A QEHB physiotherapist is going for gold – after embarking on a 14-month post with the Great Britain women’s Olympic hockey team that takes in the 2012 London Games.

Emma Batchelor has been seconded from her role as a clinical specialist in physiotherapy with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

She has recently returned from Singapore working as a physiotherapist with England Netball, where they won a bronze medal at the world championships.

Emma, who lives in Bromsgrove, said of her new hockey role: “It is a great opportunity. I have been with England netball since 1996, and lead physiotherapist for the last seven years, and I am really looking forward to this new challenge.

“The GB women’s hockey team is currently fourth in the world and, on home soil, have every chance of getting a medal in next year’s Olympics.”

Emma, who began her new role on August 16 when she flew to Germany for the European Championships, has spent 3-4 months a year away from her hospital job on netball duty, paid for by the England Netball Association.

Her new full-time secondment will be similarly funded by GB hockey, working for the English Institute of Sport.

“I have had great support from the hospital trust, and from Physiotherapy Manager Catherine Elliott and Therapy services Manager Yvonne Pettigrew in particular.

“It’s a great place to work and hopefully I can bring something back to the Trust at the end of my secondment.”

Emma joined UHB as a physiotherapist in 1995 and, in the same year, worked as a volunteer physio when the world netball championships were held in Birmingham.

She will be based with the GB hockey team at the Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre in Buckinghamshire during her secondment, which ends in October 2012 in order to review the team’s Olympic performance.

Added Emma: “My role will be to cover pitch sessions, manage any acute injuries and work alongside the coaches in terms of improving performance, such as injury prevention and making the players fitter and stronger.”