Remember When.. Alyson Annan OAM

The 2018 NSW Champions of Sport Ceremony will celebrate the best of NSW sport, with the induction of five athletes in to the NSW Hall of Champions, and the announcement of the 2018 NSW Sports Awards winners. Counting down to the event, we talk to past NSW Athletes of the Year and NSW Athletes of the Year with a Disability and ask them to share their great joys and triumphs as well as life post their ‘dream year’.

Athlete: Alyson Annan OAM
Sport: Hockey
Event: Gold Medal - 1996 Atlanta Olympics
NSW Athlete of the Year: 1996
Sport Australia Hall of Fame and NSW Hall of Champions

By Carson Parodi, Media & Content Intern - Sport NSW

Every so often, the prowess of certain athletes transcend typical sport success and their achievements raise them into a cloud of untouchability – a rare air that only few have the pleasure of breathing. 

Such is the case with Alyson Annan, who has dominated the world of women’s hockey ever since she stepped between the lines of its artificial turf in 1991, at the age of 18. Then, just two years later, Annan found herself atop the podium's highest platform at the Women’s Hockey Champions Trophy, accepting her first international gold medal – kick-starting what would become an illustrious career.   

In the ensuing years, Annan helped lead the Australian Hockeyroos toward complete domination in every major international tournament. In the decade she spent with the team, they won four golds at the biennial World Champions Trophy, gold medals in back-to-back Olympics, two World Cup titles, and a gold at the Commonwealth Games.  

Throughout this dominant era, Annan scored 166 goals – the most by any player in the Hockeyroos decorated 115 year history – and won countless awards and accolades. It can be difficult to rank these special moments and memories, but amidst a trophy case crowded with gold, there may be a few that shine just a bit brighter.  

In 1996, Annan won NSW Athlete of the Year, an award that recognises the most outstanding athlete from New South Wales.  

“To win [that award] for a state that gave me so much and was integral in my development as a player and person was very special,” she says. “Recognition of your achievements by your peers is extremely special. I am very proud to have won the award.”  

As one of the most capped players in Hockeyroos history, Annan spent her playing career representing her country at the international level, winning medals for herself and for her teammates, and for Australia. Yet, it’s the local recognition that validates both her passion for hockey and an unbreakable pride for country.  

That same pride for country which helped the Hockeyroos to an Olympic gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games – one of the other achievements in Annan’s glittering career that she finds most unforgettable.  

“Playing in a stadium where I started my career was very special,” she says. “Having all my coaches and family in the stadium made it even more special.”  
Annan retired from national competition shortly thereafter, but finding ultimate success on her home turf served as a poetic finish to a life dedicated to and guided by Australian hockey. Even now, as head coach of the Netherlands esteemed national team, Annan finds herself leaning on her roots in NSW. She says that transitioning into coaching has been challenging, particularly in a different culture, but she credits her past as helping to ease that process.   

“My coaches have played such an integral part in who I am today as a person and a coach. That started at NSWIS.”   

Which helps explain why some of her fondest memories are those that took place on the soil of NSW. And it’s that foundation that pushes her to continue impacting the world through the sport of hockey.   

“As a coach it is fantastic to see players grow as athletes and as people. Being part of that growth brings a lot of rewards.”   

Yet, even while continuing her reign on hockey’s greatest stages, most recently coaching the Netherlands to a World Cup title, everything still always circles back to New South Wales.  

Would she like to eventually come back and again lead Australian women’s hockey towards greatness?  

“Hopefully one day.”

Join us at the announcement of this year's NSW Sports Awards winners, alongside the induction of five icons of NSW sport into the NSW Hall of Champions, at the 2018 NSW Champions of Sport Ceremony.

Tickets to the event are just $175 per individual, or $1,700 for a table of 10.

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Please contact Sport NSW on (02) 8736 1239 or info@sportnsw.com.au for further assistance.
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