WARD Samuel Ian

Olympic Games

Rank	Event	Year	Location
9	Men	2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA

FIH Pro League

Rank	Event	Year	Location
4	Men	2019

World League Final

Rank	Event	Year	Location
8	Men	2016/2017	Bhubaneswar, IND

EuroHockey Championships

Rank	Event	Year	Location
3	Men	2017	Amstelveen, NED
4	Men	2021	Amsterdam, NED
5	Men	2019	Antwerp, BEL

Athlete

English

Old Georgians [Great Britain]

Danny Kerry [national], GBR

Forward (thehockeypaper.co.uk, 25 Feb 2020)

His sister Nikki played national league hockey for Beeston in England. (nottinghampost.com, 24 Nov 2011)

2014 for Great Britain Against Australia, Champions Trophy in Bhubaneswar, India (theguardian.com, 21 Aug 2015)

In November 2019 he sustained a crushed retina and fractures to his cheek and eye socket after he was hit in the face by a shot from Great Britain teammate Harry Martin in an Olympic qualifier against Malaysia. He underwent surgery, with metal screws inserted to stabilise the injury. He was left with blurred vision in his left eye. (telegraph.co.uk, 02 Dec 2019; bbc.co.uk, 25 Nov 2019)

He had to withdraw from the Great Britain squad for the 2018 World Cup in India after suffering a concussion in training. (bbc.co.uk, 22 Nov 2018)

A knee injury around age 17 hampered the early part of his hockey career causing him to switch to a lower league level. (Sky Sports YouTube channel, 31 May 2020)

Premier Division [ENG] (thehockeypaper.co.uk, 13 Mar 2020)

He began playing hockey at age four, playing for the 'Banana Bunch', a mixed-gender youth development squad at Leicester Hockey Club, with his sister Nikki. (greatbritainhockey.co.uk, 01 Mar 2015; peterboroughtoday.co.uk, 21 Sep 2015)

He was introduced to the sport by his parents. "Initially I wanted to be a cricketer. As it is with most boys you dream to play for their country and I wanted to play cricket for England. But I was actually better at hockey. From around age eight, having watched the Olympic Games, I was like, "Yes. I want to go do that.' I was hampered by a knee injury around age 17 and played local league hockey and football before returning to higher league hockey at around age 19 with Beeston Hockey Club." (Sky Sports YouTube channel, 31 May 2020; peterboroughtoday.co.uk, 21 Sep 2015)

To win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. (telegraph.co.uk, 02 Dec 2019)

Competing at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (Sky Sports YouTube channel, 31 May 2020)

"You've just got to keep fighting, and everything in life is worth fighting for if you really want it." (youtube.com, 23 Jan 2015)

He was named Male Hockey Player of the Year in Great Britain by the Hockey Writer's Club in 2017 and 2019. (thehockeypaper.co.uk, 15 Jan 2020)