Women's Olympic Hockey Team Clare Balding Meets

Welcome to the beautiful Bisham Abbey. Wandering round the grounds,

you bump into top-class tennis players, footballers, netballers, Paralympians.

But it's also the base of GB hockey,

and that's why I'm here.

Because, as we build up to Rio 2016, in this series

we're going to be checking in on some of our best medal hopefuls.

And I've come here to meet members of the squad

who took the bronze medal at London 2012.

Team GB won their first women's Olympic hockey medal in 20 years

at London 2012,

when they claimed bronze by beating New Zealand.

Then, in 2015, the England players,

who make up the spine of the British team,

claimed their first European hockey title in 24 years

by beating world and Olympic champions Holland

in a dramatic penalty shootout,

sparking hopes of repeating their medal success in Rio.

I want to find out about the team's self-belief.

We believe that we are one of the top teams in the world,

we believe that we can beat anybody on our day.

How Captain Kate Richardson-Walsh overcame a broken jaw...

I still remember Kate turning up in the dining hall

and she had these two bowls of this brown mixture.

And she was so excited, and she had blended a roast dinner.

Honestly, you were so excited. And I was like, "Great, Kate."

And, of course, can they go all the way and win gold in Rio?

I think we've got every chance of winning a gold medal,

I think we've shown that now

as we've just really progressed as a side.

Of all the sports that you could have played, why hockey?

I got into hockey not particularly out of choice, I was playing...

I joined the school quite late, I was playing rounders

and apparently I was very dramatic,

diving for balls that were just coming straight at me.

So I remember the rounders coach saying,

"Right, we've got to get you in goal next season."

And I actually hadn't heard of hockey or played it,

I'd just come over from Belgium with my family.

And being the new kid, obviously the goalkeeping position was available.

So, shoved in, pads on and off I went,

and I've learned to really love it, to be honest.

-Georgie, what about you?

-Team sports were definitely my favourite.

And I'm known for being very competitive,

and I think hockey kind of is where I probably excelled in that regard.

-And I just loved the kind of skill, speed element of it.

-And Kate?

Yeah, very similar. I started off doing gymnastics and swimming.

And then I went to secondary school

and hockey was just one of the sports,

like you say, rounders, netball, athletics.

And probably picked hockey up better than the rest, to be honest.

And you've now been playing hockey for how long?

Oh, God, don't go there, shows how old I am. A long time ago.

I'm 36 now, I started when I was about 11, 12. So, yeah, a long time.

Are there injuries specific to hockey that you...

or parts of your body that take more strain

because of the bending down?

Yeah, we're all going to be hunchback nanas.

Although our physios and strength and conditioning coaches

try and open us up, we're constantly in that position,

so we're going to be like nanas with trolleys when we're older.

But, yeah, backs take a lot of strain, our core.

Kind of hips, glutes, they need to be really strong

because they are really making sure that we're stable

when we're in these ridiculous positions,

slapping the ball, hitting the ball.

But we get quite a lot of knee injuries, ankle injuries.

I mean, we've got a bit of everything, really, haven't we?

And you've got to be incredibly brave.

I mean, Georgie, you're out there with no protection, really,

and your job is to run at someone who's shooting at goal.

-Some of the time, that's your job.

-Do you do that?

-THEY LAUGH

-Treat me like a...

"Oh, I'll break a nail!"

That is not true!

Erm, I guess we do hockey so much

that it kind of becomes not scary.

But, yeah, there can be times where you might be caught in no-man's-land

and you're sort of five metres away from someone shooting at goal

and it's that kind of, "Oh, I'm going to get hit here,

"so I'm going to have to shut your eyes and run towards them",

rather than sort of looking like a wuss and running out of the way.

Maddie can take the shots, she's in goal with lots of protection.

That's true. You are padded up to the nines.

Everyone thinks we're the nutty ones,

but actually we're the safest on the pitch, I reckon.

These guys are out there to kind of make me look good, I reckon,

and not make us do anything.

And the better job they do, normally I just stand there.

Have you ever actually played out in the field?

We did a shoot the other day and I got put in a skirt

and this lot were ripping me for looking really weird.

You've got far too skinny legs for outfield hockey.

Very white, skinny legs.

Just pretending... And they were like, "Just go do what you do."

And I was like, "What do I do?"

and I got the stick and I'm just running round.

But on the bravery scale, you've got a very high standard to live up to,

because of you, Kate Richardson-Walsh.

Because very few people

carry the injury that you carried in London 2012

and just want to get back to play as quickly as you can.

