Kayla Marie Whitelock (née Sharland, born 30 October 1985) is a New Zealand

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player, and former

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the

New Zealand women's national field hockey team The New Zealand women's national field hockey team is also known as the Black Sticks Women. The team's best performances include a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, a third placing at the 20 ...

(the ''Black Sticks Women''). She has competed in four Olympic Games (

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

), three Commonwealth Games (2006, 2010, and 2014) and two Hockey World Cups (2010 and 2014). She was named on the FIH's All-Star Team in 2010 and was Hockey New Zealand's player of the year in 2012.

Biography

Whitelock was born in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...

, and is of

Rangitāne Rangitāne is a Māori iwi (tribe). Their rohe (territory) is in the Manawatū, Horowhenua, Wairarapa and Marlborough areas of New Zealand. The iwi was formed as one of two divisions (aside from Muaūpoko) of the expedition team led by Wh ...

descent. She married

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

rugby player George Whitelock in December 2013. Whitelock took up hockey at the age of seven, as her school only played hockey, not her preferred sport, netball. In the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours, Whitelock was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...

, for services to hockey.

International senior competitions

* 2003 – Champions Challenge, Catania. * 2004 – Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Auckland. * 2004 –

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, Athens. * 2004 –

Champions Trophy The ICC Champions Trophy, formerly known as the ICC Knock Out Trophy, is an international One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) contested by international men's teams. Inaugurat ...

, Rosario. * 2005 – Champions Challenge, Virginia Beach. * 2006 –

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

, Melbourne * 2006 – World Cup Qualifier, Rome * 2008 –

, Beijing

References

External links