Video Shout-Out from Sophie Taylor

Sophie Taylor is an Australian field hockey defender and physiotherapist who has represented Australia with the Hockeyroos. Known for balancing elite sport with a clinical career in physiotherapy, she is recognised for her resilience, leadership, and advocacy for athlete health and wellbeing.

She developed a passion for sport early, playing multiple sports before specialising in hockey in her teens. Despite significant health challenges in adolescence, including chronic fatigue and glandular fever, she progressed through Victorian and national pathways to earn selection in Australia’s junior national team, winning bronze at the 2016 Junior World Cup.

Taylor made her senior international debut for Australia on her birthday in 2018 and became a regular member of the national program. After being dropped from the Hockeyroos in 2022, she moved to Antwerp, Belgium, to play professionally with Royal Herakles Hockey Club for 2 year.. She returned to Australia in 2024 to play for Hockey Club Melbourne in the Hockey One league. She worked her way back into national selection and, in a remarkable full-circle moment, returned to the side and captained Australia 1,725 days later—an achievement widely cited as a testament to her perseverance and leadership. 

Alongside her sporting career, Taylor completed a Bachelor of Health Science and a Master of Physiotherapy at La Trobe University. Her dual perspective as an elite athlete and clinician informs her physiotherapy practice, where she specialises in sports rehabilitation, injury prevention, and performance-focused care.

After returning to Melbourne following her European playing career, she has continued competing in premier-league hockey while working as a physiotherapist. She is also an educator with Sport Integrity Australia, delivering programs that promote safe, fair, and inclusive sport. In addition, she coaches within the development pathway in Victorian hockey, drawing on her extensive coaching experience at Herakles Hockey Club in Belgium.

Beyond competition and clinical work, she is a speaker and mentor who shares her journey of resilience and recovery with young athletes, with particular advocacy for rest, sleep, and holistic performance.