Tom Sorsby's journey from public school in Sheffield to a second Olympics with Team GB hockey

Football was the name of the game at Ecclesfield Secondary, with a little rugby union, cricket and athletics thrown in for variety.

It wasn’t until he was studying PE during his GCSE’s at Ecclesfield that Sorsby was able to play hockey, the game he loved to play recreationally having followed his family down that path, at school.

“Everyone played football, mostly for the local football teams. There was maybe a handful of us who played hockey at Ecclesfield,” recalls Sorsby, who this summer will go to his second Olympic Games as part of Great Britain’s men’s hockey team.

“We did it as one of our sports in PE and our class enjoyed it so much that we actually set up a team and played the other local schools, mainly the private schools because not many state schools were playing hockey. Our teacher, Mr Campbell, who I’m still in touch with now, helped us set it up. I keep meaning to go back and see them.”

How nice it would be for Sorsby if he could do that this autumn with an Olympic medal around his neck. How inspirational would it be for the children there to look at one of their own who has made it in a team sport that lacks the reach of its more widely-available rivals?

Sorsby was a strong hockey player through club associations, primarily with the local Chapeltown team his parents played for and dragged him to when he was younger, and also a stint at Rotherham.

He also played cricket in the summer for Whitley Hall, but as he developed quicker at hockey, his ‘winter’ sport began to take priority. He was offered a hockey scholarship to Worksop College, and the same again to Nottingham University.

“Hockey was massive for me at both college and university, it really opened up the door to go to an independent school,” says Sorsby.

“As a local lad from Ecclesfield you don’t really know much about independent schools, without hockey I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did for sixth form or get a scholarship for university to go and play hockey at Nottingham.

“I owe everything to hockey – where I ended up studying, where I ended up travelling. Most of my mates were straight into college or apprenticeships and while they were good options for me too, I’m glad I chose hockey.”

Sorsby was playing top-flight hockey for Sheffield Hallam when he was just 16, but he was overlooked for England pathways until the Under-18s level. Even then he only played one year at that level and one year at Under-21s before advancing to the GB Development squad.

“Typically guys would do a couple of years at age group, but for me it wasn’t quite as smooth as that, I was a bit of a late bloomer,” he says.

After graduating university he spent five years playing Premier Division and Champions League hockey for Surbiton. For the 2023/24 season, which resumes in March, he has moved to Holland, splitting his time between Den Bosch and the GB programme.

At the weekend, the 27-year-old helped Great Britain finish second at the Olympic qualifier and book their spot at Paris 2024.

“It was nice to get over the line. There’s a danger of slipping into that more-to-lose than gain mindset, so we focused on looking at it as an opportunity not a threat,” says Sorsby.

The group stage for the 12-team Olympics has already been drawn. Great Britain are in a pool with Netherlands, Germany, Spain, South Africa and the hosts France.

“One of the weird things about Tokyo was playing in front of no fans,” says Sorsby, whose GB team lost in the quarter-finals three years ago.

“Whilst it was an amazing experience and you big the Olympics up as the pinnacle of your sporting career, because there were only a couple of stadium workers and no fans to enjoy playing in front of, it was a weird experience. So playing against a host nation at an Olympics should be a special occasion.”

Great Britain are a team on the rise, up to fifth in the world rankings having moved to a fast-paced brand of hockey. Paris offers a huge shop window for the sport. As much as Sorsby wants to see greater exposure for hockey, it is the grassroots where he hopes success this summer has the most impact.

“My wish more than anything is that we leave the sport in a better place than we found it,” he says.

“We need more facilities and pitches, particularly in the north. Clubs I used to play for or play against are having to beg and borrow to get facilities and places to play, that’s the real shame.

“At international level we’re making strides forward in terms of exposure, but the grass roots is really where the tough battle lies.

“So we need to keep winning things, to keep playing well and pushing the envelope, and hopefully it will trickle down and we get more people involved in the sport.”

What a story that would be to tell on his return to Ecclesfield School.