'Being overlooked for the Olympic team changed my career': How Tom Sorsby used setback to fire England to Hockey World Cup
Being told you’re not good enough for the Olympic team has to be up there with one of the more soul-destroying missives a professional athlete can receive.
Two years ago, on the eve of the Paris Games, Tom Sorsby was told that despite being an ever-present for England over the past Olympic cycle, he would only be a reserve for the Great Britain team in the French capital.
Initially crushed, Sorsby would not let that disappointment define him, and as he looks back now, fresh from being named player of the tournament after helping England qualify for this summer’s World Cup and with a home European Championships to look forward to next year, he believes it was actually the making of him.
For in the first instance, the Sheffielder did not sulk about the omission, choosing instead to knuckle down and wait for his chance. That duly came midway through the pool stage of the Olympic tournament staged at the Yves-du-Manoir stadium in the affluent Colombes district in the north west of Paris.
He seized that opportunity and has not looked back since.
“Since Paris I’ve been playing the best hockey I’ve played in my career,” Sorsby, now 29, tells The Yorkshire Post.
“What I’ve been doing at club and international level has been way more impactful than it had been previously.
“Paris came as a bit of a shock for me. I was hoping to be part of that squad having been selected for everything up until that point, so to then not get selected gave me that perspective about not taking anything for granted.
“It made me realise that at any given point you never know when your last tournament might be or when you won’t get selected any more. It gave me an appreciation and in hindsight it’s probably been the best thing that could have happened to my game.”
After years of trying to be an all-round midfielder or defender, the young man who learned the game at Chapeltown and then Rotherham hockey clubs and now plays for a team in the Netherlands, decided to focus primarily on his strengths.
“In a way Paris taught me to take the shackles off and to knuckle down on what my super strengths are and what I can bring to the team,” says Sorsby.
“I’m aware of my weaknesses and I work on those as a player, but ultimately what I do every time I get on the field now is try and excel what I’m good at.
“I’m the sort of person always wanting to develop and get better and learn new things to improve my game.
"But within that I was probably too focused on ‘how do I get the things that are three, four, five out of 10 to five, six and sevens?’ and I was probably spending too much time on that. When actually the things that are already eights, nine and 10s, they’re already there.
“When I think of the best and most impactful players in the world, if you look at them they have weaknesses in their game as well, but they’re existing in a space where they’re deploying their strengths and it gave me a change in mindset.
“It’s given me a new appreciation of being an international athlete. When I reflect back on my career, the Paris setback is probably going to be one of the most important moments on my journey because it’s unlocked so much for me.”
Sorsby’s impact in domestic and international games increased, to the point where he was the dominant player in a qualifying tournament in Egypt last month in which England booked their place for the World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands in August.
“I’ve not won a player-of-the-tournament award before so maybe it was a surprise but I knew I’d played well,” he says. “We’d done so well as a team, there was any one of a number who could have got that award.
“The vibes were really good, it’s an amazing achievement. After the Olympics the World Cup is the next big thing for us so we want to make sure we’re there.
"Also the Netherlands and Belgium always put on a really good show. For me, living in the Netherlands, it’s good for friends and family being able to get to it.”
Plenty of incentives then for Sorsby who, having suffered that initial heartbreak in Paris, is confident his shift in mindset will see him earn a spot this time around.
“I don’t want to be in a place where I’m just thinking about selection,” says Sorsby, who in an advert for the opportunities his sport has given him has played in Ireland, India, Valencia, Egypt and the Netherlands in the last four months.
“The goal for me has never been to be selected for a tournament, it’s to actually be selected and win something at these tournaments. And to come home with a big medal from a big stage.
“Having a goal of winning something big and being impactful in those important games, that naturally gets you selected. That’s where I am now.”