Kayla Whitelock has already cemented a pretty special legacy with the Black Sticks but she's set to add to her 256 caps this week in the series against Australia starting tomorrow.
It’ll be a pretty special occasion that in many ways brings her remarkable career full circle.
Whitelock, a four-time Olympian, former captain and the fourth-most capped Black Stick can still remember her start in the sport, perhaps for the wrong reasons.
“I was seven-years-old,” she told 1 NEWS.
“My first experience wasn't great. I think I whacked my teammate in the head!”
As one of four sport siblings, she kept mum and dad pretty busy from a young age and it wasn’t long before the schedule got fuller.
“Once Kayla got to intermediate, things started to heighten,” mum Jan said.
“She had a very good coach there. He spotted her potential and got talking to us.”
That potential didn’t take long for others to notice either.
“I was in my last year at high school, Palmy North Girls when I got the call up to trial,” Whitelock recalled.
“I was in the academy side at the time, went up and played, was a pretty intense camp and yeah, coach called and said, ‘yeah, you're gonna debut,’ and it was pretty special.
“It feels a while ago now.”
The debut itself was full of memories as well.
“It was lovely to have it in Palmerston North - all the family came, everyone from Palmy, my schoolmates had a day off painting banners.
“The ‘Please Marry Me [banner], good old Tom Gillespie, that was classic.”
But it wouldn't take long for that honeymoon period to hit a bump as a ruptured ACL in 2006 proved to be by far the biggest injury setback yet.
“I was expecting a long process, nine to 12 months, but it was 15 to 18 months.”
It would actually take about five years for the knee to get completely sorted but comebacks are second nature to Whitelock, be it from injury or motherhood or even retirement after an emotional fourth placing at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Whitelock is back and ready for another crack at an Olympic medal with Tokyo in her sights and in a remarkable bit of symmetry, 18 years on from debuting in Palmerston North, her likely last home series is set for the same venue.
Even freakier though is this stat.
“All the series that have been here since my debut, I haven't played any of them.”
Whitelock will need to turn back the clock and deliver like she did 18 years ago though if she wants the same result she got then.
"It's going to be tough, no doubt about it to make the squad for Tokyo,” she said.
“Ideally I hope to finish there, but if that's not the case it's not the case. The journey I've had is pretty special, and to look back at all these memories is pretty cool.”
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