'If you're there, we're there' - how Sheffield's Sorsby family rode emotional wave of the Paris Olympics

First came the hope that 27-year-old Tom would be playing a key role as part of a Great Britain set up he had been involved with for five years.

Then came the devastation when the Sheffield-born midfield player, who plies his trade professionally in the Netherlands, had not been selected in the initial 16-man squad and would only be travelling to Paris as a reserve.

“I was seriously gutted,” Tom tells The Yorkshire Post. “You work hard for three years to make your way into this side, so then to fall short was seriously disappointing.”

“It was a shock,” adds dad Pete. “You never take it for granted, even though he’s been in the side for five years. Because that’s just sport. But still…”

Sorsby, who won a bronze medal with England at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, was thrown a bone by being named as one of the three reserves for the Olympics.

“After a few days, maybe a week to come to terms with it, I just knuckled down and got on with my shift,” continues Sorsby of the announcement that came just two weeks before the Games were due to begin.

“I was coming out here not knowing if I was going to play, but I just had to keep myself in the best shape possible.”

The support of the GB hockey environment sustained him, as did that of his family.

Pete and the rest of the Sorsby clan had already bought tickets in the ballot, their plans for accommodation were mapped out.

Pete says: “After giving him a couple of days to handle the initial news, once we learned he was reserve and once we spoke to him we just said: ‘look if you’re there, we’re there’.”

The Sorsby family’s resolve was vindicated on Monday evening when GB midfielder David Goodfield pulled out of the scheduled third group game against the Netherlands the following morning.

“We only found out the night before he was playing,” says Pete, who together with his wife was a big part of Chapeltown Hockey Club in the north of Sheffield, which is how their son got into the sport.

“I got a message from Tom at 6pm that he was in the team the next morning, so it was a mad scramble to get everyone a ticket.”

For Tom, the emergency call-up was a relief, but something he had to be prepared for.

“There was definitely a degree of imposter syndrome, coming out with accreditation that says ‘reserve athlete’,” he admits.

“You are part of the squad but there’s that bit in your head that you’ve got to get around that you are but you aren’t.

“Fortunately with the tight-knit locker room we have we treat it as 19 guys in that squad, not just the 16, and that meant when I was given the opportunity I was able to step in.

“The guys have been great, the staff have been great, I just had to take that opportunity.”

He did just that against the Netherlands on Tuesday, helping Great Britain to a 2-2 draw.

Then on Thursday, Sorsby was in the team again as Team GB came from 1-0 down at half-time against host nation France to win 2-1 thanks to James Albery’s deflected winning goal and secure a spot in the quarter-finals with one pool game to spare.

Fittingly, given the hockey tournament is played at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium which was used for athletics and the opening ceremony of the Paris 1924 Olympics, the only stadium still in use a century on, the GB men’s team used history to inspire them.

“We watched a little clip of the Gladiator this morning in our briefing and built it up to exactly what it was, the colosseum scene, crowd against you, you’ve got to fend off the French,” laughs Tom.

“We would have preferred a 4-0, 5-0 win but ultimately in a tournament, as we’ve seen from the England football guys, no one remembers the group stages, you’ve just got to get through so the main thing was we dug it out and got the result.”

Next up is Germany on Friday evening. Progress to the quarter-final has already been assured but Great Britain, second in Pool A after two wins and two draws, want to finish top to face the fourth seed from the opposite group.

“We’re going all out in this game against Germany, but that’s as we do in all our games, so it’s not really a shift in mentality,” says Sorsby the player, who given everything he has gone through emotionally the past three weeks is not allowing himself to dream of a medal.

“We’ve worked really hard with our psychologist and our prep is all about the ladder, we take it one rung at a time, as cliche as that is.

“Our only focus now is the Germany game.”

What about Sorsby the parent?

“Watching your son at an Olympics is beyond words really,” beams proud Pete. “This is the pinnacle, as big as it gets for hockey.”