Too small. Too dynamic. Do less. These were the words Maddie Hinch heard over and over in training. Now she’s earned over 150 caps for England and Great Britain, taken European gold, Olympic gold, and been recognised as the FIH Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year a record three times. She believed she could, and she did.
Undeterred by gender stereotypes, low expectations of coaches, and not being selected for teams early on in her career, Hinch maintained a rare, undying sense of self-belief. She was resilient and used the rejection as fuel to work even harder, refusing to let it deter her from her goals. She took bold steps, relocating and sacrificing her university scholarship in a bid to learn more, improve her play, and hope to get noticed. She did.
Athletes often talk about highs and lows when it comes to their careers and perhaps the most challenging setback Hinch faced was not getting selected for the London 2012 Olympic team at age 24. She could have let this moment shatter her dream. Give up. Stop playing hockey all together. But she didn’t. She looked back at all the highs and lows she’d already faced and knew she could overcome this too. When the next opportunity approached, she came back stronger and didn’t let anyone stand in her way.
Rio de Janeiro, Olympic finals 2016, Hinch was ready. She famously saved all four penalties and team GB claimed Olympic gold.
Her journey to becoming the best was far from straightforward but she remains grateful for this. What could have been deemed as failures Hinch saw as learning opportunities that made her tougher. Determined to leave a lasting legacy, she continues to push herself and set her sights higher and higher and higher.
“Work out where your passion lies, work out what it is you wanna do. If you believe you can do it, and you're willing to put the work in, then just stick at it.”
Maddie Hinch – video transcript
Sport is definitely still perceived as a male-dominated area. And I think naturally at school, or when you get started, it can give off an image that you might be a bit of a tomboy, if you play sport, you want to kick a ball or whatever. But I didn't really care. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what everyone else around you is saying. If you truly believe that is the path you want to go on, then you have to stick by that. As soon as you start losing that inner self-belief, then it's a really hard long road. And I think I knew that I was going to be something a little bit different, but I've always believed that I could do it. And I'm almost like, the more they knocked me down, the more people kept saying that, the harder I would work for it.
Growing up in the Hinch household was definitely competitive. Very much from my dad's side that the kind of the sports genes I think originated. We were always surrounded by sports. And when you've got one younger brother, who's always trying to compete with you, that naturally gave me a bit of a drive to want to always beat him and my dad at everything.
Hockey was definitely the standout sport. It was something that I clearly had a little bit more talent in than the other ones, but I struggled, early doors, really struggled. I'm smaller than most of the goalkeepers around the world. And as a result, I remember the coaches at the time saying to me, "You will not make it because you're too small and you're too dynamic, and you just need to stay on your line. Do less." And I knew that wasn't my game. So I spent from the age of 14 through to actually 18 being told by the same kind of group of people that I just wasn't what they were looking for.
In the year when it really mattered, the year where they decide if they're going to take you into the senior year, I wasn't selected for the Junior World Cup. Again, I found myself in, what some of us call, like the grey area where you're basically too old to play for the 21s, or any of the junior setup, and you're not invited to be in the senior setup. So I made the decision to move from Loughborough, lose my entire university scholarship. It cost me a hell of a lot of money to go and play for Leicester ladies who were in the top division. And I knew if I could get myself in the mix with them, my name would travel and people would talk if I could play well for Leicester. So I made the move and within six months I had a fantastic season. And then before I knew it, I had a phone call from Mr. Kerry himself saying, "Maddie, we'd love to get you down to have a trial with us with the senior team." And by the end of that year, I was offered a full-time contract.
Then I started to believe, do you know what, this 2012 Olympic games could be within my reach. I remember we find out the team via email. I hadn't slept all night. I was back at home again with my parents and just refresh, refresh, refresh on the emails. Like, come on, come on, come on. It's not me. I was now 24 and really I'd never properly been a number one, or felt like I was really a solid member of a team, and that was probably the first time in my entire career that I doubted myself.
Maybe this is just how it's going to go and I need to now make a decision as to whether I can cope with this, or is it going to be worth it? But I think what I always had at that moment was to look back at all the previous kind of up and down moments I'd had in my career which ultimately have made me the person I am today and I would not change it because it's made me so much stronger. So again, I thought, do you know what, I fought back from that moment, I fought back from that moment and I can do it again. And essentially that's what I did after London. Both keepers retired. The number one shirt was like there to grab. And it was a case of, whoever wants it is going to get it. I felt so much more ready than the rest of the other goalies. I was like, there's absolutely no way I'm going to let one of these guys have this. Won every Goalkeeper of the Tournament award that year. In fact, did my first tournament, won Player of the Tournament as a goalkeeper, which is unheard of. I was just like, wow, I knew this is where I was capable of going.
I am so grateful for this like up and down journey that I've had. Don't look at a failure as a failure. It's not, like I say, I don't like the word failure because it's more of a learning. It's just that it's part of the journey and I think the tougher the journey, the tougher you are. Almost set-backs are literally just like lessons to make you stronger.
Reflecting back on the Olympic final, I think when you stand there in that moment of like holding the medal, all of a sudden I was like, "Right, I would like a few more of these." And it just made me greedier. Is there actually more to this now than just being England and GB's number one? Is it a case that could I be regarded as one of the best in the world? And then I started to set my sights higher and higher and higher and I think that's what I've always done. Where can I go next? And that's where it kind of leads me to today. I went on from 2013 till this current day, I've been the number one, and now apparently one of the best in the world, the best keeper in the world. And it's where do I go from here? And I want to create a legacy from that. I want to do more and always be seen as the best and kind of step away as the best. And that's the challenge that I face now really.
The key attributes to being best in the world, comes down to really three things. I think perseverance, resilience, absolutely resilience and wanting to learn attitude. Work out where your passion lies, work out what it is you want to do. If you believe you can do it, and you're willing to put the work in, then just stick at it. And just remember really that if you're not doing that, then someone else is and you have to want it more than they do.
END CARD
Maddie Hinch became the best hockey goalkeeper in the world.
Since her international debut in 2008, she has earned over 150 caps for England and Great Britain and has won European and Olympic gold medals.
In the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic finals, she saved all four penalties in the shootout to help the team claim their first Olympic hockey gold medal.
She has now been recognised as the 'FIH Women's Goalkeeper of the Year' a record three times.
