Team GB goalkeeper Maddie Hinch is loving her time with Holcombe Hockey Club, but needs to overcome an injury before dreaming of Rio.

The 27 year old England and Team GB star was at the Kent club to cheer on her team-mates at the weekend as Holcombe Ladies beat their East Grinstead counterparts 2-1.

Unfortunately for Hinch, she had to watch on from the sidelines, supported by a pair crutches as she recovers from an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury.

Having seen her club side win, Hinch was only too pleased to have been at Holcombe whilst Sports Minister, Tracey Crouch MP, unveiled the two new pitches and is happy to be playing her sport with the Rochester side:

“It’s a fantastic club with a great set up and that’s the main reason I am here. You can see from the amount of people coming to support the club that there’s a great atmosphere.”

“There’s also a lot of juniors running around that want to, one day, play in our shirts. I’m really pleased with what David South is trying to do here.”

“Playing a club like East Grinstead, a local rival, on such a great occasion for the club, isn’t a game you want to be sidelined for.”

“The girls put in a great effort and it was a fantastic win for us.”

“It’s been a frustrating start to the season for us and East Grinstead have had a good run, so we knew it would be a good test. I think everyone stepped up and we’re really starting to show our potential now.”

Hinch has already spent a number of weeks on her crutches with more to come and admitted to Kent Sports News that she isn’t the best spectator and wants to get back playing as soon as possible:

“I have got a good medical team back at Bisham where we train and hopefully a few more weeks and I will be back.”

“When I’m here at Holcombe I will do all I can to help out, whether that be coaching, encouraging from the sidelines, but mostly making sure I get back fit as soon as I can.”

“Rehab has been brutal to say the least and it’s not an enjoyable process. I want it done as soon as possible, but I can’t rush it as it’s a big year coming up for me personally and with the team.”

“I am taking things day by day and making sure that when I do come back, that I’m ready to hit the ground running, both with Holcombe and Team GB.”

Hinch is clearly a role model to many young girls making their way into the game and she admits she still finds it difficult to accept people look up to her:

“It’s strange to think people look up to me as I looked up to so many people all of my life, but it’s great and I’m glad people are paying attention to what we are doing and recognising names in the sport.”

“To see the kids running around playing hockey is great and hopefully some of them will grow up and do what I do.”

“It’s a fantastic position to be in and I enjoy every minute of playing.”

Hockey has seen an upturn in media coverage in recent years with more people getting into the game and Hinch hopes recent successes for both the men and women sees more support from the press in the future:

“It’s frustrating because it’s such a fantastic game and it’s a shame that we don’t get enough coverage. This summer we got to the European final and that was live on the BBC, so that was massive.”

“Hockey is a great spectator sport to watch and I think it’s just a case of getting those big TV companies behind us when we can.”

“People clearly enjoy playing the sport as the numbers up and down the land are so high. It’s a game on the up and long may that continue.”

As we edge ever closer to 2016, fans will start turning their attention to the Olympics and Hinch is no different.

With a sense of expectation and hope, the Holcombe goalkeeper is hoping she and the side can go all the way in Brazil:

“We want to take our momentum into the next ten months leading up to Rio and get the whole nation behind us.”

“Hopefully in Rio we can get people paying more attention to us, see why we are doing so well and see what’s so great about hockey.”

“All you have to do is come and watch a game to see how fantastic hockey is. It’s exciting, fast paced and the girls are becoming more and more athletic.”

“I 100% believe we can win and we showed as England in the summer that we are more than capable of beating the top teams in the world and as a Team GB side we will go on and do the same.”

“We have got a big tournament coming up in Argentina in a few weeks time and that will be another chance for us to set our standards.”

“It will be then a case of going back to our training bases and make sure we are ready for Rio.”