Back again … Danielle Schubach will again suit up for the Victorian Vipers next season. 29071 Picture: TIM DOUTRE
ALTONA Hockey Club player Danielle Schubach is part of an Australian Women’s development team, which began its five-test series campaign against the Japanese senior women’s side yesterday in Japan.
She has also once again been named in Victoria’s women’s hockey squad to compete in the 2011 Australian Hockey League season.
Schubach, who will return to Altona’s newly-promoted State League women’s side next season after spending a year with Toorak-East Malvern, spent a year in Perth with the AIS, and therefore could not play in this season’s State League Two competition.
Altona’s newest State League One player James Jewell, will also be kept busy in the coming months. Jewell, 17, was selected in Hockey Australia’s Future Stars program, a talent identification program in place to develop potential future junior international stars in the lead up to the 2011 Junior World Cup.
Jewell joined Altona this year after being identified by Altona-based Victorian representative coach, Marc Richardson as a future State League One talent.
Altona’s State League One captain, Matthew Guest, represented Canada in the Commonwealth Games, while Luke Doerner, a product of the club’s junior program in the 1990s, scored eight goals during the tournament on his way to winning gold.
Doerner, an extremely experienced Kookaburra, again dominated on the score board and is renowned as one of the most powerful penalty corner drag flickers in the world.
He has played more than 150 internationals, and also scored his 100th international goal in the Delhi tournament.
Doerner, who still lives in Altona when not travelling the world with his hockey commitments, played both junior and senior hockey with Altona from 1989 to 1998.
Board Member and club legend Ian Bartlett said: “All of us here at Altona Hockey Club are extremely proud of these stars. They have worked extremely hard, and it’s great to see it all paying off and them achieving amazing things at international level.
“The club not only benefits from gaining exposure on the world stage, but also from these players bringing back their international skills and experiences back to the club to share with the rest of our members, especially our juniors.”