-Just explain what happened.

-Well, it was a bit stupid, really.

I went in for a tackle that I probably wished I hadn't,

but the Japanese girl was crossing the ball from the right-hand side

and I went in to tackle on my backhand, and unfortunately,

and unusually for me, I got a little bit of the ball,

which meant, then, she didn't get the ball

and she just caught me completely by accident.

She must have caught me on a sweet spot, right in the jaw,

and straightaway I knew I'd done something really bad,

because I could just feel all this kind of row of teeth

up in the middle of my mouth.

But it's crazy what adrenaline does,

and the spirit of the moment.

And there was no doubt in my mind, once the surgeon said,

"There's a chance you can play,"

I was like, "OK, right, we're going for it."

Because you didn't really remember much -

you probably had a bit of concussion as well.

You've got a fractured jaw, you've come round from surgery,

or come round from anaesthetic, and what do you say?

So I just said, you know, "Am I going to be able to play?"

and the surgeon was... He was all for it.

Dr Simon Holmes was like,

"Yeah, this is like a baseball-bat-to-the-face job,

"I see these every week, east London.

"Yeah, you're going to be fine."

So from that moment on, it was just a case of trying to get stronger,

put the weight back on that I'd lost,

because I'd already lost 2kg from the match, which is kind of normal.

And then I'd lost,

because I'd not been able to eat after the match,

so just trying to shove custard and yoghurt and God knows what down me.

-Because you couldn't chew anything.

-No, I couldn't...

I couldn't have any solid food for about ten weeks.

Best diet ever.

I still remember Kate turning up in the dining hall

and she had these two bowls of this brown mixture.

And she was so excited.

And she had blended a roast dinner.

Honestly, and you were so excited. And I was like, "Great, Kate."

I tried to be really enthusiastic.

That sounds really nice.

-Put more gravy on it, why don't you?

-Actually amazing.

-You could taste all the elements of a roast dinner.

-Good.

-Highly recommend it.

-I'll try that.

We're used to everybody's mothers being quite protective of us

and not wanting us to get harmed

and, you know, jumping in if somebody criticises us, or whatever -

what was your mum's response when you got injured?

She just wanted to come to the hospit...

She just wanted to get to the hospital and see if I was OK.

My dad went home. My dad was just like the most chilled person ever,

he's like, "There's nothing we can do,

"so I'm going to go home and wait to hear what the news is tomorrow."

But you see, I heard that your mum said,

"Oh, it's all right, at least we're 4-0 up.

That does sound like my mum.

Yeah, that's the kind of thing my mum would say.

That's where I've got this competitive spirit from -

that's my mum, sure.

For you guys out there, what actually are you wearing?

-You've got a gumshield.

-Yeah, gumshield is really important.

I mean, that's saved a lot of teeth over the years.

-Have you got anything protecting your...

-Abs.

-Yeah.

-Obviously.

-Abs are protecting you.

That's it. But no protective gear on your upper body.

And what have you got on your lower legs?

Quite a few of us wear shin pads,

which cover just under your knee to just above your ankle.

There's always the tiny gap around your ankle bone.

-That you always get hit on.

-Always get hit on that gap.

But that's it. That's all the protection that we wear.

Maddie, with your kit, how long does it take you to get ready?

Um, about ten minutes...normally.

If I go over ten minutes, they start shouting at us to get quicker.

As a goalie group, we like to gossip when we're going back,

and this lot are always like, "Where are they?! Get them out!"

So, ten minutes I can do it in,

probably just under if I was rushing.

And do you know what it weighs?

It's roughly around 15 kilos of extra,

so it's quite heavy in total, yeah.

Especially when it gets wet.

And when it gets wet -

and obviously you're exercising in it as well

and you're probably a bit hot -

I've heard that it's really smelly, goalkeeper's kit.

Right, Twiggy, you can back me up.

Because... Because I share with Twiggy on trips,

and I would classify myself as one of the cleanest goalies out there.

Because if you don't wash it, then it will smell.

And it does smell at times, but I wash it.

-And then it doesn't smell so bad.

-You hand-wash it?

-No, I wax.

So all the soft stuff, you can get in a washing machine. Two cycles.

Shorts, body armour. And then all the foam, that doesn't smell,

you can just put it in the bath.

And then, yeah... And then you're good to go.

And then do you spray it with something?

Yeah. Normally after sessions, I get some Febreze on it.

