McCallin, Shona – KGGS girl became a Golden Girl

Shona McCallin (b1992)

Shona McCallin was one of the youngest athletes selected to compete for Team GB at the Rio de Janiero 2016 Olympic Gamesand returned with a Gold medal.

Grantham-born Shona was brought up in Dry Doddington and went to Long Bennington Primary School.

It was while there, as a six-year-old, her mother took her to junior sessions at Newark Hockey Club to burn up some of her surplus energy.

From there she went to KGGS and after taking her GCSEs moved to Repton in Derbyshire to complete her A Levels.

Before going to the next level she took a gap year in Holland, playing semi-professional hockey.

She studied International Business for three years at Tilburg University in the Nederlands

In 2007, Shona made her International debut on England’s U16 squad and ultimately was named captain of the England and GB U-21 teams.

Her successes include achieving over 80 Junior International Caps at the U16, U18 and U21 levels, winning four European Championship medals and leading England to its highest-ever finish at the Junior World Cup in 2013.

As a senior-level international athlete, McCallin has 22 caps between England and Great Britain.

At domestic level, she is a member of Kent team Holcombe.

She was an ever-present member of the gold-medal winning Rio Olympics team which won all eight matches, beating the Nederlands in the final.

Buit dreams of her first Commonwealth Games and first World Cup in 2018 turned into a nightmare.

Struck by a ball in play, concussion ruled her out of the Commonwealth Games and then the World Cup.

Shona made a successful return to international hockey in mid-2019 and used her experience, excellent reading of the game and tenacity in midfield to guide GB to Tokyo 2020 bronze.

She was awarded an MBE for her services to the sport, but retired in 2023.