Veteran digs deep for precious metal in Gold Coast
Captain Alex Danson plans meticulously in quest for England’s first Commonwealth gold
One good-luck charm England hockey captain and Olympic gold medallist Alex Danson has taken Down Under to the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast is a unicorn key ring given to her by a young fan. She regularly displays her affection for the mythical beasts on social media, posting a good-luck card on her Instagram account also featuring a unicorn from Team England’s base in Australia.
It might seem rather whimsical to compare Danson to a mythical creature. But, like the unicorn, Danson is a rare breed. She won her first England cap at just 16 in 2001, so now at 32, she has spent half her life as an international athlete and has won a medal in a major competition every year since 2009.
This Commonwealth Games will be her fourth and she will be in the hunt for something that has eluded both herself and England hockey: gold. This year also brings the Hockey World Cup to London, allowing England’s women a shot at another gold to evade them.
While there is the light-hearted side to Danson that enjoys the laugh she gets from shopping for a unicorn-shaped teapot in Asda and sharing on social media, there is also a serious competitor. She may be very proud of Olympic gold but seems just as pleased with the nature of the England hockey programme. Her longevity means she has seen the transition from amateurism to full-time professionalism. She has also been part of the England women’s regime under coach Danny Kerry that is considered one of the most progressive in any team sport in the United Kingdom. England rugby head coach Eddie Jones has taken inspiration from it, as has the Scottish Rugby Union.
But what makes England’s hockey women such trailblazers?
The Hampshire woman feels that taking a holistic approach is key to why the programme has become so successful. “We recognise that your performance is paramount, but I think where we in hockey are progressive is knowing that winning comes from many, many different facets,” she says. “Winning comes from performance on the day, how you feel playing with one another, the nutrition and the meals, it comes from a culture and an environment where you feel an element of competition and safety, where you feel accountable for what you do and you have responsibility in terms of both leading and following.”
With post-rio retirements from the likes of Kate and Helen Richardson walsh has come an influx of younger players into the squad. Part of the mentality is to respect each player as an individual.
“It is very much about being accepting of each other’s differences,” says Danson. “We are all individuals who behave differently, so it is about understanding each other. We do a lot of work about understanding how we operate on a good day, how we operate on a bad day and sharing that with each other. It sounds very simple but if you can understand how and why someone behaves a certain way, you have a much better ability to understand how different people need to be supported in different ways.”
Team talks are discussion based, rather than Danson leading, and the emphasis is on each player sharing something about the game ahead. With that level of collaboration comes an openness and no topic seems to be off-limits in the dressing room. There is still a certain taboo around discussing menstruation in women’s sport but not in the England hockey dressing room and having a male coach makes no difference.
She says: “Within our team, talking about menstruation is absolutely not taboo. If we need to talk about it, we talk about it. Menstruation is part of our monitoring, so in the mornings when we do come on our periods we let our male strength-and-conditioning coach know because sometimes there is data which needs to be recorded which is in line with our menstrual cycles.” Mental health and well-being are also discussed in the team setting, “The more you can be open about mental health and support, then the more comfortable people feel.” She admits that when she joined the England squad as a teenager she was extremely reserved and feels she would not make the cut now. “I was so shy, so nervous that I just kept very quiet. My 16-year-old self wouldn’t get in our programme now, I wouldn’t be a good enough hockey player.”
Like all elite sports people, England’s hockey women believe in the “one game at a time” mantra but that does not stop Danson from laying out what colour of medal she hopes to take home. “We would love to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games, I’ve won two bronzes and a silver,” she says. “But it is about preparing. Medals are won before you go to a tournament. That is why we work so hard to be progressive with our training at home.”