My mother, Joan Wall, who has died aged 89, was an international hockey player and talented sprinter. She later went on to be a sports administrator.
She was born in Rotherhithe, south-east London, to Florence (nee Morrow), and her husband, Henry Barnett, an electrical engineer. An only child, Joan took up hockey at Bromley grammar school and also played for a local club, Atalanta, before being selected for Kent Schools, East Juniors and the Kent 1st XI, appearing in a seven-a-side exhibition match at the Festival of Britain in 1951.
On leaving school she trained to be a teacher at Battersea College, in south-west London. Joan married another teacher, Les Wall, in 1955, and, on moving to Nottingham, coached hockey and athletics and taught home economics at schools in the area.
In Nottingham Joan joined Sherwood hockey club, and after representing Nottinghamshire and the Midlands, she was selected for the 1958 England tour of West Germany. Her first cap for her country came against Scotland in March 1959, playing in her familiar half-back position. That year she was also in the England team that won the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations tournament in the Netherlands, effectively the forerunner of the women’s hockey World Cup.
Her international career ended in 1960 after 14 caps; she was never on a losing England side during that time, taking part in 13 wins and one draw. She was known as an early adopter of the Indian-head hockey stick, which had a shorter head that improved ball control.
Aside from her hockey exploits, Joan was also a good athlete, holding the Kent 100 yards record and, once she got to Nottinghamshire, the record for the 100, 200 and 400 yard events for many years.
After taking time out from teaching in the 1960s to raise her two children, she resumed her career in Nottingham schools until she took early retirement in 1989. She then worked for Sainsbury’s as a food adviser until 1998.
Joan founded two hockey clubs in Nottingham: Sherwood Juniors in 1963, the first club in the country for 15- to 18-year-olds, and Carlton Ladies (subsequently Redhill Ladies) in 1971.
When the development of sports halls kickstarted indoor hockey in the 70s, she became indoor secretary of the Nottinghamshire Women’s Hockey Association, Midlands Indoor chairman (1977-1987) and an England Indoor selector for 10 years, seven as chairman.
Her competitive spirit never left her, and after moving to Farnborough, Hampshire, in 2010 she continued playing bowls, leaving one club because she deemed it to be “too social”.
In 2012 Joan donated her collection of scrapbooks, medals, trophies, hockey sticks and other memorabilia to the Hockey Museum in Woking, Surrey.
Her marriage to Les ended in divorce in 1988. She is survived by their children, Lynne and me.