Obviously when we're away at trips,

I don't have the access to get it in a washing machine,

so I just Febreze it and, yeah, I think I'm all right, aren't I?

Yeah, I would definitely second that

-she's not a smelly goalie, definitely.

-No.

The corridor in our hotel when we go away on tournaments,

everyone puts their Astros, their shin pads and their gloves,

and you do feel sorry if there are any other guests in the hotel

because it absolutely stinks. It's not nice.

-No, it's just build up of years of sweat.

-Good.

I'm so glad we've discussed all this, yeah.

We're really girlie.

It's interesting that...

There's a lot of research that says

that young girls don't want to get into sport

because they think it's going to mess up the way they look,

and there is a balance there.

There isn't a lot of room for vanity on the pitch,

but do you worry at all about looks?

And particularly with televised matches,

do you make any extra effort?

I'm going to ask you this, Georgie.

-Why me?

-It's only if you wake up like that.

THEY LAUGH

I've always, you know, worn make-up for matches,

always wear my pearl earrings, have my nails done,

but I think that's just part of who I am and, actually, you know,

when I step out onto the hockey pitch,

I'm exactly the same as everyone else and, actually,

there's quite a lot of us that do sort of, you know,

make sure they do their hair nicely and make-up

and just take a bit of pride in our appearance, really.

Well, presumably there is certain make-up

that you've got to get, that's going to have to be waterproof.

You can't suddenly be streaming with badger eyes, you know.

It stings your eyes. If you get non-waterproof mascara

and it gets in your eyes - game over.

And people do tend to get dressed up more for a match

than, you know, regular training here at Bisham and things.

And, to be fair, it's not something that's specific to women.

I mean, look at Cristiano Ronaldo, look at David Beckham.

They really care about their appearance,

-they're very aware they're on camera.

-Yeah.

I mean, for me, it's quite hard, because I put a helmet on my head.

-But I try.

-You do still put some on.

Get the eyes going.

But, yeah, it's just interesting when you said,

obviously, girls getting into the sport.

Goalkeeping in particular is a tough one

to get girls to put all the pads on.

One, exactly what you said,

they think it smells and it's not exactly

the most flattering look in the world

and then you put a helmet on your head,

and when you take that off, well, there's just mess.

So it's a tough one, but I think, with these guys,

we all make an effort, even I would do.

But I think there is...

what you said earlier about you've got the chance to be a hero,

and you've done that and I think people like that.

They're going, "Oh, you're not just the last line of defence",

you actually can be a complete match-winner.

Yeah, yeah, and that's why when I go into schools and talk to them,

it's like, when you're little and you're growing up,

who doesn't want to one day be the hero for the day?

And I think, yeah, those moments in goalkeeping

make all the little negatives that come with it well worth it,

and I think it's a unique position.

You have to have a unique character,

but if a kid wants to grow up and be a hero,

get the pads on and it will one day happen.

Georgie, have you found, as we get closer now to Rio,

that training is intensifying

and everybody's attitude in training is changing?

Erm, I think the beauty of our programme

is that we have been training so hard

for the last couple of years, you know, as it is,

but I think because of the schedule of Rio being so intense

and so many matches in such a short period of time,

you know, we've started doing extra running after training sessions,

plenty of matches plus training, plus gym,

and sort of increasing the volume in that respect,

just to make sure that, when it comes to Rio, it might seem...

Well, hopefully it seems a bit easier

than actually what we've been doing here at Bisham.

Do you enjoy training?

Erm... Do you know what, I quite like the gym.

-Yeah, I like it.

-It's an area that you can just...

You get a lot of chat, a lot of gossip, a lot of banter,

but at the same time it hurts

and you're ready to get out after an hour and a half or so.

But you can always push yourself in there and see what you can do,

and if you're angry it's a great place to take out the anger.

Slightly concerning, that, Maddie.

So you're basically admitting to me that you have anger issues?

Straight away... Have we revealed something straight away?

There's something about the gym, it releases hormones

and we are at our base level in the gym.

Team GB claimed their first Olympic women's hockey medal for 20 years

after defeating New Zealand in the bronze-medal match in London 2012.

The hosts picked themselves up from a narrow semifinal defeat to Argentina,

to secure a convincing 3-1 win over New Zealand.

I want to know what impact their success has had

on the game in Britain.

I think it's made a difference

in that we believe that we are one of the top teams in the world.

We believe that we can beat anybody on the day.

It's not kind of a, you know, if everything goes well

we'll cobble something together and we'll get a result.

