“It’s fantastic, a great opportunity,” Stalker told Deccan Herald as she reflected on her journey with the Kiwi team. “I love cricket and I love travelling. That combination of the two is an amazing experience for me. I am very blessed to be working with such a great team as well. New Zealanders are a very nice bunch of people. I really enjoy the challenges the job presents.”
Enjoying her role as the only other full-time female support staff in international cricket – Chris Broad’s sister is England’s computer analyst -- Stalker said her gender had posed very few challengers. “These boys are really respectful, and there’s always a bit of interest around having a girl,” she laughed.
“I have been around male sport for a long time now, I think it depends on the way you handle yourself. You have to pretend you are one of the boys and get on with things. If there are any gender-specific jokes, you laugh along with the rest of them and suck it up. I don’t think it fazes the boys any, me being in the changing room. Maybe at first, initially, they kind of took a step back but I don’t think it even crosses their mind anymore.”
Stalker looks at herself as a trail-blazer, a trend-setter of sorts. “I do like to think there is an opportunity for other girls now because of me,” the 30-year-old observed. “Canada have just picked up a female physio for their team and she sent me an e-mail saying the only reason she got the job was because she said, ‘The New Zealand team have got a female physio, so you can have a female in the role’.
It was nice to hear that. Having a girl in the team adds something different to the group. I’d like think I add a different perspective on things at times. And I think it’s good for the boys to just have a female around!
“On a bad day, you do think why I am here in this foreign place but we all have bad days. We have a really good support team here, coaches and trainers, we try to look after each other. But sometimes, there’s nothing like chatting to your mom.”
Revealing the presence of a ‘physios’ club’, Stalker went on, “We all get along really well, we share ideas. The other day when it was raining, Tommy (Simsek, the Sri Lankan physio) and I went through all the geeky stuff that we like to talk about, chatting about new ideas that might be.
“It’s the only interaction we get with people in the same profession as us. It’s quite good to have a support network system -- we complain about the same things that other people do!”