"When I looked down at that medal on that podium . . . It's a nod to that little girl to say, you know, 'you did it'".
Dragged around the sides of an 80s Stockport pitch to watch her mother play hockey was a young Kate Richardson-Walsh. A nervous and shy little girl; bullied for not fitting in and struggling in school. But when she picked up a stick herself for the first time, Kate knew it was the perfect challenge. She finally felt like she belonged. She was a part of a team. With the support from her PE teacher, she tried out for the local county team and was selected for the England U16 team at only 14.
Despite being a promising talent, Kate lost her way. Wanting to fit in, she surrounded herself with the wrong people. The following year, her name was absent from the list of players making the cut. But this was not where Kate’s story ended; this was the start. This was the moment Kate decided to go all-in. To be the best hockey player she could possibly be.
Channelling energy and inspiration from others, coupled with a healthy dose of anxiety and imposter syndrome, Kate started to carve her own path. Kate learned to love the discipline of training and was offered a spot on the Great Britain Women’s Team whilst in university studying to become a teacher. Kate rose to captaincy at the young age of 19, a position she held for the next 13 years. She became a student of the game and had an exceptional ability to read it. She genuinely cared about every player, using the raw emotions of her teammates as her driving force, her motivational tool, her learning process.
Kate was never the fastest player. Nor was she the most skilled. But Kate possessed the unique ability to show vulnerability, admit mistakes and put person above results. Kate the individual, the hockey player and the captain were all morphed into one, encapsulating an unstoppable leadership approach that brought the Great Britain Women’s Hockey team a gold medal in the Rio 2016 Olympics. Not only was this an ode to all her hard work for the past 17 years, but also to the little girl who didn’t think she was particularly good at anything.
Winning Together: An Olympic-Winning Approach to Building Better Teams
