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Helen Richardson-Walsh won her first England cap in 1999, at just 17 years of age.

The following year at 18 she was a member of the GB team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, making her the youngest female hockey player to represent Great Britain at an Olympic Games.

Helen achieved 300 international caps for England and Great Britain and, at the point of her retirement, she was the fifth most capped GB player in the history of the women’s game.

Her career highlights include an Olympic Gold at Rio 2016 and Olympic Bronze at London 2012, a European Gold medal at London 2015, World Cup Bronze medal at Rosario 2010, Champions Trophy in Nottingham 2012 and Silver at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester 2002.

Helen Richardson-Walsh MBE | Awards and Accolades

Helen Richardson-Walsh was shortlisted for the International Hockey Federation’s World Player of the Year Award in 2009.

She was named in the FIH World All Stars Team three times, in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

In 2009 and 2010, she was named as Player of the Year by the Hockey Writers’ Club

In 2009, 2011 and 2016, she received the Majorie Pollard Salver, making her the first player to receive the award three times.

In 2009, she was named as the BOA Athlete of the Year by Great Britain Hockey.

In the 2017, Helen Richardson-Walsh was awarded an MBE for services to hockey.

Her wife and teammate Kate Richardson-Walsh received an OBE, making them the first same-sex married couple to be honoured in the same list.

In the same year Helen and were awarded the National Lottery Spirit of Sport Award at the annual Sports Journalist’s Association  British Sports Awards.

Helen Richardson-Walsh MBE | Coming Back from Injury and Depression

In 2014 during her two years out of the game, Helen had to sit at home and watch as her wife played in the World Cup and witness the team finish in 11th place.

Their performance compounded the feeling that she had lost the chance to achieve a goal that she had dedicated her life to and worked hard towards for the past fifteen years.

Helen experienced periods of depression and begun to question her self-identity, life choices and ability to achieve her goals.

There were days when she just didn’t want to get out of bed.

She was suffering from both physical pain and depression.

She cried a lot, felt helpless and struggled to sleep.

She was  struggling, had lost her confidence and self-esteem.

That’s when she accepted that she needed to seek help.

Helen Richardson-Walsh started seeing a therapist to get external and also learned self-awareness, understanding how she could  help herself.

She started mindfulness, meditation and would take time out of her day to clear negative thoughts.

Showing significant psychological and physical strength, Helen managed to return to the team and played an instrumental part in the turnaround of the team and the subsequent gold medal success at the following Olympics in Rio 2016.

Helen Richardson-Walsh MBE | Speaking Topics

Helen Richardson-Walsh is an experienced and confident speaker, doing keynote speeches,  Q&As and can speak on a range of themes to suit the audience:

• High performance
• Motivation and goal setting
• Psychology and behaviours of a winning team
• Leading change
• Fighting back and mental wellbeing
• Inspiring a generation
• Diversity and inclusion

Call +44 1753 439 289 or email Great Sports Speakers now to book international hockey player and Team GB Olympic medal winner Helen Richardson-Walsh MBE for your corporate event.

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