Connor Holland's rise through the state and national hockey ranks continues to impress those around him.
Watching him in action on the pitch, you would assume Holland's knack for filling out the highlight reel with a well-struck goal or a timely chase-down tackle were talents which came naturally to the rising star of the sport.
But if you ask the Shepparton product himself, he tells a different story.
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“I wasn't the most talented kid or anything growing up, hockey didn't come most naturally to me,” Holland said.
“But I suppose through hard work and perseverance it sort of leapfrogged me against other kids that thought they were a bit more talented back then.
“It's probably led to a couple of selections down the line where those kids now aren't getting picked or not even playing hockey really because they're not in the system anymore or have just lost the love for the game I guess.”
Holland though certainly exudes a love for the game, spending most of his teenage years travelling to play with Essendon Hockey Club when he wasn't lining up for Shepparton Strikers in Goulburn Valley Hockey Association.
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“(Essendon) have been very good to me since I've gone down, they've taken me under their wing and let me train once a week and still play in the ones when I was living in Shepparton,” he said.
“And then moving down to Melbourne they've been really supportive with the move and I probably couldn't thank them enough for it, they've made me feel like it will be a club of mine for a long time.”
Those years of hard work and dedication coincided with steady progression through the Hockey Victoria ranks until his junior career culminated in Australian representation — playing for the national 16-and-under schoolboys side on a tour of South Africa.
It is that achievement which has Holland ready to join the ranks of the Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame on the Junior Honour Roll.
“That was a pretty surreal experience,” he said.
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“The whole touring in a different country and that sort of thing and getting used to playing hockey on minimal sleep against a crowd that's really against you and not having much support other than a handful of people in the crowd.
“Some of the views over there and especially the nature and wildlife over there was pretty unbelievable, we were lucky enough to go play in Cape Town and train there against a couple of local sides, it was a really surreal experience.”
But if Holland has anything to say about it, his stellar list of achievements is far from complete.
Currently in the Victorian Institute of Sport and an extended Australian under-21 squad, Holland hopes to earn selection in the final Australian under-21 outfit for the looming World Cup — and from there the sky is the limit.
His versatility on the pitch certainly helps his chances, because although he is a striker in name and nature when playing in Shepparton, his fast feet and supreme touch make him an asset at either end of the arena in representative squads.
“Probably earlier in the under-15s or so I was playing as a striker through to the 18s, but probably as I've progressed I've become a bit more mature as a hockey player and moved more into the midfield and the backline,” he said.
“It probably just adds that extra string to your bow being able to play at both ends of the ground and putting more reasons forward for the selectors to pick you.
“The more teams that I've made the further I thought I'd be able to get and now the main goal in a couple of years — or as soon as possible I guess, but I know it's going to take a couple of years — is hopefully moving to Perth and playing for Australia and doing what a couple of boys are doing in a couple of months from now and playing in the Olympics.
“I probably should thank Mum (Paula) and Dad (Peter) with all of the driving and stuff, they've been there from the start and have really helped with everything and travel and Dad's sure had his fair share of advice for me after games and before games.
“A couple of families at Essendon as well for looking after me and taking me under their roof if I needed a place to stay or anything like that, Essendon Hockey Club have been huge as well as the Strikers, they got me into hockey and they were what really made me love hockey at the start.
“I couldn't have done it without out any of them.”
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