Wolverhampton's Sandeep Maan heading to Masters World Cup

Sandeep Maan from Wolverhampton will be jetting out to Auckland for the World Cup in November to take part in the over-45s category.

Maan stopped playing the sport she has loved from a young age back in 2018 but her two young sons, Jay aged 10 and Kieran aged eight, encouraged her to start playing again at the end of November last year.

The 45-year-old took the plunge and decided to test herself against people of her own age at the start of 2024 and was delighted to make the masters team for the World Cup.

"My boys kept nagging me about playing," Maan said. "They would say I used to love playing hockey and then I stopped and they wanted me to start playing again.

"When I did play I came home with a huge smile on myself and my mum was like I have not seen you like that in a very long time. I played at Wolverhampton but even though I have been out of it for quite a while I still want to play at the highest level that I can.

"I got an email to say I had been picked and I was in absolute shock. When I went to the trials I was proud of myself for going and putting myself out there after such a long time."

Masters hockey is not a well-funded sport and so the players have to pay for their own trips to the World Cup and with the distance from New Zealand that is very expensive.

But Maan has managed to raise more than £2,500 via a GoFundMe page to enable her two kids to watch her represent her country.

"When I told my kids about the potential of going to New Zealand they were really excited, but straight away I had to put a stop to it," she continued.

"Masters hockey is all self-funded, so straight away I was thinking of all the years I have come back it is the year of the World Cup but at the same time I did not want to miss out on the opportunity.

"All in it will probably cost around £6,000 to compete at the World Cup so to add two kids into the equation to try and get them to come over it is a lot of money.

"So I had to say to them that realistically I did not think it was going to be possible and they were disappointed but I did not want to get their hopes up for something that I could not promise them.

"But I was overwhelmed that we have managed to raise the money via the fundraiser to let them go to New Zealand. There was a lot of tears and gratitude when I told them."