Sara Jane Thompson reckons she spends around three hours a day every day on Lansdown Hockey Club ‘business’.

That’s in her roles as junior coordinator, membership secretary and also as a player – she’s captain of the ladies’ 2nd XI.

Throw in the fact that she also plays Masters hockey for Wales and that her day job is working at The Stick Club in Cheltenham – an independent sports shop that sells an awful lot of hockey kit – and it’s clear that hockey plays a huge part in Thompson’s life.

The 44-year-old is obviously a key figure at Lansdown – “Yes, I wear three hats,” she chuckled – although she did not join the club until she was 30.

The one-time Pate’s Grammar School pupil initially played for Cheltenham, the club just a long clearance hit from Lansdown, when she was younger.

She then played for Exmouth while she was studying at Exeter University – she also played for the university team – and continued to play for Exmouth when she had completed her studies.

Exmouth were playing in the national league in those days and back then Thompson was a striker.

“I got a few goals,” she said modestly. “I wasn’t the fastest but I could put in a shift, I was certainly a lot quicker than I am now!”

She also played for Blenheim Hockey Club in New Zealand when she took two years out to go travelling before returning to this country in 2004.

“I joined Lansdown because my brother Anthony was playing there,” said Thompson, who lives in Cheltenham. “I started off in the 2nd team but then played 1st team up until a couple of years ago when I ruptured my ACL in my left knee.

“I managed to get myself back on the pitch but then dislocated my right kneecap last year so I’ve now got two dodgy knees!

“I also broke my collarbone in 2012 so badly that I needed a plate put in.

“I tend to do my injuries in Olympic years although I went out of sync last year.”

Clearly Thompson is a very committed player and also a very good one because she was in Barcelona in the summer representing Wales in the Masters World Cup.

Her dad Jim Thompson, who taught at King’s School in Gloucester for 30 years, was capped at full level by Wales so it’s easy to see where she gets her love of all things hockey from.

She is in her third year as Lansdown’s membership secretary – she introduced an electronic system soon after taking over – and has been the club’s junior coordinator for the same length of time.

Looking after the club’s youngsters – she helps to coach them – is, along with playing, something she very much enjoys, and she’s certainly made a big difference since taking on the role.

“The club have got 351 members in total of which 215 are juniors,” she said. “The growth of the junior section has been massive. When I took it on in September 2016 we had 92 juniors so we’ve more than doubled the number.”

That hasn’t happened by accident of course, and it requires a lot of hard work.

“The organisational part of being a junior coordinator is very time consuming,” she said. “We’ve got youngsters from the under-8s through to under-16s and making sure that coaches, umpires, parents, volunteers and the children are all at the right place at the right time takes a lot of organisation.”

On a junior evening – which take place on Tuesdays – Thompson will generally spend around five hours organising and coaching.

“I also made the decision to improve our offering by bringing in GoCrea8 specialist coaches, we now work closely with Matt Fairburn to ensure that the young players receive the best coaching possible.”

Looking after the well-being of the next generation of players is vital for all clubs of course – and not just in hockey – but there is plenty of competition as well.

“We’re friendly rivals with Cheltenham, we’ve got a lot of friends there,” Thompson said. “I think there is a perception some clubs are better than others but when it comes to the junior section I think all clubs – not just Lansdown and Cheltenham – are very good. I don’t think there’s much between them.”

Thompson is delighted that her two nieces – Caitlin and Niamh Thompson – are both part of the junior set-up at Lansdown and she has been looking on approvingly as they have developed.

But as with so many sportsmen and women, there is still nothing that can beat the buzz of actually playing and you get the impression that Thompson has had an extra spring in her step since taking on the 2nd XI captaincy this season.

“The captaincy role is something I like,” she said. “I enjoy seeing the youngsters come through and progress and I enjoy it when the team play well and we win games. We had a difficult start to the season but then we beat Bretforton 5-0 and that shows what we can achieve.”

These days she’s playing at centre-back in Severn Division Two, so is it easier to play at the back or up front?

“It depends on whether you are winning or losing,” she said. “If you’re winning it’s easier to play at the back because you are not under the cosh. But if you are losing it can be very hard work.”

Thompson is still training twice a week as well as playing for Lansdown on a Saturday and for Wales Masters on Sundays. So how long does she plan to keep on playing?

“For as long as I can,” she said, “Although my next injury may bring up the retirement question. Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

And if it does, you suspect it will have to be a pretty bad injury to persuade her to hang up her hockey stick.