Dardanup hockey star Jake Harvie speaks out about importance of resilience after Olympic non-selection setback

As the Kookaburras continue their quest to triumph at the Men’s Hockey World Cup, a South West-born hockey star has spoken out about the importance of resilience.

Dardanup-born hockey star Jake Harvie recently spoke out about how missing out on being selected to represent Australia at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 hit him hard and made him briefly question his love for the sport.

Speaking on the Between the Ears podcast, Harvie said while not being picked for the Tokyo Olympics after 12 months of full-time training was “a bit of a shock”, it gave him the motivation to train harder and be more hungry for feedback.

“I don’t think I ever felt like I was entitled or that I should have been on that team but I guess I got used to getting picked in teams,” he said on the podcast.

“It took me a fair bit of time to get back into the swing of things, get back around the coaches and the group, and probably the start of this year (2022) was sort of like ‘is this really what I want to do?’.

“I always knew that I loved hockey but I think for a while I thought that maybe I didn’t love it as much anymore but I think it’s just some of the challenges that come with being in a high-performance environment.”

The 24-year-old said focusing on his intrinsic motivators to be the best player he can be and always looking for feedback and ways to improve helped him achieve his “greatest success” in coming back from the non-selection.

“I’ve been very fortunate to win two Commonwealth Games, win gold medals, go to the World Cup, Champion’s Trophy and lots of tournaments but getting dropped, not getting picked and having to earn your respect back with the coaches or your place back is so much more challenging,” he said.

“Getting to make a team for Commonwealth Games and now Hockey World Cup six months and 12 months later, I know what’s gone into that to be able to get back into that spot.

“Getting back in that team is a much greater success for me than playing my part in a team and winning a medal at a tournament.”

It comes as the Kookaburras compete in the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup in India, looking to go one better than finishing in third place after defeating England 8-1 in 2018.