Danny back after heart attack

ENGLAND women’s coach Danny Kerry will be forgiven for any pangs of emotion when his side line up against Germany at the World League Final in Auckland tonight.

The 46-year-old is back coaching for the first time after a nearfatal heart attack in July, revealing how “it might have killed me” but for his healthy attitude to life.

The Olympic gold medal-winning coach felt pains in his chest and arms in the early hours after an England game in South Africa.

Initially, he brushed off the pain but later woke up England team doctor Cath Lester, who decided to travel to a local hospital by taxi.

“My doctor said, ‘You are a very lucky man’,” said Kerry. “It was a big shock for me to hear that. He said I was fit and healthy otherwise. If I had it 10 years later, most people wouldn’t have survived it.”

Kerry was told a gym session, the altitude in Johannesburg and then watching England were major factors. He said: “The thinking from the cardiologist was because I was fit, I was having a heart attack but my heart was coping.”

Kerry, whose wife travelled to South Africa to be by his side, had surgery before returning to the UK. But he did not think of quitting.

Since July 2005, Kerry had taken only one two-week break but is now focused on “getting perspective” in his life.

On his return, the squad jokingly gave him a vegetarian cookbook.

In New Zealand, England will be led by Alex Danson, voted as permanent captain by team-mates. They face Argentina on Sunday and China on Tuesday.