JUST when she thought she was out, they pulled her back in. Emily Maguire’s hopes of featuring in her second successive Olympic Games looked to have taken a turn for the worse when the Paisley-born hockey player was left out of the British women’s squad that travelled to Australia in February for a series of Test matches. Left behind at the squad’s HQ at Bisham Abbey with eight others from the 31-woman training group who didn’t make the flight, Maguire had plenty of time to contemplate her future. The prospect of not making the squad for Rio – having won a bronze medal in London in 2012 – served as powerful motivation.

By her own admission Maguire, one of the Sunday Herald’s 6 to Follow to Rio, had not been performing at her best when the email from the selectors dropped in her inbox saying she would not be heading Down Under. Spurred on by the need to persuade coach Danny Kerry that she should be in his plans for the Olympics, the 28 year-old made the most of the quiet time. By the time the rest of the group returned from Australia, Maguire felt she was back like her old self. Her reward was an immediate return to the matchday squad, earning a place in the 18-strong group that travelled to Germany last week for two Test matches.

The modern athlete tends to focus on the mental as much as the physical and Maguire is no different. Even following her surprise omission from the Australian trip she tried to remain upbeat, choosing to focus on the positives rather than the negatives, and expressing her determination not to let this setback derail her from the ultimate goal. Every so often, however, a sense of human vulnerability could be detected among the psychology buzzwords and positive jargon so popular nowadays. It is why she can admit now that there was an overwhelming sense of relief when she returned immediately to the squad, her Olympic aspirations back on track.

“I had been quite nervous with the Germany selection coming up as I was really looking to get back in,” she said. “Obviously you want to make every squad and if I hadn’t I would have been telling myself the same things that I did before Australia in terms of keeping pushing and trying.

“But it would have been tough had I missed out again. So there was definitely relief when I got back in. That’s usually the overriding emotion when you get the email about selection. And then it’s followed by the excitement and then the anticipation ahead of hopping across the water to play a couple of matches. I’ve been on enough trips over the years so I slotted quickly back into that routine you have whenever you go away.

“You turn up at the airport and when you’re with such a big squad you can’t help but attract attention. So there are always people trying to work out what sport you are or coming up and talking to us about it. You always get funny looks. But it was great just being a part of all that again.”

It is never easy for an athlete to admit they have perhaps not been performing at their best but Maguire admits that had been the case with her. She spoke to Kerry prior to the group heading to Australia who delivered his assessment in typically candid fashion. There would be no need for a catch-up once the squad returning, Maguire instead letting her actions make the case for her re-inclusion.

“In January I felt that I had had a head down month as it was quite an intensive training block but I think I maybe had my head down too much,” she admits. “I probably didn’t reflect enough on my hockey and was thinking too much about the physical side of things. So then moving into the block in March I knew I had to focus more on my hockey and doing better there.

“I had my own specific goals that I wanted to work on when the rest of the group was in Australia. That had come from my own reflections on my current play and after conversations with Danny. I had a chat with him after that selection and he was really honest. He told me where he thought I was with my hockey and where I needed to get to. So that was quite clear. I knew what I had to work on. We didn’t have a proper big catch-up when he got back. My thing was just to go out there and play and show him. It was about actions rather than just talking all the time. I wanted to do my talking on the pitch and that seems to have worked.”

The Olympics draw ever close, with the squad named for the Champions Trophy in London in June likely to give a fair indication of who will make the plane for Rio. Maguire hopes she can regress to the summer of 2012 where she was able to switch off all thoughts about selection in the months leading up to the announcement.

“Having experienced this in the run-up to London I know how difficult a time this will be. I’m trying to adopt the same attitude that I had then when I just didn’t think about it. I was young, maybe a bit inexperienced and naïve, and had no real expectation. That was probably the best position to be in. So I’m trying desperately to recapture that state of mind if I can.”