Hockey mum's 'special' Mother's Day with teammate daughters

The mum of Mikaylah, 17, and Charli, 13, will celebrate the occasion on Sunday at the hockey field together with this the first season the trio has played together in the same third-grade team.

Rawson-Donnelly had previously played with her eldest daughter, but she relished the chance to spend more time with both her children on the weekends with the three sharing a strong passion for hockey.

"We've got a couple of mother-daughter duos even some father-son ones, but not many get to play in the same team together," Rawson-Donnelly said.

"So when I realised that it was a real opportunity to do this year, I discussed it with the girls and both of them thought it was pretty exciting.

"The girls have played hockey since they were five years old and I've played since I was seven, so to actually have a year that we could actually play together, it's been amazing."

The rest of the team have embraced the family affair within the side too, with Rawson-Donnelly becoming "mum" to everyone.

"I've actually said to my girls that I'm not going to be offended if they call me Casey when we play, but they choose not to and call me 'Mum', and now a couple of the other younger ones yell it out too, so it's become a bit of a running joke," she said.

Rawson-Donnelly and her youngest Charli are defenders while Mikaylah plays as a striker in the youthful team made up of eight girls 17 and under.

That makes Rawson-Donnelly a senior player in the side, relied upon to help lead the girls through each match.

But sometimes, she can't help but go from teammate into "mumma bear mode".

"Last weekend we had a particularly challenging game," she explained.

"When I came off and realised Mikaylah had been hit in the head with a stick, I went into that mumma bear mode thinking, 'I need to fix this, I'm her mum let me see her'.

"The coach was very understanding but had to remind me I'm one of the senior players out there, I needed to keep my head on and be Casey the player right now because Mikaylah is fine.

"It can be challenging because I do flick between mum and teammate in the game."

The head knock to Mikaylah actually saw the teen unfortunately concussed and forced to sit out the next three weeks, meaning she won't be playing on Sunday with her sister and mum, but she will still be on the bench helping however she can.

"It is a shame," Rawson-Donnelly said. "But for me, every week this season feels special. I know that this is a great opportunity, and not everyone gets this.

"As corny as it sounds, it's a blessing to be able to go out there with them.

"I've been at United for 13 years and it's a very family-focused club. I'm turning 40 this year and I still love it.

"I've continued to come back to this club because I love the camaraderie and socialisation the team provides and now I have that with my daughters too."