, including playing in U18 team as a 13 year old. During these years she was also named in or selected for many Queensland age teams, starting in 1991 named in ‘state best 16’ U15 team and in QSSSGHA U18 team as a 15 year old and competed at the Australian Schoolgirls Championships in Adelaide. By the end of school, Susan had competed regularly for Qld U18 teams and was selected to tour NZ in the Rose Quaid series in 1994.

While completing high school at Chanel College, Susan also competed successfully in soccer, athletics and Cross Country. She attained school full blue award, local sportsperson of the month on more than one occasion and was named U18 and senior player.
In 1992 Susan moved into senior teams as well and continued her rep hockey in regional and QLD U21 and open and country teams. She coaches both junior and senior teams at association and state levels, and umpires.

After completing teacher’s college, Susan moved to Bundaberg and though her large family of seven children keeps her busy she is heavily involved in hockey and continues to play, umpire and coach. Susan has continued to represent Bundaberg/Gladstone, Queensland and Australia in women’s masters teams, and more recently with 2020 HQ Women’s masters indoor challenge winning team. She recently competed for Bundaberg at the 2021 HQWM championships in Warwick and gained selection in the QLD O45s team to compete at the national Mega Masters in Newcastle in September.

Susan continues to gain recognition for her playing and involvement in hockey at all levels, with more than one best and fairest, player of tournament and top goal scorer awards. As a coach or player she enjoys taking teams with limited previous experience or lesser talent and having success with them. However she says her greatest personnel achievement was having the focus to improve her fitness (shedding 20kg in a short time) and have the honour to be selected to represent Australian in O40s masters team at the World Masters Tournament in Spain in 2018.

LEANNE STEELE (nee Aitkenhead)
Leanne officially started playing hockey in Gladstone when she was five years old, though she probably picked up a stick years before. Her mother, Judy, is one of 10 children, all hockey players. So it was inevitable that Leanne would follow them as well as her older sister Helen to play hockey. In fact all her five siblings played from a young age and all their children now play or have played hockey as children. Leanne’s two boys also played and one still plays on the Sunshine Coast.
Leanne has played hockey all over Australia, playing for Hockey clubs in Gladstone, Brisbane, Maryborough, Townsville, Sydney, Perth, and Cairns.

She has represented Gladstone, including playing and winning the State Championships in the Central QLD (Capricornia ) team at the State Schools Secondary Girls State Championships with her sister Helen. She has also been a representative player for Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns at State Championships. She represented Queensland in U18s, U21s and Masters over 35s at Australian Championships and was selected to represent Australia in Masters over 35s team in the Trans- Tasman Cup and at the Asia Pacific Cup in Hong Kong.
Leanne continued to play at club level until the age of 50 when injury brought her playing days into retirement. In addition to her years as a player, Leanne did some coaching as a teenager, and has umpired over the years. When she was playing in Brisbane in the 1980s, she was the umpire convenor for Commercial Women’ s club.

Though she has received many trophies and awards during her playing years, especially in her younger years, her most memorable is receiving an Australia Day Bronze medal from the Gladstone City Council for her services to sport (Hockey) in 1983.

Leanne’s best hockey experiences are:

• Playing for Australia
• Winning gold at the over 35s Australian Championships, playing the championships in Sydney at Homebush on the fields where the Sydney Olympics Hockey competition was played.