IF the first few weeks of 2017 are any indication of how Amy Costello’s year is going to go then she’s in for a good one.
Last week, it was announced that the 19 year-old was one of three Scots selected for the Great Britain squad for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic cycle which was quickly followed by the confirmation of her selection for Scotland’s vital World League 2 tournament.
Costello’s inclusion in the GB squad is, she admits, a massive step in her career and one that was entirely unexpected.
“Being selected for GB is huge for me – it was a big surprise, but a really good one,” she says.
“I went to the trials last year but I thought I was there just for experience – I didn’t expect to actually get selected. I found out that I’d been selected in December so I had to keep quiet about it until last week which was so hard.”
Costello is joining the GB programme when it is at an all-time high. The women’s team famously won Olympic gold in Rio last summer and the profile of the sport has never been higher.
Costello, originally from Edinburgh but currently a student at Birmingham University, will be one of the youngest members of the British squad and she admits that when she joins up with her new teammates, which will include some of the all-time greats of British hockey including Alex Danson and Maddie Hinch, for the first time, she is likely to be both excited and slightly anxious.
And Costello knows how significant an opportunity this is for her to take her hockey to the next level.
“I think I’ll be pretty nervous when I join with the squad,” she says. “I looked up to all of these players when I was growing up so it’s very exciting to think that I’ll be in a team with them now.
“I’m really looking forward to learning from them too.
“The team winning gold in Rio was huge for hockey – it did so much to get the sport out there and get more people involved in hockey so it’s a really exciting time to be involved in the sport.”
However, Costello’s immediate focus is in helping Scotland qualify from the World League 2, which begins in Valencia next weekend.
The Scots have been drawn in a group with Ghana, Poland and Ukraine and they must finish in the top two of the eight team tournament to ensure they progress to the next stage of the competition and give themselves the opportunity to play for a place at this summer’s Hockey World Cup.
The Scottish team has made enormous strides in recent years and having just returned from a three-week training camp in Valencia, Costello, who has 17 caps to her name, believes that the squad are in a confident mood.
“The team is in a great place off the pitch as well as on it – we’re feeling good and we’re confident that we can qualify for World League 3,” she says.
“After Glasgow 2014 there were quite a few retirements and that has forced us younger players to take more responsibility.
“There’s only a few very experienced players now and that’s allowed the younger players to develop different aspects on the pitch and show some leadership.”
With the 2018 Commonwealth Games now only 15 months away, Costello reveals that plans are already being made for the Gold Coast. Scotland were defeated in the quarter-finals at Glasgow 2014 and Costello reveals that she and her teammates are adamant they want to improve on that result next year.
“We’ve already started planning our training for the lead-up to the Games,” she says.
“We don’t want to be going to major events just to make up numbers – we actually want to do something when we get there. We want to be pushing for medals and we want other teams to feel like we’re a threat.
“So in Gold Coast, we’re definitely looking towards the semi-finals and then to be pushing for a medal, I think that’s a realistic goal for us next year.”
Costello’s career could not be going better for her personally but she is also conscious of how important her GB selection, along with her fellow Scots Sarah Robertson and Nicola Cochrane, is for younger players in this country.
“In the past, it’s been hard for Scottish players to be selected for GB but now, the coaches are looking further afield which is obviously a really good thing,” she says.
“It’s great that there’s Scottish players in this squad and even though it’s only a few of us, it shows the young players in Scotland that you can do it. You obviously have to work really hard but being from Scotland definitely doesn’t disqualify you from being selected.”, but a really good on
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