Walo follows parent’s footsteps

Sports

By HENRY MORABANG, ISAAC LIRI and LARRY ANDREW
TEAM Morobe’s 28-year-old hockey skipper Roberta Walo is not a new face to the game.
Her parents played the sport which eventually inspired her to take up the code.
“Hockey is like a family sport and when I started playing I fell in love with the sport, thanks to my parents,” Walo said.
Having represented Morobe in the last two PNG Games in Lae (2014) and Kokopo (2012), the part Central, Morobe and Milne Bay woman wants nothing else but to win gold in women’s hockey in Kimbe.
“Manus are the defending champions in women’s hockey and we lost to them in the finals in the last PNG Games but now we are ready to change that,” Walo said.
“It’s a very big challenge for us because we have a new team with a lot of young players and we are trying to develop our younger players to gain experience.”
Walo, who had been playing hockey since her primary school days in Lae, was also a current PNG representative and played for the national women’s hockey team in Oceania events.
“I have played in big games and using that experience I hope to guide our girls well and hopefully we finish on top with gold this time,” Walo said.