No, we actually believe we can be the best team in the world,

and I think you need the medals to feed into that confidence,

otherwise it's kind of a bit of bluff and a bit of bravado.

You need to back it up with actual medals,

and I think we've been doing that over the last few years.

Some of that comes from funding as well -

and that's the other difference the medal in London made, isn't it?

Yeah, I mean, we are so reliant

and so fortunate in having funding.

So we have a National Lottery grant.

We get money from UK Sport for the programme

and then we all get individual grants

and, yeah, had we not medalled in London,

that would have been cut, I think, substantially.

And I think some of us knew, going out there,

that, potentially, if we didn't medal,

we would possibly lose quite a lot of our funding, and that's quite hard to take onto the field.

I've been there in 2004 when we didn't qualify

and we lost 70% of funding,

and it was devastating for the programme.

How tough was it, Georgie and Maddie - when she went,

everybody was talking about the fact that, you know,

it might be her last game...

What were you thinking and were you hoping to persuade her otherwise?

Yeah, I mean, you know,

Kate has been such an inspirational leader to all of us,

not just in our team

but, I think, in the hockey world.

I feel very lucky to have played alongside her,

and we are extremely glad

that she has continued to carry on playing,

because she's an integral part of our team

and will be key to our success in Rio.

Erm... It will be a loss when she retires

because, you know, she has been captain for such a long time,

has brought so much to our sport,

you know, not just on the field, but off the field as well,

and there are big shoes to fill when she leaves us.

How do you choose your captain?

-Because it's not the coach's decision, is it?

-No.

It's a players' vote. I mean, going forward,

we don't know how that will happen,

but in the past it was a players' vote.

And then, from that, the captain kind of emerges,

but the way Kate came about it was quite interesting.

We were voting for co-captains,

and so I just thought we were going to have co-captains.

The coach said, "There's just such an overwhelming vote that we'll just have a captain,"

and they said it was going to be me. I was 23 at the time and I was like,

"There's people in the team ten years older than me,

"hugely experienced, multi-Olympians," and I was like,

"Oh, my God. I don't even know what I'm doing."

And I didn't know what I was doing for the first few years,

but, yeah, we've kept that.

I think we go through, like, what we want to be as a squad, don't we?

Like, how we want to be remembered,

what kind of squad we want to be,

and then we talk about how that should be led

and, therefore, who that should be led by.

-And it always seems to work itself out.

-Yeah.

Do they call you Captain Kate?

No. As a joke sometimes, maybe.

-We should.

-We will now.

-All through Rio.

Everybody thinks, "Right, you're the captain,"

you've been captain for ever,

that you're the leader on the pitch, but actually it seems to me

you encourage a leadership in individuals all the time -

that everybody's responsible for their own decisions.

Absolutely. I think that's the strength of our programme and the squad.

I was going to say, I think the amount of work

that the goalkeepers do on set pieces is unbelievable,

and then that's matched by the outfield players

doing the very same thing

for all of the opposition and all the outfield positions

and players that we're going to play against.

It's interesting to me, though,

because people think of teamwork being just what you do on the pitch,

but actually teamwork is everything, and more than anything

it's what you do in the times in between competitions.

-Yeah.

-The off-the-pitch stuff for us is key,

and obviously we spend a huge amount of time together as a group.

So I think the gym is what we classify as

as close to a social as we get together.

But there's regular dancing situations or singing situations.

We went through a phase with that One Direction song, didn't we?

-What was it called?

-History.

-History.

And we'd all just, like, get going.

And it would just make us feel so much better. So, yeah, it's good.

And then once we go, everyone goes home and then back in the next day.

What impact does it have on your social life?

I mean, do you ever go out to a party?

A party?

There are definitely lots of sacrifices that have to be made.

When I first came into the squad, I was at university at the time,

so it was a definite culture shock coming into the squad,

but, kind of, you know, what it takes to be at your best

and you learn what you can do and what you can't do.

And, you know, there's a squad of 31,

so it's everyone's individual responsibility

to make sure that you are in the best possible shape.

At the moment, sleep is an essential ingredient,

so, at the moment, we are not partying at all.

-So how many hours' sleep a night?

-Ten.

-Ten hours?

-You two are quite good sleepers, actually.

-We're good sleepers.

I probably get about seven or eight

and then I might have a nap if I can get time.

I'm about eight or nine.

I go for ten if I can.

-So we're in bed at nine.

-It's... Yeah, you know.

God, we're really boring!

No telly after nine o'clock? You've gone to bed.

-It depends. It depends what's on.

