There were three to choose from. Jake was not fussed which one he chose to wear, although one arguably holds greater significance… and worth.

Jake comes from a special and unique bloodline that was instrumental to hockey in Australia during the middle of last century. Harvie may not be a surname synonymous to Australian hockey circles at the Olympic Games (at least not yet), but Pearce certainly is.

Jake’s grandfather is Gordon Pearce (his mum’s father), one of the five famous and talented Pearce brothers (alongside Cec, Mal, Eric and Julian) who represented Australia at the highest level between the 1950s and 1960s.

With the family having migrated to Western Australia from India, Gordon competed for Australia’s men’s hockey team at three Olympic Games – 1956 (Melbourne), 1960 (Rome) and 1968 (Mexico City). Of the three, the most notable was the last one where he was part of the silver medal winning team in 1968 where the Kookaburras lost to Pakistan in the final.

Now 89 years of age, Gordon still has his silver medal in a special location in house and Olympic blazers hung up in a cupboard next to each other. Jake says it was always one of the ‘great attractions about going to grandad’s house’.

“I remember hearing a lot about his Olympic experiences from him and that would be the talk of the family…he had his Olympic medal downstairs in his house and a few of the Olympic blazers in the spare room that Tom and I used to pull out and try on,” Jake recalled.

“There was always that part for me that thought about how cool it was hearing about grandad’s history. He has very fond memories of playing for Australia, so part of me always wanted to do that, but I wouldn’t have realized it until I was a bit older.”

Raised in a supportive family with strong morals and a competitive nature, Jake has always been a thinker and natural go-getter. Growing up on a farm two hours drive south of Perth near the coastal city of Bunbury, and with a brother two years younger, Jake was a typically active youngster. Australian Rules Football, cricket, running, hockey… the two Harvie boys were was always doing something until hockey took the mantle as the sport of choice.

“We were lucky our parents were so supportive,” Jake recalled of his childhood.

“Everything Tom and I have been able to achieve is entirely because of the start they gave us, but we played every sport on the farm. We had big PVC pipes we used as footy goals.

“With hockey it was the sport dad was still playing and he had done a lot of coaching, so Tom and I were always down at the hockey centre every weekend smacking balls out the back on the grass fields having a good time.”

Boyanup Hockey Club was Jake’s first hockey club and his talent was quickly noticed as he was selected for state teams from the age of 12. After his parents made countless road trips to Perth to take him and Tom to separate representative camps and trials, Jake eventually moved to the Western Australian capital where he would go on to make his Kookaburras debut in 2017 against New Zealand at the age of 19.

While playing out the back on the grass fields of the local hockey centre in Bunbury would certainly have contributed to Jake’s progression to debuting as a teenager, there were also plenty of times  Gordon and his brothers would often be hitting the hockey ball around with the Harvie boys and playing mini games against them.

While not seeing his grandfather in action during his prime, from what he has been told, Jake said there are similar elements to how they both go about their hockey.

“Grandad played a lot of his hockey at right half, which is the same position I play. But the main similarity I’ve been told that I share with him is work ethic,” Jake said.

“Grandad and his brothers were always wanting to do extra training, extra running, and they were also fierce competitors, which is something I pride myself on.

“When my grandad and his brothers were representing Australia there was no daily training environment back then – the selected Australian teams would only come together for Olympics and qualifiers.

“The brothers used to love doing their extra runs together and maybe that’s where I get my wanting to do that little bit more.”

Another uncanny (and unwanted) similarity Gordon and Jake share is that they were both overlooked for selection for Olympic Games in Tokyo. Gordon was, somewhat controversially, not selected for the 1964 Olympics in the Japanese capital despite being in the leadership group at the time. Jake narrowly missed selection for the COVID impacted postponed Tokyo Games in 2021.

In trying to identify times in his early days that convinced him the hockey path was the one he wanted to take, there were ‘definitely a few moments’ according to Jake. Some of these involved interactions and conversations with his grandfather, but there were notable others that struck a chord and reinforced Jake’s desire to play hockey for Australia and be an Olympian.

“I remember Sally Carbon (1988 Olympic Hockeyroo gold medallist) came to our primary school when I was in Year 1,” Jake said.

“She had been involved in writing a kids book and she spoke about doing extra running after school. I remember thinking to myself, ‘she played hockey for Australia’ and going up to her in the library and saying, ‘my grandad did that’. At the age of six I remember thinking that was pretty cool – that’s what I want to do.”

“Then when I was 10 years old the Kookaburras came to Bunbury for a series against India and Pakistan and I remember the next morning I went for a three-kilometre run.

