You played for Wales at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and also at the 2018 Games on the Gold Coast in Australia, but what happened in 2014?

The day before the Glasgow Commonwealth Games was due to start, I slipped in training and fell awkwardly. My knee cartilage had torn, but the cartilage also flipped over and so my knee was basically locked at a right angle. It was incredibly painful.

 

The next day I was sitting in a wheelchair at Glasgow Airport, waiting for a flight back to Cardiff just as other Welsh athletes were flying in for the opening ceremony. It felt heart-breaking and was made harder because I’d suffered an ACL injury only two years before.

I had surgery and the idea was to keep some of the original cartilage in the knee, but it didn’t really work, so I ended up having further surgery to have the cartilage removed.

 

I came back to play a few times and each time the knee would give me problems, which was hard, psychologically, because I was only 20 and every time I tried to play I’d suffer another knockback. It took me two years to get it properly healed and I managed to come back in 2016.

 

What did you learn from that experience?

Because I was so young, this kind of injury hadn’t really happened to anyone of my age I knew, or any of my friends in the sport. So, there was no-one, really, I felt I could get advice from. The feeling I had was that everyone else was moving on with what they wanted to achieve, and I was getting left behind.

Now, I’m nine years older, I have a different perspective of working through it. You realise that almost every player in all sports has serious injuries at some point. Mine just came very early.

 

I feel I can talk to the younger players who suffer injuries and offer some perspective. Everyone approaches their recovery slightly differently, but essentially, it’s about patience and perseverance.

 

Is there more support now for injured players, including psychological support?

There is more support out there now than there used to be and it’s noticeable how knee injuries for women has gained a lot of attention in women’s football.

Thankfully, there is more of a spotlight, more research, and athletes are getting the information they need, but there is still more to be done, because although some injuries are just accidents – like mine was – there are others that are preventable with a bit more knowledge and understanding.

 

What else have you learned about setbacks in sport?

As you get older and more experienced, you release the value of teammates and the people around you. In the Wales women’s squad, we all have jobs outside of playing sport, so it is a big commitment.

 

If you have been playing representative hockey since you were 15-years-old – as some have – then by the time you get to 30, you have given a huge commitment.

There are sacrifices made, including financial, but we all love playing hockey and love playing for Wales, so it’s also a huge honour.

 

I’m lucky, too. There are seven of us playing for Clifton Robinsons, who also play hockey for Wales. That means there are two car-loads sharing those journeys over the Bridge from Bristol to Cardiff and we all rely on each other. It’s teamwork.