EVANS Sarah

General
MOTIVATION
In the lead-up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, she was part of a 31-player squad that trained full-time, but only 16 players were selected for the Games and she was not chosen. The British team went on to be crowned Olympic champions in 2016. "Having come so close to being on the plane to Rio, I do have a huge amount of disappointment that it wasn't me standing up on the podium receiving an Olympic gold medal alongside my teammates. I am proud of all 31 of us because it is the culture and training environment we have created that has produced an Olympic gold-winning team. It has been, along with the GB programme, the toughest experience of my life. But it has only made me more hungry to carry on, become a better hockey player, make the team for Tokyo and help the team defend their title and make it 'double Olympic champions'." (yourlocalguardian.co.uk, 05 Sep 2016)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
She is an ambassador at professional coaching business Next Step Ready and for the British Inspiration Trust. She is part of The Women's Sport Trust's Unlocked programme, which aims to provide insight into the challenges and opportunities in women's sport. "It is not good enough that the sporting landscape currently looks like it does. Many sports, like my own, are not diverse enough. I want to be able to enact positive change to help sports become more inclusive." She has previously been a director at sports apparel brand Pintail Threads, the charity manager and a hockey coach at Surbiton Hockey, a graduate sports assistant at Wellington College, and has written a column for local newspaper Surrey Comet. (LinkedIn profile, 01 May 2020; britishinspirationaltrust.org.uk, 24 Mar 2021; womenssporttrust.com, 07 Apr 2021; yourlocalguardian.co.uk, 05 Sep 2016)