Kookaburras prospect Davis Atkin opens up on being an openly gay elite athlete

As the only openly gay player in Australian hockey's top flight men's team, what kind of impact can Davis have on the person grappling with their identity?

"The main thing that comes to mind for me is having someone present and right in front of you as an icon, an image," the Kookaburras prospect said.

"Having someone you could look up to who is at the highest level who is like you is the main thing I would find inspiring to tell that one person you thought would be the best to tell if you were gay or if you were trans, or any other thing really to be fair."

Atkin is that image.

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Scroll through his Instagram account and you're inundated by the vibrant colours in Davis' make-up, frozen in time in posts which transcend the hunt for likes to instead provide an expression of self.

Very few know what is to be openly gay in a high performance sport environment. Even Atkin struggled with the fear of what might come next when he was outed by a psychologist, accidentally, he adds, to an elite junior coach.

"High performance sport is something that is a pretty grey area for most queer athletes," Atkin said.

"Even when I was outed, it was not at a national level at the time, it was a very uncomfortable feeling because I didn't know how it would affect my selection at the time. The person I was outed to was the national junior coach, and I'm very thankful it was him at the end of the day because he has been really supportive and he has been amazing.

"I don't wish it on anyone, to be fair, and because it was in a high performance environment, it just really added to the awkwardness, the uncomfortable feeling of it all."

What it also did was provide Atkin with an opportunity to inspire others, which is why Atkin never shies away from talking about being an openly gay elite level athlete.

Atkin is one of the fresh faces in the Kookaburras' ranks with just three caps to his name, having made his debut in India earlier this year. There, the stadium and atmosphere were unrivalled, but the caveat was Australian players were largely confined to their hotel rooms and flanked by security seemingly every time they walked out the door.

Now he will join a 20-man Kookaburras squad flying to Europe on Friday ahead of a European tour including FIH Pro League matches against the Netherlands and Belgium - the top two teams in the world, no less - as well as games against Ireland and France.

Turns out rolling the dice to head across the Nullarbor with no guarantee of an international appearance is starting to pay off.

"Me coming over to Perth, moving from Canberra at the start of the year, I was prepared to just train for the whole year and not play," Atkin said.

"The first couple of weeks, maybe a month, were pretty tough. I had a bit of homesickness and was not really sure where I was fitting in.

"Initially when I thought about it, it seemed like a bit of a no-brainer. This is what some coaches and my parents said as well. But it is hard, especially being a bit younger, to move everything over to the other side of the country. You leave all your friends, all your family behind.

"Looking back at it now, using that 'no-brainer' sort of term is good because I haven't really lost anything in moving from Canberra. I've gained new friends over here, and I've been able to train with the national team every second day or so, and that's really driven my performance to where I want to go.

"I'm excited to see where it goes."

All roads may yet lead to Paris for next year's Olympic Games.

A call-up to the Olympic squad would be a dream come true, having watched from afar as Australia fell to a heartbreaking shootout loss to Belgium in the gold medal game in Tokyo.

But reaching that level would be no mean feat for a 22-year-old without a full-time contract.

"That's something you want to strive for, but for me personally, I've got to keep my expectations ... not low, but I need to be prepared for anything," Atkin said.

"That's high performance sport at the end of the day. It is something I've got in the back of my mind though."

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