“Looking back on it now it’s weird to think for those experiences to culminate in me deciding this is what I want to do, to then start seeing me try to manifest this is how I’m going to get there.

“I got into Little Athletics because I’d always loved running but I wanted to get fitter and faster for hockey… I didn’t do it for the athletics.”

In a lot of cases, young players coming into a senior national squad would need to bide their time before getting a look in. Even more so a Kookaburras team that had a reputation of being very difficult to break into. This was not the case for Jake. In 2018 he was part of the Kookaburras teams that won Commonwealth Games gold, the Champions Trophy and he also played every match at the 2018 World Cup where the Kookaburras trounced Great Britain to take home the bronze medal.

Jake admits luck did play its part in his quickfire rise in the team, however there was certainly a lot more to it than simply good fortune.

“Sometimes it’s sliding doors opportunity wise and people who get the opportunity to play internationally for their country don’t want to acknowledge that there is quite a bit of luck involved,” Jake said.

“I know I have worked really hard to get where I have but that doesn’t negate the fact I have had some luck go my way to play as much as I have. I don’t want to forget that and think it’s all because of me.”

“Matt Swann was one of the senior guys and played in a similar position to me, he took 3-5 months off in my first year in the program, which allowed me the opportunity to play.

“I got the opportunity to be a mainstay in my first 70 internationals… the Olympics is the only thing I have missed out on.”

“They talk about it in acting – to get into the room and get an audition is largely just luck, but to stay there and get the part, that’s where the hard work and skills come in.”

That luck Jake had been blessed by in the early stages of his international career then ran out at arguably the worst possible time – selection day for the Tokyo Olympics. Jake missed out on selection in the team in the cutthroat environment of 27 athletes vying for only 16 spots. The most difficult audition for a hockey player to secure a part in.

You would be hard pressed to find an athlete who would consider missing out on Olympic selection to be a blessing. But that’s how Jake saw it… maybe not at the time but once the reflection process took place.

“I have always bought into the idea that you have some control over how you respond to things. I’m not saying I did that well straight off the bat – I was disappointed and angry and I don’t know if I’ll ever agree with the selectors’ decision,” Jake said.

“I had the option to respond to it poorly or in a healthy way. To take control and responsibility and say it was my fault that I didn’t get picked because that is the only way I would have any control over getting selected in the future.

“So that’s what I chose to do and so far it has been paying off. It’s not necessarily always the case but I’m someone who wants to take responsibility. There are always external forces – I can only do what’s in my power and give myself the best opportunity to get selected.

“After the team departed for Tokyo, I spent two weeks in Broome with one of my best mates, had some time to reflect and get away from it all. After that I knew where I wanted to go but it still took a long time to operate in a way I needed to.”

Jake would love to emulate his grandfather by competing at an Olympics, but his sights are set on trying to go one better by having a gold medal draped around his neck in Paris.

At the foundation of this goal is a desire to keep improving, fulfil his potential and ultimately compete at an Olympic Games.

“At the end of 2021 I just got to know myself a lot better and what I wanted to do and get from hockey…and making an Olympic team is definitely one of those things,” the 26-year-old said.

In addition to his hockey pursuits, Jake’s outlook has also been influenced by his recent completion of his final university placement on a neuro rehabilitation stroke ward at a hospital which has seen him secure a Degree in Physiotherapy. An achievement seven years in the making, the experience has given him a serious jolt of perspective and gratitude.

“Some of the people I’ve been working with over the past five weeks have it a lot tougher than I have,” Jake said.

“It became very evident over that time that there are a lot of people who aren’t able to do the stuff they want to be able to do.”

His other release away from hockey comes in the form of ‘dabbling’ on a guitar and surfing. He lists John Frusciante, Jack Johnson, Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton among his favourite guitarists. While ‘competent’ on an acoustic, Jake certainly does not proclaim to be close to accomplished.

“I was not someone who wanted to sit in a room and learn a musical instrument. I wanted to be outside kicking the footy and hitting a hockey ball,” Jake said on how he came to strum a guitar.

“I owe my interest in guitar to my parents… they made me do it and I’m glad I did.

“Surfing is one of those things where you go and get lost. There’s nothing else you can do other than sit out in the water and wait for a wave. I love that.”

When he is eventually done and dusted in his hockey pursuits, expect to see Jake devoting more time to having a guitar in hand.

“I’ve still got to learn Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin – it’s on my dad’s requests to be able to play that from start to finish so I’ve got some work to do on that front, but it might have to wait a while.”