Tokyo Olympic silver medallist and Kookaburras co-captain Aran Zalewski returned home to Margaret River for a flying visit this week, stopping by the Margaret River Hockey Club to greet his family, friends and fans.
"We got the word out about Aran's visit as soon as we heard, and our juniors and their parents were all super excited to meet him," said Club President Maxine Williams.
"We grabbed a permanent pen and everything was getting signed... hockey sticks, shin pads, shirts, even a shoe!"
Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, Hockey Australia and Hockey WA launched a campaign to encourage local hockey clubs to send messages to their heroes on the Hockeyroos and Kookaburras national teams.
"We grabbed our phones and collected a few cheers from some very excited young players, and a good luck message was created," said Williams.
"We used some footage from past Olympics and our training night and with my husband Craig cutting the clips we had our good luck message ready to send to our Olympians.
"Aran saw our video and sent a 'thanks for the support' comment back.
"Our message was then shared by the Hockeyroos and Kookaburras as well as Hockey Australia and Hockey WA. Our little video had over 600 hits in a day!
"That week, Aran scored the most exciting and perfect goaaaaal!"
On his quick stop visit, Zalewski thanked the club and said support from home had been amazing, and had contributed to positive team morale.
"Amongst all the excitement of hearing about what the Olympic village was like, playing in the heat and his experiences at the Games, his visit was an amazing experience for us all, he even let us hold - and wear - his silver medal.
"It's been a memory that will live on in our club for years to come."
