The fact she’s running in Orange too, well, that makes it extra special for her.

“You had to nominate, but when I got the email saying I’d been selected to come to Orange and do the relay I was absolutely stoked,” she said.

“It’s so exciting to be able to come back to Orange and do something like that in front of the community I grew up in, I’m really excited to get out there.”

Bone will take the baton from David Howe on the corner of Hill and Summer Streets on Tuesday, at about 10.30am, before handing it off to former Olympian Anna Windsor one block further down.

“Yep, about 100 metres between The Top Wash and Percy’s,” she laughed.

“Even though it’s only a short run, it’s great to be able to do it in Orange. You know, I could’ve done in Canberra or Perth, but it means a lot more to be able to do it here.

“With the Commonwealth Games being so close and [the Hockeyroos’] side being picked soon, it does give me a bit more motivation to train harder, to try and represent my country on home soil again.”

Coming home also gave her the chance to link with twin sister and Canberra Strikers star Meredith as well, and put some of the region’s up-and-comers through their paces at Orange Hockey Centre on Monday as well.

Seeing all the kids [at Orange Hockey Centre], being so excited to come out and meet you and learn from you, it’s very special,” Bone, a veteran of 143 international appearances, said.

“I tried to keep it quite basic because we spend a lot of time on that, and I think it’s really important.”

She explained that even at the international level, the focus remains on making sure a player’s basic skills are top notch. So, that’s mainly what the clinic focused on.

“We did do some of that fancy stuff like tomahawks and that kind of thing, because they’re fun,” she laughed.,

“But the big message is to do the basics well. Even with our group at the international level we spend so much time on that and I think that’s something that kids sometimes forget about sometimes.

“If your basics are as good as they can be, it makes hockey a lot easier so we did a lot of that – hitting, trapping, push passing, things like that.

“We did a few other things, things I’ve learned, like how to deflect the ball into the goal, one-on-one tackling. I’m a defender so I love tackling and I hope I’ve got some knowledge I can really pass on there, and then we finished up just playing some games.”