Culhane's whirlwind 2023 that's included captaining his country
“I haven’t really thought about [what I’ve achieved] too much, it’s all gone pretty quickly. I’m just trying to relish every opportunity I get; it’s been pretty cool.”
2023 is a year Benji Culhane can circle and forever look back on with an immense amount of pride.
Just what the talented 20-year-old Southland hockey product has squeezed in is something that deserves shining a light on.
It started in April with a surprise phone call. It was the news the then 19-year-old had been selected in the New Zealand Men’s Black Sticks squad to take on Australia and Great Britain.
In June he also headed with the Black Sticks team to Europe for the FIH Hockey Pro League. Culhane played in seven of New Zealand’s eight games.
“It was against some of the best teams in the world, so it was a bit of an eye-opening experience. I learnt heaps,” Culhane said.
“We didn’t win a game, but we should have beaten Holland and Germany at least once.”
This week Culhane arrived home from yet another stint playing overseas. This one had some added significance to it, even if it was at the age-group level.
He captained the Junior Black Sticks Under-21 team which lined up in the Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia.
“It was a bit of a surprise, I actually just found out the day before we left,” Culhane said about captaining his country.
“It was a pretty cool honour. I found it awesome but was trying not to make too much of it.”
Eight teams took part in the Sultan of Johor Cup, which was effectively a build up tournament to next month’s World Cup.
Culhane led the team to wins over Malaysia and South Africa but lost to India, Pakistan, and Great Britain.
“That was our first time together as a team, so we have grown some connections.
“We have a got a reasonably tough pool for the World Cup, we’ve got Holland and Belgium, as well as Pakistan, in our pool.
“It is not going to be easy but definitely the time together as a group, we’ll benefit from it at the World Cup.”
The World Cup will also be held in Malaysia starting on December 6 which means Culhane will spend a month back in New Zealand before returning to Malaysia.
One thing that has now been hammered home is that playing in Malaysia offers up some different challenges compared to lining up at the hockey turf in Invercargill, or in Dunedin where Culhane is now based.
“The heat is probably the big one. The temperature was in the 30s a lot of the time, but the humidity adds to it.”
It’s been a whirlwind eight months or so for Culhane as he’s represented his country at the elite level and jetted off to parts of the world he might not have previously heard of, let alone been to before.
“I haven’t really thought too much about [what I’ve achieved], it’s all gone pretty quickly. I’m just trying to relish every opportunity I get; it’s been pretty cool.”
“I’ve been pretty lucky to see different parts of the world.”
Following his trip to the Under-21 World Cup Culhane’s next hockey quest will be a crack at trying to make the Black Stick’s Men’s team to head to Olympic qualifiers in Oman in January.
Naturally, the dream situation would be a trip to the Olympic Games.
“Obviously it’s something that is in the distance but that would probably be the ultimate goal. But I’ll just put my head down and work hard and see what happens.”
While Culhane is now based in Dunedin where he is studying - and also plays his hockey for Otago - he still calls Invercargill home.
He is proud of his Southland roots after progressing through the junior hockey ranks.
“When I’m home I head down to the turf at home. They have got a pretty good facility there now with a couple of new turfs.”
Culhane’s hockey journey started at primary school in Invercargill and he comes from strong pedigree with his mum Tania and father Simon both successful sportspeople across different sports.
Simon is a former All Black first five-eighth.
Culhane junior is also a talented cricketer but that has taken a backstep because of his emergence as a Black Sticks representative.
Although he didn’t rule out a cameo outing or two on the cricket field during the summer if he gets a gap in his hockey schedule.
“I’d love to. Unfortunately, before Christmas is going to be pretty tough, just being away at the Junior World Cup.
“I don’t know, maybe after the World Cup if I’m not involved with anything with the Black Sticks I might be able to get a couple of games in.”