John Ashley Cockett is a former English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 sportsman who was an olympic bronze medal winning field hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

 player for England

England national field hockey team

The England national field hockey team represents England in international field hockey. The team finished in fifth-place in the 2006 Men's Hockey World Cup in Mönchengladbach, Germany....

 and Great Britain. He also played first class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 and minor counties cricket.

Cockett attended Cambridge University and won his Blues at both cricket and hockey. As a cricketer he was a middle-order batsman while his hockey was played as a half-back. He made seven first-class appearances for Cambridge University

Cambridge University Cricket Club

Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...

 in 1951 and made a century against Sussex

Sussex County Cricket Club

Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...

 in Worthing to help set up a 137 run win. From 1949 to 1962, Cockett regularly played in the Minor Counties Cricket Championship

Minor Counties Cricket Championship

The Minor Counties Cricket Championship is a season-long competition in England that is contested by those county cricket clubs that do not have first-class status...

 for Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club

Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Buckinghamshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy. The Minor Counties play...

. On leaving Cambridge Cockett became a master at Felsted School

Felsted School

Felsted School, an English co-educational day and boarding independent school, situated in Felsted, Essex. It is in the British Public School tradition, and was founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich who, as Lord Chancellor and Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, acquired...

 where he taught mathematics and coached cricket and hockey.

At the 1952 Summer Olympics

1952 Summer Olympics

The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. Helsinki had been earlier given the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War II...

 in Helsinki, Cockett was a member of the Great Britain hockey team which won the Bronze Medal by defeating Pakistan 2-1. He narrowly missed out on another medal in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

1956 Summer Olympics

The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...

 when his side finished fourth after losing 3-1 to Germany.

Cockett's only other first-class match was in 1953, when he played with the Minor Counties cricket team

Minor counties of English cricket

The Minor Counties are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that are not afforded first-class status. The game is administered by the Minor Counties Cricket Association which comes under the England and Wales Cricket Board...

 against the touring Australians which included Alan Davidson

Alan Davidson

Alan Davidson is the name of:*Alan Davidson , also British diplomat*Alan Davidson , Australian cricketer*Alan Davidson , British author...

, Ray Lindwall

Ray Lindwall

Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...

, Bill Johnston

Bill Johnston

William "Little Bill" Johnston was an American tennis champion. He was the co-World No. 1 player in 1919 and in 1922 respectively along with Gerald Patterson and Bill Tilden. He won the U.S...

 and Richie Benaud

Richie Benaud

Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....

. Cockett scored no runs in either innings.

At Felsted Cockett coached several future first class cricket players including Nick Knight

Nick Knight

Nicholas Verity Knight is a former England cricketer. Knight's middle name was in honour of the 1930s English Test bowler Hedley Verity who was killed in World War II and is a distant family relation...

, Derek Pringle

Derek Pringle

Derek Raymond Pringle is an English former Test and ODI cricketer for England, and is now a cricket journalist.He was educated at Felsted School and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University.-Life and career:...

 and John Stephenson. He retired in 1989.