She is looking forward to going up against some of her old team-mates, though.
The 20-year-old Otago defender hails from Christchurch. She honed her hockey skills in Canterbury and has represented the province.
But she is in her third year in Dunedin, having moved here to study law, and will play for Otago at the National Hockey Championship (NHC), which gets under way in Christchurch tomorrow.
The Otago women’s team relies heavily on the student body to bolster their ranks and they recruited a good crop a few years back.
They finished sixth in the NHC last year but are targeting the semifinals this season.
"I feel like there’s a really good connection in the team this year, which is nice," Reid said.
"It feels like each player is improving as well, and so hopefully we just improve from last year."
Reid is a key player at the back for Otago. She plays in the centre of the field. It is her role to communicate and help link the defensive effort.
"I try to focus on passing and my tackling, and communicating with the players around me.
"You have to be quite vocal as a centre back to co-ordinate other people, so that’s one of my big work-ons at the moment."
The NHC structure has changed this year.
Quarterfinals have been introduced, which means all eight teams will progress through to the playoffs regardless of how they performed in the round-robin.
In theory, the higher you finish in your pool, the easier your quarterfinal match-up will be.
Otago’s opening pool game is against Canterbury, who shape as one of the teams to beat.
Abby’s older sister Tessa Reid plays for the Black Sticks and has been named in the Canterbury squad.
However, some of the Black Sticks players are skipping the round-robin, and Abby was not certain whether she would be going up against her sister tomorrow or not.
"I don’t actually know if she’s playing.
"But there are definitely other girls I know on the team because a lot of them I’ve played with or I’ve grown up watching to an extent.
"So it’s quite fun playing against them."
Otago will have a powerful midfield.
Black Stick Tessa Jopp will miss the three round-robin games but will bolster the team at the business end of the tournament.
Annabelle Schneideman is returning from Melbourne to join the team for the week and will link up with attacking midfielder Nina Murphy, who was called into the Black Sticks in June.
Millie White is another creative midfielder they will lean on. She has a strong passing game and good vision.
Eve Swan will hang back a bit in the midfield. Her role is to dispossess her opponents. She is a quality tackler and will track the playmakers on the other side.
Otago Sparks seamer Louisa Kotkamp can crack a hockey ball nice and hard and she does a lot of running up front, and Pippa Croft and Rachael Lecky will compete for a start at goalie.
Women’s NHC
Otago squad
Ella Booth, Hannah Cormack, Pippa Croft, Chloe Donaldson, Tessa Jopp, Louisa Kotkamp, Rachael Lecky, Anna McLean, Nina Murphy, Beth O’Donovan , Abby Reid, Claudia Roberts, Georgia Roy, Annabelle Schneideman, Sorell Shand, Eve Swan, Millie White, Mckaela Woodward.
Draw
• Canterbury, tomorrow, 2.45pm
• North Harbour, Monday, 6pm
• Wellington, Tuesday, 2.45pm
