For most people, becoming a sporting hall of famer is a great achievement, one which has national hockey player Stacey Siu Butt "on top of the world".

Siu Butt was one of three players inducted into the American University's (AU) Stafford H "Pop" Cassell Hall of Fame in January after her record-breaking school years as a field hockey player there during the mid 1990s.

Siu Butt has had a distinguished career in Trinidad and Tobago colours, as one of the best players to grace the national women's hockey team and is well known for her agility, tenacity and goal-scoring ability.

But the former T&T captain and Carib Magnolias player also left her mark on the field at AU, which is in Washington DC. It would have been a surprise to few, then, except for Siu Butt herself, when she recently received a call to confirm her attendance at the ceremony.

"A lot of my former teammates came out to the function as well, so we were all retracing the memories and stuff. It was really nice. It was a nice, nice function," she told the Express last week.

Siu Butt admitted that being at the university had its challenges, such as adapting to the US style and learning the system of play, but heading back to AU certainly revived memories as well.

"... [It] brought back some good memories of practising and playing with my teammates, scoring goals, winning, and bad memories of running, and throwing up...things like that," she recalled.

"We also beat the number one team in the first or second year, so that was great. I also broke my hand up there and played with a cast on my hand."

Between all those ups and downs, Siu Butt managed to score an AU record of 103 goals and 41 assists, as well as 247 career points, despite playing just three years, between 1995 and 1998.

In her senior year alone she notched 41 goals, with 19 assists. Those put her in eighth on the list of all-time leading scorers in NCAA field hockey history.

"It's definitely an honour and a pleasure to be inducted into any hall of fame, regardless of what it is," Siu Butt revealed. "It really goes to show what can happen after all that hard work you put in, the blood, sweat and tears that you put in. I was so nervous because it's such a big occasion, something once in a lifetime."

Siu Butt, who graduated with a degree in business administration from the Kogod School of Business, attributed her success to the basic training she has had from her various club and national coaches, her club, school and national teammates, her family and parents, and "everyone who supported me".

"I'm on top of the world, basically. The only thing missing is the Hall of Fame here," she added with a laugh.

And after having more than her fair share of injuries and surgeries associated with the sport, Siu Butt is just happy, and grateful, to be playing as long as she has.

"I would say I'm pretty much pleased," she reflected.

"It's been a tough road. As I came out of school I had a couple of injuries that kept me back for a while... But I got over that, you know, mind over matter, I got back on the national team, captained, [was] vice captain at some point.

"I have to thank the Lord that I'm still around after all those surgeries, and playing at a high level."