Games No. 3 and Beth wants to go one better than last time
THREE is a magic number and this summer Beth Bingham will compete at her third Commonwealth Games for Wales as one of three women’s hockey co-captains.
The 27-year-old from Swansea made her debut at Glasgow 2014 before she earned her first win at the Games on the Gold Coast four years ago with an upset victory against India.
Bingham will now join Olympian Leah Wilkinson and Sian French as the co-captains for Team Wales when they cross the border to Birmingham.
“In January we found out that the three of us were going to be co-captains in the lead up to this summer’s competitions,” Bingham explained.
“So we’ve had a few months to work together and balance out how we do the three different roles and we have three different approaches to it.
“I think it works really well and we share the load well between us. In terms of actually what happens on a match day, we just sort of share the roles.
“It just seems to work well for us, we have different styles, and they complement each other. It doesn’t really matter who’s wearing the captain’s armband on that day and for that match.
“If you’re a leader, you’re a leader, and we’re not the only ones in the team that can lead well, we’ve got a really good depth of experience in the squad, and everyone takes their turn.
“It’s great to have a team of leaders really. I think I bring my communication on the pitch particularly, and off the pitch in terms of just making sure that everyone’s on the same page and everyone’s working together.”
This summer, Team Wales, supported by funding raised by National Lottery players, will comprise of over 200 athletes, and having secured her place on the squad, Bingham is looking for medal success.
And with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games set to inspire people and communities across the country this summer, Bingham hopes sharing her story will give others motivation to get involved in sport and turn their dreams into reality.
Bingham lauds the win over India four years ago as one of the best in Wales’ history, and she has the chance to lead her side to another win over the same opponent with Wales and India again drawn in the same group.
However, the hockey coach has loftier ambitions than just beating India.
She added: “The win over India was the best game I’ve ever played in personally, probably a highlight of my career, that first game.
“To be 2-0 up at half-time and then to manage to see the game out 3-2, I think a lot of the team that were there that is one of the highlights of their career so far.
“Their ranking, I think at the time they were ninth in the world and we were a lot lower, so it was a really good start for us.
“We’ve been saying the whole time we just want to get our best finish. We’ve got a tough group and we’re taking each game as it comes.
“I’m sure there will be certain games that we target and we will be wanting to get points from, we just want to be able to finish as high as we can and be the most successful Welsh women’s hockey team at a Commonwealth Games.”
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