Find out how Issy discovered a love of hockey
Hi, I’m Issy, I’m 18 and I’m from Surrey.
I first picked up a hockey stick when I was in Year 2 – my primary school introduced hockey into the PE programme, and I quickly fell in love with the game. 12 years later, and I’m still playing (though thankfully, I’m a little better than I was back then!).
My favourite part of hockey has got to be the matches – there is really nothing that compares to the feeling of making a break towards the goal, beating defenders and working with your teammate to score a goal. That being said, I really do love everything about hockey. As I’ve gotten older and more experienced, it’s helped me gain a lot of confidence that I didn’t used to have. It’s also great for your personal fitness, and it’s the perfect sport to play if you like sprinting or want to improve your speed and stamina. And with thousands of ways to hit a ball or make a tackle, there’s always something new to learn too, which makes hockey an engaging and surprisingly creative sport to play!
When I was in Year 11, I played hockey at both my school and my local club. Whilst I was having a great time playing at my club, I was the only one left from my friend group at school who still played (most had switched to football or rowing by that point). I started finding school hockey really lonely and not only did I start dreading training and matches, but it also made me feel badly about myself. In the end, I stopped playing school hockey, which gave me time to play more club hockey. I began to have much more fun playing again, and I became much more involved in my hockey club. Since then I’ve played in junior and adult leagues, been to club socials and helped coach the younger players. Last season (when I was a junior) I even won ‘Captain’s Player’ for the adult team I play in! By prioritising my enjoyment of the sport, I’ve gotten far more out of it, and have improved far more than I would have if I wasn’t enjoying it.
I think the most important part about playing sport and exercising is to stay active doing something you genuinely enjoy and that makes you happy. Especially as young girls and teenagers, we are fed a message by the media that you need to look a certain way to be happy, to be healthy, or to feel worthy. For me, having a sport I love, like hockey, has really helped me stay centred on playing sport because I enjoy it and it makes me feel good about myself, rather than exercising simply because I think I should.
The best advice I can give to anyone who wants to try hockey is to just give it a go. Regardless of your experience level, or whether you want to play competitively or socially, there truly is a team out there for everyone. And considering lots of clubs run trial sessions and can loan you kit until you decide if you want to stick with the sport (pun intended), you’ve got nothing to lose. Who knows – maybe hockey will be the sport for you!
Issy 😊
Find out more about how to get involved in hockey on the England Hockey website.
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