About Summer Sutherland
Young Achiever: Summer Sutherland excels in hockey and athletics
Up until five years ago, Summer Sutherland never gave hockey a thought.
Sutherland was dragged along to watch older sisters Riley and Macey playing here, there and everywhere and was adamant she’d wouldn’t be joining them.
But something clicked for the now 17-year-old after sitting on the sidelines for so long.
“I used to go and watch them (Riley and Macey) play and I used say ‘I hate hockey and I’m never going to play hockey’,” Sutherland admitted.
“I think seeing them at nationals, I learnt the game so well from watching and I thought I’d give it a try.
“I’m glad that happened because I’ve met so many great people along the way – the hockey community is so good.”
It didn’t take long for the youngest Sutherland sister to make up for lost time.
She was soon selected for ACT state teams in outdoor, making the under-18s squad as a bottom-age player in both 2017 and 2018, before experiencing a breakout season with the Albury-Wodonga Spitfires in the Capital League and playing indoor hockey at a national level.
Sutherland was a shadow player for the Australian under-18 indoor squad – following in the footsteps of eldest sister, Riley, who has been included in the Australian under-21s touring team.
“This was my first season playing at a national level for indoor and I really enjoyed it,” she said.
“Indoor is so much faster and I found it fun because there’s lots of goals being scored.”
Sutherland plays as a striker in both forms of hockey, but it’s not the only string to her bow.
The Tallangatta Secondary College year 12 student also represented Victoria at last year’s Australian All Schools Athletics Championships.
Sutherland took up athletics competitively just three years ago and qualified for the national event in both 400m and high jump.
“Because athletics is so individual, having my coaches Ken and Rachel Little was great because they were so supportive with everything I was doing,” she said.
Excelling at a high level in multiple sports as well as balancing study is no easy feat, but Sutherland is looking forward to what lies in store.
“It’s a struggle sometimes, but I’ve always got to choose school first because it only lasts so long,” she said.
“I’ll eventually have to choose between the two, but they complement each other so well, so I’ll keep going with both and see which one takes me further.”