As one of UK Sport’s funded athletes, Alex Danson is expected to do a minimum number of six hours service to charities and projects in Great Britain but, last year, the 28-year-old spent more than 200 hours of her time visiting hockey clubs, speaking at seminars, supporting charities and coaching youth groups. She was praised by the chief executive of UK Sport, Liz Nicholls for her commitments and the fact that she puts in more hours of voluntary work than any other funded athlete in the UK.
The England and Great Britain star took some time out of her busy schedule to tell us a little about her work.
Among the projects that Alex has thrown herself into are coaching days for juniors at local clubs, working with the FreFlyers team in some of East London’s most deprived areas, addressing the National Women’s Register on the topic of female role models, taking part in a marathon aerobics class for the MacMillan Cancer charity and speaking at the House of Lords about the importance of physical education and school sport.
So why does she do so much more than is required of her by the funding body? “Because it is something I feel hugely passionate about,” she replies. “If I hadn't have come across so many amazing people, I would simply never have had the opportunity to play the sport I love as my job.
“For example, without my first club coach, or the lady that used to take our local gym class or the visit from an international hockey player when I was just a school child, I would never have learnt the skills or been inspired to even contemplate trying to play hockey at a high level. All of these people, and so many more, gave up their time to enable me to try and achieve something. I truly believe it is part of our job to ensure we give that back, to take the time to teach some hockey skills to a young person, to motivate a club player or encourage someone to take up a new sport or inspire someone to fulfil something they want to achieve.”
Many of the events, talks and coaching seminars that Alex attends are organised by England Hockey through its Athlete Ambassador Scheme, but she says that she is often contacted via social media, or simply by someone approaching her at another event. She believes that athletes need to take on responsibilities as role models because they are in the public eye to such a great extent, and many of the factors that make them successful – hard work, motivated and ambitious – are qualities that make them uniquely qualified to be role models.
And Alex says that she gets a lot back in return for her time. “It is always incredibly rewarding when someone is able to relate to my story, whether it be a barrier they have overcome or a success they have shared with their team. I think some of my favourite moments are when a young person articulates what they want to achieve, having heard me tell them what I want to. If we share and speak about ambition, I believe this makes us far more likely to chase our goals. I visited Guildford Hockey Club recently and spoke to more than 300 juniors, at the end one stayed behind and told me she wanted to play for her county and that she was going to speak to her coach about what she needed to do, that one child made my whole evening worthwhile.”
Aside from the projects and charities in the UK, Alex is also an ambassador for Right To Play – a charity that offers one million children each week the opportunity to receive education, stay healthy and live in peaceful communities. Speaking of her involvement, she says: “As part of my role, I visited five Right To Play sites in Uganda in 2013 and saw first-hand the impact play has in bringing communities together where they had previously been torn apart by disease and conflict. This is something I hope to be able to play a more active role in when I retire from hockey.”
