A view from the inside- Zach Wallace’s GB Journey
By Sabbie Heesh
“The first few months were an absolute whirlwind”
Il giocatore britannico Zach Wallace è entrato nel programma centralizzato della GB Hockey nel 2018. Da allora, la sua carriera è decollata, portandolo alla nomination come FIH Young Player of the Year nel 2019. Zach è uno dei nostri giocatori #teamritual più fedeli, con noi da sei anni. Abbiamo parlato con Zach della sua ascesa fulminea e della sua carriera internazionale fino ad oggi.
The Beginning
The beginning of my GB career came quite unexpectedly. I was one week into my six-week trial period for the GB Men’s senior squad, when I had a call from one of the boys in the team congratulating me on being selected for the upcoming games against Belgium at Lee Valley. To be honest, I thought it was all just a massive joke at first, as I hadn’t heard anything myself. I soon had confirmation that I was in the squad. The only reason for the delay was because I wasn’t on the team email list; something that was thankfully sorted soon after.
From there, the first few months were an absolute whirlwind. GB had recently appointed a new coach, which brought about a complete change in the way we play. As a result, my career start was dominated by me trying to get my head around playing with guys who I hadn’t met before, in a system I wasn’t familiar with, all while trying to get selected for the 2018 World Cup in India—all just two months after my debut!
Per fortuna sono riuscito a essere selezionato e ho vissuto un’esperienza straordinaria in India. Era il mio primo grande torneo e giocare davanti a migliaia di appassionati tifosi indiani di hockey è una sensazione unica. Questo ha reso ancora più incredibile un’esperienza già eccezionale dall’inizio alla fine, nella quale la nostra giovane squadra appena formata ha superato ogni aspettativa, arrivando quarta e ottenendo una vittoria memorabile contro i campioni olimpici in carica, l’Argentina, nei quarti di finale.
2019
“È stato un grande onore per me.”
Following the first few months of senior international hockey, I had the bug for it and couldn’t wait to get going again. Fortunately, 2019 brought the inaugural version of the FIH Pro League. As a young player, this was an incredible experience with trips to Australia, New Zealand and Argentina to start the year, leading to experiences I could only dream of—all while playing the game I love!
We managed to have a decent season overall, but annoyingly just missed out on the medal places, playing in a tight 3/4th play-off against Holland in front of their strong home Dutch support.
The 2019 summer was a very busy one for England Hockey, with two European Championships to play. First, there was the U21 Europeans, which turned out to be the highlight of my summer. All the boys put in unreal performances to reach the final, but we just fell short against a very good German team. Nonetheless, reaching the final in itself was something we were all very proud of. Very soon after, it was onto the Senior Europeans, where, after strong performances in the recent World Cup and Pro Leagues, medalling was a realistic target for us. This turned into quite a frustrating tournament; we started slow which resulted in an early elimination after the group stages.
Nevertheless, 2019 finished on a high with Olympic qualification secured for GB against Malaysia, followed by the news that I had been nominated for the FIH World Rising Star Award. This was a huge honour for me, being the first British player nominated since 2012, and was a nice way to end a busy but fun year.
2020 has unfortunately not reached the same heights, with the postponement of Tokyo 2020 being the most noteworthy occurrence. COVID-19 has led to a huge number of uncertainties and changes to peoples’ plans for the next year. On the flip side, it gives our young, talented GB side another year to develop into an even better team and show everyone what we can do in 2021!
Zach Wallace, 2020
