January 25, 2024

Izzy Petter was destined to become an elite field hockey player. The up-and-coming Team GB striker, the daughter of field hockey-playing parents, began her own journey when she was five.

“I trained with the boys when I was just starting out and that was great for me,” Petter recalled. “Doing so helped me get faster and stronger. When I was 12, a teacher told me, ‘One day, you will play for England!’ Then, when I was 16, during a stretch where I scored 16 goals in four games, someone told my mum, ‘Izzy is going to go to the Olympics!’ And at 18, I was contracted to the senior national teams for England and Great Britain. I just kept working harder to make those predictions come true!”

Her upward trajectory hit a high mark when she was selected for Team GB’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic squad.

“I didn’t think I’d make it,” she noted. “I basically head butted my boyfriend when I heard the news! It was a surreal experience because I was one of the younger, newer players and it was of course the COVID Games. We were the defending gold medalists, having won in Rio 2016 so there was pressure for sure. I ended up playing in every game and we made the semifinals. While we lost there, we did beat India to earn a bronze medal, which was just terrific!”

Petter has played at the University of Loughborough and at club level with Surbiton (“started playing with them at age 12”). The latter has helped her lift her game and prepares her well for international play with England and especially Team GB which recently qualified for this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

“It was a challenging tournament in Buenos Aires but we pulled through,” she reports. “Now I have to continue to play well to ensure that I’m selected for the team that ultimately goes to Paris. I will certainly put in the work and the off-pitch preparation to give myself the best chance to make it!”

Petter has been preparing for a post-hockey career that involves climate action since her high school days.

“I think I’ve always been passionate about climate and that passion has only grown,” she offered. “Eating meat has troubled me for a long time, especially that people don’t think about what is involved with bringing meat to their tables. I became a flexitarian, eating some fish and chicken, when I was 19. Then I became anxious and sad reading Sir David Attenborough’s ‘A Life on Our Planet’. It focused on how we have sucked our natural resources out to a crisis level to build the modern world. At some point I decided I needed to turn that anxiety and sadness into some sort of action.”

That action included becoming a Sports, Science and Geography major at the University of Loughborough, with a focus on climate and sport. She also began to offset her carbon emissions last January (“It’s just a start, but an important one.”)

Then she found out that Great Britain teammates Fiona Burnet and Tess Howard are both passionate about climate action and both EcoAthletes Champions.

“I was so happy that I was not alone on our team when it came to climate,” acknowledged Petter. “Then Fi and Tess got me excited about the prospect of joining the EcoAthletes Champions roster. I want to use my influence to educate and inspire our fans to advocate for climate systems change and to act.”

Petter, who plans to continue playing hockey through the LA 2028 Olympic cycle, would like to work on increasing the sustainability of the Olympics and other major sporting events once her playing days are over. And that’s just the beginning of her #ClimateComeback ambitions.

“The sports world is not doing nearly enough on climate, the environment, as well as on the social aspects of sustainability,” lamented Petter. “I want to change that. I’d like to work on Greening the Games to a level so that everyone watching can join in and make a difference. On the social or human side of the sustainability equation, I want to work on expanding access for disadvantaged women — who bear the brunt of climate impacts — in all levels of sport, from playing to coaching to management. And I want to work on building a groundswell for healthy eating at all economic strata, which means reduced obesity and reduced carbon emissions.”

EcoAthletes founder and CEO Lew Blaustein is ecstatic that she has become the fourth British hockey star to become an EcoAthletes Champion: Retired Team GBer and sports-sustainability consultant Joie Leigh paved the way for Burnet, Howard, and now Petter

“Izzy brings the same important qualities to the Champions roster as she does to the hockey pitch,” he asserted. “Teancity, passion, curiosity, problem solving, and charisma. We can’t wait to work with her to accelerate the #ClimateComeback!”

You can follow Izzy on Instagram