OLIVA ISERN Georgina

General
ADAPTING TO CHANGE
She says that the game has changed due to rule changes made in 2009-2010. "The International Hockey Federation changed the style of play with different rules. That made teams more dynamic, physical and faster. In Spain we arrived late because the other teams had changed and we arrived in 2013, but we were lucky to have a coach with a different vision and a very well structured project. It has taken five years to get to a good international level, but a year or two ago we started to compete in everything. The change has been good, but also very hard and we have to thank the staff and especially the coach." (20minutos.es, 25 Oct 2019)

WORK AND PLAY
She is an aeronautical engineer and she says she has decided to focus on hockey to prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "I finished my degree of engineering and although it was hard combining exams and everything, it's not like a job where you are in an office for eight hours. It was hard for me when I had to go to work and combine it [with hockey] because it's hard sitting for eight hours and then going to play. Actually, I got injured. I stopped working this year [2019] to focus on Tokyo and I don't regret it. I've realised that I can work somewhere. I'm confident I'll go back to work in a year. It's hard to combine because in hockey you don't get paid much. The men get paid better than the women, but I really don't regret anything. My objective is clear and I want to be in Tokyo and give everything I have to achieve that dream." (20minutos.es, 25 Oct 2019)

PLAYING IN THE NETHERLANDS
She played for the SV Kampong club in the Netherlands for four years. "The level of the league is very high. The top teams and the lower teams are all very competitive. I've learned a lot about how the Dutch play, which is more passing. They don't defend as well, but it's spectacular. They do everything very fast." She returned to Spain in 2019 to prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and joined the Junior FC club. (marca.com, 14 May 2019; 20minutos.es, 25 Oct 2019)

FURTHER EDUCATION
She has also studied a master's of technology specialising in big data and business analytics at the IMF Business School in Madrid as well as a course in web development at the Catholic University of Murcia and a master's degree in project management at the OBS Business School in Barcelona. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Jun 2019)