Peta Gallagher

Official Ambassador for the 2008 Pacific School Games

Profile

A star player for the Canberra Strikers Hockey Team, and well-known for her role in the Hockeyroos, Australia's national women's field hockey team, at the 2004 Olympic Games, Peta Gallagher is a perfect ambassador for the Canberra 2008 Pacific School Games (PSG).

 

Although Hockey is one of the sports in the 2008 PSG, Peta actually competed in two Pacific School Games in the sport of Athletics – also a sport in the 2008 PSG – showing her versatility as an athlete. She competed in the 800 metre event in 1988 in Sydney, and in the 400 and 4 x 400 metre relay in 1992 in Darwin. Not only does Peta credit the success of her sporting career to having competed in two PSG but she also sees it a special life experience.

 

“My fondest memories of the Pacific School Games are not of the race itself but of the many friends I made, not only in the Australian team but also with athletes from other countries who I remember swapping pins with – I still have these pins today.”

 

Born in Canberra, Peta completed an ACTAS scholarship before going on to undertake a scholarship in Hockey at the Australian Institute of Sport. She has simple advice for upcoming young athletes and prospective Pacific School Games participants: “Make sure you are focused and determined to succeed when you are competing, meet as many people as you can and enjoy the whole experience.”

 

Still based in Canberra, Peta is also an official ambassador for the ACT Government’s Good Sports Territory program which embodies enjoyment, fairness, respect, achievement and gratitude as its fundamental principles. She works full-time as Hockey Development Officer for Hockey ACT, and is based at the National Hockey Centre which is one of the venues for the 2008 PSG.

 

Citing her selection to the 2004 Australian Olympic Team to Athens as a career highlight, Peta is now working towards the 2008 Beijing Olympics in which she hopes to compete as part of the Hockeyroos.