-Maddie's a later...

Later going to sleep, but you'll have a lie-in,

whereas I'll go to sleep early and wake up early.

And, Georgie, have you noticed much more interest in you,

and in hockey generally, since the Olympics?

Yeah, definitely.

I think the recent Europeans,

we were sold out at Lee Valley,

and I think participation of hockey has definitely grown

since London 2012.

You know, my hockey club at Surbiton,

at the weekend we have at least 900 kids, maybe 1,000 kids turning up,

which is fantastic.

So last August, the European Championships

were staged here in London, in Lee Valley.

What happened, Maddie?

So we got into the final and we were up against the Netherlands,

the current Olympic and world champions,

so we battled through to the end,

got ourselves to a shootout

and performed really well in that.

How nerve-racking is it when you are a penalty-taker?

Erm, it is quite nerve-racking.

But we've done so much practice,

so much work with the psychologist as well.

But I must say that when I stepped up to take that penalty

my heart was pounding.

You know, it was such a critical moment in a final...

And, yeah, I was quite nervous.

And unfortunately that penalty didn't go in, but do you know,

if that happened in an Olympic final and you had to do that again,

would you feel different because you've been in that situation once?

Definitely. I think, you know,

the people that took the penalties have taken them previously

and, for that reason, because we have stepped up on that stage,

we've experienced the pressure

and I've taken penalties since then,

so if the coach was to ask me, I would step up again.

As happened, it didn't matter,

because how many penalties did you save?

There was... I saved three out of the four.

I was letting Maddie have the glory.

That's very good of you! That's very good teamwork, you see.

And your preparation is unparalleled

and becoming legendary.

So you had this little black book - and most people in the old days

would have a little black book full of phone numbers -

what's in your little black book?

I wish there were some more phone numbers!

Ah, but no.

So, all it is... Normally I've done a lot of work elsewhere

in just separate notes,

and I basically narrow it down to kind of five or six clear points,

so it'll be like "Number six," for example,

"this is her strengths - likes to shoot on reverse",

and then I'd have,

"Get out hard then back off" or "tackle..."

Basically a game plan to counteract their strength.

And that's all I had, so every time I looked down I was just like,

"She likes to do this," and cos I've seen the video

I could kind of visualise in my head what I needed to do.

But they hadn't taken a penalty shootout for years, had they?

The Dutch don't end up in that situation that often,

so I had very minimal footage on them,

but I'd found some stuff at club level as well on certain players,

and a few of the girls have played in Holland

so they kind of knew them as well.

So you can get little bits from everyone

and then it gave me a direct thing

that I knew I was going to do, so there was no hesitation,.

And if they had the guts to step up and do something different,

fair play, and then it becomes more of a game-on situation.

But it was funny, cos every single Dutch player did exactly what I wrote down.

And they were nervous looking at me looking in the book, and it could have been blank.

It's a bit of a mental game. I just think, "Why not?"

You know, if it helps, it helps - and so far it has.

The only negative to it was what happened afterwards.

Yeah. So... Well, it's interesting.

In the third shuffle I tore my MCL.

And like Kate said about adrenaline when she did her jaw -

obviously nowhere near as bad -

I remember thinking, "Oh, that hurt,"

but I was like, "I'm fine."

And then I went and slid for the pile-on

and the whole team on top of me.

I had two fingers that I could move and it was hurting so much

and I was trying to pinch - I think it was Helen's shoulder -

to tell her, "I think I'm in trouble."

And then, yeah, it was fine

and ran around like a headless chicken all evening

and then, yeah, woke up in the morning and was quite sore.

-And then had to have a bit of time off.

-Yeah.

I was going on holiday the next day

and I turned up at the airport in this full leg brace and was like...

"But we're European Champions, it doesn't matter!"

-"Totally worth it!"

-"Took one for the team!"

After winning the 2015 EuroHockey Championships

where they beat Holland, the world's top-ranked side,

the squad have proved they have the pedigree

to improve on their bronze medal in London.

I want to know what confidence levels are like in the camp ahead of Rio.

I think it's been a really exciting Olympics.

There's a kind of top six, seven teams in the world

really are going to be vying for those medals,

and strength and depth in women's hockey has really grown,

which I'm really pleased to see.

But it just means it's going to be tight.

And with the quarterfinal format this time, that's different -

first time we're going to have that.

It's really, like, cat amongst the pigeons,

everybody's in with a shout, so it's exciting.

You've got a very strong group at the Olympics,

your opening match is going to be against Australia.

