Hockey ID squad’s silver lining in Germany

Hockey ID coach Emily Peers travelled with the England Hockey team to the EuroHockey Championships in Monchengladbach where the team returned with silver. She shares her experience with us:

Having previously won silver in 2023, matching that achievement with a brand-new group that only trained once with all players in attendance, is incredible.

Coming into this group as a brand-new coach, I was not sure what to expect from the tournament, the players, the wider community and just wanted to ensure everyone had the best experience they could on and off the pitch.

Having completed this now, there really was nothing to worry about and I think a lot of that comes down to the hard work of the team I was joining.

Jayne, Lochlann and Steve have created an incredible group that the emphasis is on enjoying playing hockey with an England shirt on.

To say we’re not result driven would be stretching the truth, we wanted to medal and after a tricky day on the Monday we didn’t think this would be possible.

But after a solid regroup and talking to from our panda mascot, we knew as coaching staff we just had to bring it back to the basics… score goals, have fun and stay positive.

Did the women’s squad coming along to cheer us on and get into a chant off with the Irish fans spur the team on even more? Definitely yes and I’m super grateful to all the players that came down to cheer the team on.

We even got them to announce to the players they had made the gold medal game, solely as it meant more coming from them and not because we were all too emotional to tell the group ourselves.

The tournament overall was even better than what I had hoped for and the community there was incredible. I felt like the new kid on day one, but soon enough was welcomed by all coaching teams and already looking forward to seeing them all again.

I know I am biased but our team spirit was definitely the best and seeing the players grow through the tournament was the proudest thing of all.