Canterbury hockey player Susannah townsend brazil bound

the team for London means I appreciate being selected for Rio even more. I’ve opened that email when it’s not good news, so this feels even sweeter. We’ve had a lot of conversations about how to deal with and look after those teammates who haven’t made the team. There’s nothing you really can say to people who haven’t been selected to make it better, it’s a personal thing. You tend to leave it in their hands. If they want to talk they will talk to you. It’s tough because they are devastated but also delighted for you. Most of them are still training with us which just highlights how it’s more than the squad selected who are pushing for that medal. Great Britain hockey looks after us well with regards to tickets. You make a request for the tickets that you want and then they accommodate you as best as they can. I made the decision pretty early on that I didn’t want to be involved with sorting tickets, so I’ve left my family to it. My parents are coming, two of my brothers are going and if we do well, my other brother and sister will come out for it. They understand that when I’m at a tournament, I don’t have a lot of time to see them and spend with them. They’ll watch the hockey but also experience the whole Olympics. We’ve had a lot of advice and support from the BOA and our medical team about Zika and any possible risks about flying to Brazil. We’ve been informed about everything and you make an informed decision about what you want to do. We’re protected well and looked after well. We’re lucky that that is looked after for us and it’s not something we worry about. We went in to the Champions Trophy to win and during some spells we played some good hockey but it’s not a bad thing to happen at this stage of the year. We haven’t suddenly turned into a bad team. It’s all about the tiny percentages and during the Champions Trophy, those percentages weren’t working for us. We came out of the tournament frustrated because I don’t think we showed people the team we are apart from in that last game. But we’re looking to peak in Rio and that’s what we’ll take out of it. I did follow the football Euros and was disappointed with the England results. It’s great for the country to get right behind one team and support them. Hopefully, that’s what we can do in the Olympics and give people something to cheer.