Stephanie's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Hockey
Event: Womens
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1995
State Born: QLD
About Stephanie
Growing up in Townsville in Northern Queensland, Stephanie Kershaw was introduced to hockey at an early age with her two older siblings playing the game and competing every weekend.
The game was in her DNA, and she quickly moved up the ranks. Once she graduated high school, Stephanie made the tough decision to move to Brisbane to join the Queensland Academy of Sport and pursue her dream.
In 2015, her hard work paid off when she was named to the national squad. 7 months after moving across Australia to Perth to train with the team, Stephanie made her Hockeyroos debut in a test series against Korea. In the 2nd test match, she scored her first goal for Australia proving her place in the team.
Just two months after her debut, Stephanie suffered a season ending injury when she tore her right ACL. With a 12-month return to play rehab program ahead of her, her hopes of making the 2016 Rio Olympic Team were unfortunately over.
At 26, Stephanie made an impressive return to the sport, winning silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Champions Trophy.
In January 2019, tragedy struck again when Stephanie ruptured her left ACL meaning another surgery, another 12 months of rehab and another missed Olympic opportunity.
However, during her rehab the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, resulting in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games being postponed for a year. This gave Stephanie time to finish off her year of rehab, get back on the field and be in contention for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Stephanie made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 as part of the Hockeyroo squad that travelled to Japan. Marking her debut at the games netting a 56' goal in Australia's 6-1 dismantling of China. After an undefeated group stage run, Australia were set to face India in the quarter-final of the tournament. The match was a tight affair and Australia fell short of medal contention when they were unable to breakdown the Indian defence, losing 1-0. This would earn Kershaw and the Hockeyroos 5th placed overall at the tournament.
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