Olympic hopeful Elena Tice believes Irish women’s hockey team can make its mark in Tokyo

The Olympics may mean that the world’s biggest sports stars are applying for their trade, but it’s also an opportunity to reach the biggest stage of all.

For the Irelands women’s hockey team, these are games that mark their arrival at the Olympics.

The team reached the Olympics in November 2019 and won the Canadian penalty shootout to send them to Tokyo.

But one member of the team, defender Elena Tice, has already had one of the most diverse careers in Irish sport.

In both cricket and hockey, he is excited to be able to represent Ireland as the long-awaited games start later this week.

It’s been incredibly exciting, we got back in November 2019, so apparently with the games delayed last year, we had a lot of time for some kind of preparation, he admits.

It feels almost surreal that the first Irish women’s teams went to the Olympics, the whole nation gets behind us, she added.

The Olympics were suspended in March 2020 when a Covid-19 pandemic prevailed around the world.

Japan’s hopes of holding a race this year in which the crowds come to life were lost last month when a second state of emergency was declared in Tokyo that will last throughout the race.

As a result, games that begin on July 23 and end on August 8 will be held behind closed doors and fans will not be allowed to participate.

It’s disappointing for the events on the hockey team, Tice admits.

Its something we’ve been aware of probably since the beginning of the pandemic, we train at home all the time with the crowds there and we play a lot of practice matches, he explained.

It’s disappointing that you would like your family to stand and you want it for them too.

So no doubt we lack finding the closest and dearest there, and apparently the Irish support is incredible and was seen in the World Cup.

For Ticelle, the Olympics represent a significant moment in their careers, as they first represented Ireland in cricket, making their debuts at just 13 years old.

Elena Tice is confident before the games starting on Friday, July 23rd

During his cricket career, he won 60 tickets to his country, including traveling to Bangladesh for the 2014 ICC Womens World Twenty20 competition.

Speaking about the parallelism between the two sports, Tice said: I have learned from a young age how to carry yourself in a team environment, how to work hard, how to maintain discipline.

I was able to learn about spiced cricket fields like Isobel Joyce, Cecilia Joyce, Claire Shillington, Mary Waldron.

He added: In terms of transferable skills, cricket is one big hand-eye-coordination game, and hockey isn’t too different, especially the position I play.

Similarly, I have learned to succeed in a team environment outside and outside the field.

The Irish group at the Olympics includes the United Kingdom, India, Germany, South Africa and the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is the number one team in the world and won the Irish Women’s Ice Hockey World Championship finals in 2018 in London.

They’re an amazing side, we enjoy the challenge of going against them and hope we get to give a good performance, but I think other games are going to be target games, Tice said.

In a career where Tice has represented the country in both cricket and hockey, winning a gold medal at the Olympics brings him everything.

I can’t even say that, it would be the biggest sporting result of my life and would be amazing for Irish hockey.

It would change the face of the game here, there’s something special about the Olympics that’s pretty hard to put on your finger.

Hopefully by the end of the Olympics, the Irish women’s hockey team can deliver gold.

On Saturday, July 24, Ireland will play their first match against South Africa in the group stage. Then they rise against the Netherlands 26. July, Germany on 28 July, India on 30 July and the United Kingdom on 31 July.