The Olympic Hockey Centre in Rio’s Deodoro may forever be known as the scene of Great Britain women’s historic gold-medal triumph but there’s no place like home for Alex Danson as she prepares for another memorable moment this weekend.
Just shy of ten months on from that night in Rio, where Kate Richardson-Walsh’s team toppled the Netherlands on penalties and prompted TV programmers to delay the 10 o’clock news, the country’s heroines return to the pitch in London for a international double header with Argentina and Holland.
The make-up of the squad is different this time around – for one thing it is England rather than Team GB – and there is a new captain at the helm following the retirement of Richardson-Walsh in the aftermath of the Olympic Games.
That individual is Danson, with the 32-year-old forward chosen to lead from the front for this summer’s major international events.
Her CV is arguably just as impressive as a her predecessor, with 17 career medals, including Rio 2016 gold and London 2012 bronze, coming from 272 appearances, while she is just one goal shy of 100 international efforts.
And while bringing up her ton tomorrow in her first match of the summer as captain, in front of friends and family, would round off a dream day, Danson is determined not to let the occasion get to her.
“Lee Valley is for me my favourite place to play in the whole world without question,” said Danson, who has won both Olympic bronze and the EuroHockey Championship title at the Olympic Park.
“Your friends and family come, the hockey family is incredible.
“I hadn’t even considered the fact I will be going back as Olympic champion and captain of my country, that will feel strange.
“It’s a huge honour, it’s very special and something I never thought I would do
“It is a massive privilege to do it for the summer, it really is. I’ve been asked the question quite a lot about carrying on beyond that, but no matter what happens I will still be the way I am. For me, first and foremost I love playing for my country.”
The foundations of so much of Team GB’s Olympic success last summer came from their meticulous planning and togetherness – which included a collective team ban on social media for the duration of their playing time out in Rio.
Danson was one of several players to take time away from the centralised programme in the aftermath of the success too, swapping the rigours of training for some overdue time catching up with family and friends.
But the team kept in contact throughout, with the values and beliefs that served them so well previously clearly still present, not least evident in the way Danson plans to attack her new role as captain.
“I hope a mark of me doing a good job is that no one will see a change in me whatsoever. The strength is within our group and that’s what I will draw on,” she added.
“I knew before Rio actually that I was going to take six months away from the game. And I knew very quickly after the Games were over that I didn’t want to retire.
“I will try my best to lead by example but for me it will be a case of carrying on as normal.
“I’m reasonably quiet in some respects and that’s how I will continue to be and when I need to be, I will do the things I need to do.
“Everyone will have their roles, everyone will have their responsibility.”
This weekend’s matches with Argentina and the Netherlands mark the start of a busy summer with July’s Hockey World League in South Africa followed by August’s EuroHockey Championships when England go to Holland as defending champions.
Expectation levels will undoubtedly be high but it’s business as usual for Danson and the team with the new captain relishing the opportunity to throw herself back into things.
“We’ve got new faces and new talented people coming in,” she added. “We’ve got an exciting summer ahead.
“We’ve got everyone back in the programme now, we’ve got a really strength in depth which is nice.
“The way we train, the way we prepare is that we do the right things every day back at Bisham Abbey together and then we’ll see where we’re at on the field of play.
“We’re there to be competitive and try and win in every game that we go to, but it’s a long game and we’ll be building over the next few years. We’re definitely in a good place to begin with.”
Sportsbeat 2017