Elena Tice: “There’s far worse conditions in countries next door to us, we have an opportunity to help”

We caught up the Irish International Hockey star to talk about a charity close to her heart.

It's been an odd year for everyone and elite athletes are no different. With her Olympic journey postponed, Irish International Hockey star Elena Tice has been working hard through the pandemic to keep her training on track. She's battled through injury (a stress fracture on her foot from road-running) to now be back training with her teammates and primed for Olympic glory. It's not all training in Elena's world, in 2020 she's reprised her role as a Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal Ambassador, a charity that's close to her heart and one she's happy to shout about. Team Hope work with communities to transform children's lives by tackling poverty and inequality through their Christmas Shoebox appeal, they also work on sustainable development projects and to raise awareness about the harsh realities of poverty and its impact. Elena told us that yes, it's been a tough time for many, but with one small act we can utterly transform a child's year:

"Amidst all of the difficulties that we're facing and, of course, some people are facing far worse difficulties than others in Ireland, but amidst all of this we can remind ourselves that there are far worse conditions in countries next door to us and we have this brilliant opportunity to reach out and help and provide this shoebox to children who it's really gonna be a huge thing for them, I can't stress that enough. It's a small thing for us but a massive deal for them."

Check out our full interview with Elena on this week's episode of Girls With Goals.