On Tuesday 6th February I was invited to be a part of a panel of sportswomen that were being interviewed as part of a fundraising breakfast for breast cancer. The other panellists were ex gold medallist swimmer Susie O'Neill, ex golfer Jane Crafter, and current golfer Shani Waugh.

The breakfast was held out on the lawn in front of the royal pines resort and coincided with the ladies golf masters. It was great to see so many local and interstate ladies in attendance supporting such a good cause. I must also say a big thank you to my partner Jenno who was the only man brave enough to come to the breakfast ..... although he pretended to be annoyed that I did not tell him any more males were going to be in attendance, I think secretly he was delighted that he would be in the company of so many lovely ladies.

The interview panel went very well with much humour and banter passed around. I am always interested in hearing about other athletes endeavours in trying to become the best and the many funny stories they tell!!!! Susie O'Neill especially makes me laugh. She is such a lovely person and a role model for females. And I could not stop laughing when halfway through the interviews she whispered to me that she was busting to go to the toilet and had to keep crossing and uncrossing her legs to cope with the discomfort. Just as the interview finished she got up to rush to the toilet but then we were all asked if we could stick around for some photos with various people. Poor Susie eventually got to the toilet about an hour after initially confiding in me the need to pee!!!!

I was lucky enough to meet some very successful business ladies from various companies. A special mention and thanks to Chelsea from the royal pines who invited us to the ANZ player's cocktail party that evening and also for inviting us to be a part of the breakfast. Also a very big thank you to Amber from ANZ who very kindly gave Jenno and I corporate passes to visit the ANZ box at the Ladies Masters Golf Tournament on Thursday and Sunday. Thanks Amber, and thanks to ANZ as we had a lovely day and we were very pleased to have received your kind invite.

All in all the breakfast was a great success and some well needed money was raised for the breast cancer society. It was also an opportunity for me to catch up with Daphne Pirie my good friend and someone whom I greatly admire. It was great to see Daph looking so well and I must say I have never met a person who is always on top of the world and never lets the smile leave her face.

Hi Everyone,

You are probably wondering why I was not part of the recent team that competed in the champions trophy tournament in Argentina. Unluckily I have had a chronic hamstring injury for the past two years and after trying every possible treatment to cure the injury I had to resort to surgery to try to repair my tendon. I flew to Perth to consult one of our countries top orthopaedic surgeons, Dr Peter Annear and after a consultation he said my only option was surgery to cut out some scar tissue from the tendon and also to release a nerve that had become trapped below the scar tissue.

The surgery was a success and although I am now out of action with regards to competing on the hockey pitch for the next 3 months, I will use the time to do a full rehab program on my hamstring so I will come back in 3 months time Fitter, stronger and more enthusiastic than ever.

I am now back home on the gold coast and have begun my intense rehab program. One of the rare fun parts of my program is that I need to spend a lot of time on the beach and in the water using the sand and the tide as a strengthening tool. I am excited about coming back with a strong new hamstring but realistic in that it will be hard work for me to do this. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Nikki