BHUBANESWAR: When Sam Ward doubled England's advantage in the third quarter against Spain in their Pro League encounter on Tuesday, one of his best mates, Ashley Jackson, grabbed his phone to send his younger compatriot a 'well done' message.
That strike from the penalty corner was Ward's 138th for England or Great Britain according to the FIH website, overhauling Jackson who had 137 to his name. It has been some international journey for Ward, who had scored his first international goal at the same Kalinga Stadium in 2014.
Over the last decade, Ward, now 34, has overcome a lot of hurdles, including fighting past 'one of the worst sports injuries in recent times'. During an Olympic qualifier in 2019, Ward caught a stray ball. It resulted in permanent loss of vision in his left eye as it tore his retina (he wears a custom-made white mask when he's playing).
After England's encounter against Spain on Wednesday, Ward, leading the scoring charts in this season of the Pro League so far (nine, one ahead of Belgium's Tom Boon), got intimate with the kind of training he has had to do compensate for the 'more than 70% loss of vision in my left eye'.
"There's nothing I could do to get back my vision," he says. He had two choices. "Either wear my big boy pants or give up but I have never been the sort of person to give up.
"It's what it is. I worked hard. Depth perception is massive with two eyes. You have got to kind of retrain your brain and the eye that works well to kind of retrain that depth perception. I tracked a lot of hockey balls and caught a lot of tennis balls... it helped me get back."
It was 'repetitive' — spending training sessions tracking something white, round and travelling at pace — but he knew he didn't have a choice but to do this for a long time if he hoped to get back to doing what he loved. Playing hockey. "It was the only way to retrain my brain."
Now, he's one of the side's elder statesmen but his work ethic has meant he's one of the first names on the team sheet.