Retirement and life after sport has been a big topic recently with the news that AP McCoy will retire by the end of this racing season.

Life after hockey is something I have thought about and we’re actively encouraged to think about it, and plan for it at England Hockey.

We have what I would call a ‘lifestyle advisor’ who helps us plan for life outside of, and after hockey. They encourage us to continue with our education if we’re at that age and we get a grant every year to spend on any studies which we want to do.

Recently I’ve been working closely with our lifestyle advisor on a project called ‘Career Horizons’ to work out what I want to do post-hockey; because within our programme if you don’t hit your targets when they’re reviewed you can be cut from the programme and you’re effectively without a job.

So whilst right now it’s hard to think of anything aside from Rio 2016, all the time we’re all thinking and planning for what we will do when we’re not playing hockey for Great Britain. I think once I’ve retired from playing I would like to go into the media in some form.

I’m considering studying part time for a Masters in Sports Journalism after Rio to help me along that route. I recently went into the BBC and shadowed a producer there to get a feel for how that all works which was really interesting.

We’re very lucky to earn enough to be professional hockey players and to be on a programme to enable us to play hockey and train full-time. Obviously there are sports where athletes earn hundreds of thousands a week, but I can’t even imagine what I would do if I earned £100,000 a week! I’d like to say I’d be sensible and save it, but I’d probably buy a flash car and go on lots of holidays!

Like I say, Rio is obviously in all of our minds at the moment but we have to get their first so our immediate focus is the Olympic Qualifiers which take place in Spain in June. That’s why we went to Valencia (where the qualifiers will be held) last month to play a test series against Spain [where GB won two matches and drew one].

We wanted to get out onto the pitch there, get a feel for the area and get games under our belts. It’s also important for our support staff to get out their and do their planning and preparation for the tournament.

When we’re at a a tournament our support team works really hard to ensure everything runs smoothly for us - we want to be able to focus solely on our performance and not be distracted about day to day things such as where to buy our water or food!

The series in Spain went well and we were pleased to win, it was really nice to get away and have a change of scenery even though it wasn’t that much warmer than the UK! On the last day we did have some sunshine and I insisted on keeping my sunglasses on all day to make the most of it!

It was straight back into playing for Canterbury and training on my return and I’ve been pleased with my form for Canterbury recently - I’ve been scoring goals which is important for me.

One of the key areas of development for me is scoring more goals so that’s at the forefront of my mind when I go into games at the moment. I’m trying to be a bit more clinical in the attacking circle, I’ve always been someone that looks to pass the ball in the circle rather than shoot, whereas now i’m looking for the goal which is good and bodes well for the coming months.

Investec, the specialist bank and asset manager, support women's hockey from grass roots level through to the national team –investec.co.uk/hockey or on Twitter @Investec.