Saturday, February 8, 2025

Australia hockey captain Aran Zalewski calls time on career

Kookaburras captain Aran Zalewski has called time on his international hockey career, leaving behind a legacy that spanned 14 years with Australia hockey and saw him become one of the most decorated players of the modern era.

Zalewski, 35, became a triple Olympian and a regular captain with the side, helping the men’s national team to an Olympic silver medal in 2020, a World Cup title, two Champions Trophy titles and three Commonwealth Games gold medals in 268 appearances.

“The Kookaburras have played such a significant role in my life for so long,” said the Perth-born player.

“Stepping away from a team that I love and have so many good memories with is the reason it’s hard because I look back with so much gratitude, so much fondness and so much positivity.”

He concedes his decision to retire following the Paris Olympic Games didn’t come easy, as he weighed up his ability to continue while juggling family and his long-term career.

“I really tried to give myself the best possible chance to play as well as I could at the Olympics this year, and I felt like I was in really good shape, I was mentally really prepared to play well.

“I questioned if I’m continuing to grow as much as I did over those 14 years as a Kookaburra and when I thought about that, I felt like I wasn’t serving myself as well as I could, but also not the team and what it needs to keep improving, growing, and evolving.

Aran Zalewski in action PIC: WORLDSPORTPICS FRANK UIJLENBROEK

“I’m at peace with that decision and knowing that I can leave hockey and leave the Kookaburras a happy man. Even though everything in Paris didn’t go our way, I still look back on even that experience with some positivity.”

Just months before his third Olympics in April 2024, Zalewski recorded his 250th cap for the Kookaburras at the Perth International Festival of Hockey.

“One moment that I hold very close to my heart was having the whole team down in Margaret River at my house for dinner,” he reflects.

“It was the collaboration of two very big parts of my life, my family and the Kookaburras, and having them all together in one place was very special. I enjoyed that night incredibly.

“When I look back on my whole experience with the Kookaburras over 14 years, it definitely shaped me and it shaped me into the man that that I am today and that I’m proud of.

“I couldn’t have gotten that experience anywhere else, so I’m just incredibly grateful to everyone who played a part in that journey.”

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