Olympian Sloan retires from international hockey
Ian Sloan has announced his retirement from international hockey having earned 141 caps.The 31-year-old from Cookstown in Northern Ireland made 19 appearances for Ireland before making the switch to Great Britain and England in 2015.Sloan made his Olympic debut in Rio in 2016 when he was just 22-years-old and was one of four players from Northern Ireland in the Team GB squad, joining Iain Lewers, Mark Gleghorne and David Ames.Along with Ames, he went on to make the 2020 squad for Tokyo, featuring in all of Team GB's eleven matches across his two Olympic Games.
'The right time to step away'
On his retirement, Sloan told GB Hockey: "I have loved being part of the senior squad but it's the right time to step away. I was in the squad for 10 years which is quite a long stint and in my last few years, I suffered a lot of injuries and, as the gears progressed, I started to get more and more into coaching."He added: "I definitely want to thank my family. My parents got me into the sport and followed me across to England and I have been a huge help in my career and all of my family constantly travelling over from Northern Ireland to support me has made a huge difference."Also, my first club was Cookstown Hockey Club and it was an amazing place to grow up and learn how to play the game and a lot of club members have continued to support me over the years, which I'm very grateful."In 2017 Sloan was named co-captain of GB and England alongside Phil Roper and George Pinner, following his father Martin who captained Ireland 108 times.Among the successes he enjoyed as a player, Sloan won bronze medals at the 2017 EuroHockey Championships in Netherlands and at both the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games.Sloan would also go on to feature in four FIH Hockey Pro League campaigns since its inaugural season in 2019.He finished his international career with 67 caps for GB and 74 for England, adding to the 19 he won for Ireland and has now taken up the role of coach developer for England Hockey.
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