Iain Lewers has praised the role East Grinstead played in helping his Olympic dream come true.

The 28-year-old defender played 89 times for Ireland before switching allegiance to Great Britain.

He joined East Grinstead last summer to enhance his chances of being picked for the London Games and the move paid off when he was named in coach Jason Lee's final 16-man squad.

Lewers impressed at Saint Hill last season when he played his part in another successful campaign for the club.

He said: “It has helped me going to East Grinstead. There are a lot of GB and England internationals who play there, current and past internationals.

“It has been a bit of a different his year because the international scene has led the club programme a bit but we got to the quarter-finals of the European Cup and did well at indoor hockey as well as outdoor hockey.

“So from that point of view we can say it has been a positive season at East Grinstead. With so many GB participants we have a lot of confidence in each other and a familiarity about each other's game.”

After playing professionally in Ireland, Lewers also had a spell with HGC in Holland where he played alongside Ashley Jackson and Barry Middleton, who are now both Great Britain and East Grinstead team-mates.

It was a big decision to declare himself English but he played a role as England won bronze at last year's European Championships and impressed in the build-up to London, securing his place after impressing in the pre-Games warm-up events.

Now he is just delighted to be part of the squad for the Olympics.

He said: “It was a bit of a nerve-wracking wait to find out if you are going to the Olympics, the greatest show on earth. It is not like any other selection. I take a great deal of satisfaction and relief. All those things are mixed into one.

“There are not many athletes who can say they are going to compete on the Olympic stage in front of a home crowd. The good thing about sport is it is unpredictable and no one knows what it is going to bring but there is only one certainty is that we will have massive support and massive encouragement from everyone involved.”

Lewers is quietly confident about Great Britain's chances but stopped short of tipping them for a medal.

He added: “I am very confident we can deliver our best performance, what our best performance will bring, who knows.

“It is the unpredictability of sport but I'm very confident we can have a positive result.”

FACTFILE

• Age: 28.
• Club: East Grinstead.
• Position: Defender.
• England caps/goals: 15/1.
• GB caps/goals: 29/1.
• Olympic history: First Games.