Commonwealth Games: Amy Costello on being key player for Scotland – and her Birmingham knowledge

Amy Costello is relishing the prospect of being an integral player for Scotland at this summer's Commonwealth Games – after feeling like a peripheral figure in Great Britain's Olympic hockey team last year.

The 24-year-old from Edinburgh was a travelling reserve watching on from the sidelines in Tokyo a year ago and was ineligible for a medal as her GB team-mates claimed bronze.

"It was a kind of bitter-sweet experience," she explained. "When you're an athlete you strive to be picked and be on the pitch but, if I take a step back and think about it, if I was looking into the future as a child and someone said I was going to go to the Olympics, I'd have taken that.

"I'm incredibly proud to have got the opportunity to be there. I saw the elation that the girls had at playing and doing so well and it's given me the hunger and drive to make sure I'm involved the next time.

"I want to feel that and be part of the team contributing on the pitch rather than just filling ice buckets and helping on the sidelines."

Costello is sure to play more of a part in the upcoming Commonwealth Games which will have added spice for her as they take place in the city in which she has been studying for the past six years.

"I just graduated from Birmingham Uni this summer so it will be strange going back," said Costello, who also represented Scotland at the 2018 Games at the Gold Coast.

"We're staying in my first year halls of residence as our accommodation which will be bizarre because I've not stayed in there for five years.

Edinburgh's Amy Costello is excited about being a key player at the Commonwealth Games for Scotland in a city she knows well. Picture: Craig Watson Craig Watson, [email protected] 07479748060 www.craigwatson.co.uk

"It will be really nice to play somewhere really familiar. I know all the pitches. I played for the uni for three of those six years and it's a lovely campus with nice pitches. The city's buzzing for it.

"I'm very excited. Personally and as a team we've been preparing for this for quite a while so I'm very excited.

"I really enjoyed the Gold Coast. It was my first multi-sport Games so I was taken aback by the village and the buzz of it all.

"I really enjoyed being out there experiencing that environment. It was phenomenal, so to get the opportunity to go to another one is really special."