AUSTRALIAN Country hockey representative Kelly McNamara missed the Marburg lifestyle so much she had to move back.

Kelly, 25, was recently chosen in the national team preparing to tour Malaysia next year.

She was selected in her first Australian side after sharing in Queensland’s national title success at Rockhampton in August.

“I’m quite excited to play international hockey, playing different teams and I think the Malaysian competition is fairly competitive so it will be a good challenge for us,” Kelly said.

Queensland Country beat arch-rivals NSW 1-0 in the national championship grand final.

“I was pretty happy with how I played in Rockhampton,” Kelly said.

“I’ve trained fairly hard for the tournament.”

Representing Australia for the first time, Kelly will play matches in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang in April.

Kelly grew up in Marburg, leaving the town aged 18 to pursue her higher level studies.

But after stints living in Brisbane, the digital marketing manager was keen to return where her parents Louise and Paul still live.

“I love Marburg,” the sporting all-rounder said.

“It’s a small country town. Everyone knows everyone.

“It’s definitely my home.

“I’ve made a lot of lifelong friends in the area so it was good to move back to a lot of peace and quiet.”

Being so busy at work, Kelly said time spent in Marburg allowed her to find a good life balance.

Before focusing on hockey, Kelly represented the Ipswich and District Athletics Club in steeplechase, 3km and 1500m events and made Queensland teams for running and cross country.

The former St Brigid’s Primary School student also coached at the Rosewood Little Athletics Centre.

In hockey, she started making state teams from the age of 12.

She made her top grade debut aged 14, having been with Hancocks her whole career in the Ipswich competition.

Kelly recently shared in Hancock Brothers’ latest 1-0 Division 1 grand final victory over Wests at the Ipswich Hockey Complex.

“That was the best feeling in the world,” Kelly said.

“It was really good to come back this season and get the win. Last year, we lost in the grand final.”

Making her first Australian Country team was just reward for Kelly’s commitment to the sport and extra training.

“I thought I was past my prime,” she said. “But the last 12 months, I’ve been doing a lot of running and getting quite fit. That has really helped my hockey.”

She said her background in athletics had “definitely” helped her hockey.

“Coming up to big tournaments and things like that, it’s really helped me prepare my body for the tournaments because you’re playing a game a day and so you don’t get a lot of recovery time,” she said.

Kelly’s younger sister Rachael, who plays Reserve Grade for Hancocks, has become a training partner, going for regular 25-30km runs on weekends around their hockey commitments.

The sisters competed in this year’s Charlevoix Marathon in Michigan during an American holiday in June and July.

Kelly and Rachael were joined at that marathon by their older brother Connor, who now lives in the United States having also excelled in cross country events and who enjoyed soccer.

Kelly also contested last year’s Noosa and Sunshine Coast half marathons “for fun”.

“I enjoy the training process.”