England and Great Britain forward Sam Ward provides a whole new dimension to the Olympic credo of “Faster, Higher, Stronger”.

In November 2019, playing an Olympic qualifier against Malaysia, Ward on a hat-trick got struck in the face by the ball played by a teammate.

The blow shattered the socket of his left eye and tore his retina. He underwent surgery which left him with four metal plates and 31 screws that held his face together. And he was virtually blind in his left eye.

The mental trauma was even worse and the sound of a hockey ball being struck would bring on painful flashbacks and nightmares of someone trying to steal his good eye.

Lesser players would have given up on playing hockey again. But Ward kept the faith, never gave up on his international and Olympic dream and plotted a focus and determined comeback to the game he loves dearly.

He returned to the pitch less than a year later, turning out for his club Old Georgians and scored a goal!

Donning a face mask to protect his good eye, few would have believed that Ward would play international hockey again. But he found himself in the GB team for the FIH Pro League match against Germany 18 months after sustaining the injury during which he struck the post.

He then was selected to the England team for the 2021 EuroHockey Championship in Amsterdam where he emerged joint top-scorer  with six goals including a hat-trick against Spain. Ward scored all goals with drag flicks from penalty corners.

Olympic selection, you might say, simply beckoned and Ward is now set to pack his bag for Tokyo 2020.

A quirk of fate also denied him a place in the 2018 World Cup team. England’s concussion protocol deemed he missed the trip to Bhubaneswar after Ward suffered a blow on the head during training.

Thirty-year-old Ward has now played 134 matches for England/Great Britain and scored 76 goals. Just being in the Olympic squad is an incredible achievement but Ward, the fighter he is, probably looks far beyond.