How much homework do you do on the opposition?

As well as working on your own technique and strength and game,

how much are you mugging up on them and everyone else in your group?

Many, many hours.

So, our coaching staff,

we have an analyst who is just phenomenal at what she does,

and how she breaks the game down.

And we can go up there

and look at any game, any player, any edit, any moment of game,

and she can pull that out for us

and we can look at it in detail, we can slow-mo it.

Sometimes we can get it from a couple of angles.

And there are literally hours spent,

"OK, I'm going to likely play against these forwards,

"what do they do?"

As Maddie said, what do they revert to under pressure,

what is their type, and how am I going to need to play against that?

And when we go to tournaments, I think that's our strength

and Danny's strength as coach, is our tactical set-up is always,

I think, one of the best in the world.

-Have you been to Rio, any of you?

-Nope.

But you know where you're going to be.

-Are you staying in the Olympic Village?

-Yeah.

And, obviously, you've done that before, Kate.

Maddie, this is your first Olympics.

Yeah, so in the London cycle, Danny sent myself and Susanna Townsend

on this "mission programme" to get a bit of an experience

of what it's all about, and actually,

I'm quite grateful for that

because there's a huge amount of distractions

and the village was so cool and, like, so much going on

and people that you admire just walking past casually

and I was like...

I think having done that now, it will be a little less daunting.

It will still be epic, I'm sure, but I definitely have a little bit

of an understanding of how it's going to look and feel and, erm...

-I think that's why he sent us on that.

-Yeah.

And for you guys, it is the beginning of an Olympic adventure.

For you, Kate, it's definitely the last one, do you think?

I don't think you can take anything other than the next day.

I think at the moment it's because everything is so intense,

just focusing on the next thing, the next day,

and I think what will be will be, afterwards, but for the moment

this has really got to have all my focus and attention.

Just finally, people are going to be watching you, supporting you,

obviously, what chance do you give yourself of winning a medal

and what chance of that medal being gold, Maddie?

I think we've got every chance of winning a gold medal.

I think we've shown that now as we've just really

progressed as a side and started to pick up more medals along the way.

The Europeans, even though it was England,

was a massive turning point in us as a programme and group,

cos not having quite ever reached that gold medal standard meant you

never fully understood what it took to get there or what it feels like.

And I remember afterwards thinking,

"If that's what a European gold medal feels like,

"what on earth would an Olympic gold medal feel like?"

And it's just given everyone that extra little push to be like,

"Right, let's make sure we go out there and give it our

"absolute best and leave no stone unturned and be ready."

But like Kate said,

the world of women's hockey is more competitive than ever.

The format is brutal.

And every team will be on their game, so...

We'll need a few things to go our way, as sport does,

but we will certainly leave there with no regrets

and we'll give it our best shot and I see no reason why

we can't win a gold medal and, yeah, we'll just see how we get on.

-Georgie?

-I don't know how I follow that!

-She's very good, isn't she?

-Very good, Maddie.

-Thanks.

Yeah, I mean, you know, we won that gold medal.

As Maddie said, winning that European gold medal gave us

a real taster of what success is and what we can actually achieve.

Erm, and so...

You know, to go to the Olympics and to try

and get that gold medal is all of our dreams

and it's what we've been training for day in, day out, back here.

Each game, no matter where you're ranked in the world rankings,

is going to be tough.

And we know that come Rio, come the first game,

we will be fully prepared, whichever team that goes

and we'll have the backing of the whole of the GB side.

It's so exciting, isn't it? Kate, it's so exciting.

It is amazingly exciting.

To see this group of girls that gets selected, to see them go out

and represent a squad of 31 and have that whole belief of the programme,

what we've done, the preparation,

all the hours we spent on the hockey pitch, the gym, the meeting room,

will be worth it for those moments we're in that bubble

of the Olympic Games and I really do believe we can win a gold medal.

Good luck to you and thank you so much for your time.

-Thanks for having us.

-Thank you.

It's amazing how much you can tell, how much you can read into

body language, the way people are with each other.

You can see what a good team they are

and what strong members of the squad, but also in their own ways,

that Maddie and Georgie lead as much as Kate does and she encourages that,

so she's not just a leader in name,

she empowers those around her.

And you can also tell the love and

respect that her team-mates have for her.

So good luck to them in Rio.

It's going to be hugely exciting

and if they can get into the position of getting

into the gold medal match then who's to say they couldn't become

the first British women ever to win the Olympic gold medal?

Fingers crossed.