But after 65 years as a marching girl, a coach, a manager, a top New Zealand judge and an administrator at club, regional and national level, the Dunedin marching stalwart is looking forward to putting her feet up in the audience at the Marching New Zealand Championships in Dunedin this weekend and just watching.
The 76-year-old said she started in 1956 as a marching girl.
"Back in the early days, there was always brass band music on the radio in our house.
"My uncle was the drum major of one of the local Dunedin bands and he was also involved in marching.
"He had a marching team and that’s what sparked my interest.
"I wasn’t good at much else in the way of sport, so I thought I’d have a go.
"The rest, as they say, is history."
Over the past 20 years, Mrs Hoad has tried several times to retire from marching roles, but somehow she keeps finding herself being reeled back in.
"I marched, I coached, I judged, and I did a lot of administration work.
"I proceeded on to the national executive in about 1982, and from there I went into the New Zealand chief judge’s role which I did for about 11 years.
"And then I retired — supposedly.
"I still maintained an interest in marching, but 10 years later I got asked to come back and take over as chief judge in Otago, which I did for another two years."
Just when she thought she was officially retired, she received another call in 2013 from the national executive, asking her to be the director of judging again.
"I did that for another seven years and I just retired from that last year.
"So I’m really looking forward to just watching this year."
She said she felt this retirement was likely to stick, but she was reluctant to gamble money on it.
