Scotland hockey star Amy Gibson is embarking on a new adventure after signing for German side Alster.

The 28-year-old, from Dumbarton, moved to Germany last week, and played her first game for the Hamburg club against Mullheim on Saturday winning 3-0.

Alster finished fourth last season in Germany’s Hockey Liga, and lost in the semi-final play-off for the league trophy to Mannheimer 3-2.

It’s a new experience for the goalkeeper, having never learned German before, and it’s also her first time living outside of the UK.

But after being dropped from the GB squad in April, she got in contact with ex-Scotland goalkeeping coach Jimi Lewis, as she looked for a fresh challenge.

Speaking before she left, Gibson said: “Jimi’s lived in Hamburg for 14 years, and I knew he was there.

“I knew he lived over there, so I sent him a message to see if he knew any clubs that needed a goalie, and there was two that needed a goalie and I chose one of them.

“There’s a lot more money in hockey [in Germany] and it’s a lot more professional than it is in Scotland. The standard of the league is a lot better. Germany, Holland and Belgium, are the best three places to go in Europe.”

Germany recently came fourth in the Women’s EuroHockey Nations Championship.

And it’s also the country she won her first Scotland cap against, so it holds fond memories for her.

She added: “There was snow on the pitch and they had to clear the snow off the pitch before the game started, I think we were losing 5-6 nil.

“ I only came on for the last three minutes but I kept a clean sheet so that was good, I think I made one save.

“It was amazing, it was a good experience as I’d played against all the girls in the league. To be part of the Scotland squad was amazing.”

And that feeling hasn’t changed for her over the years.

In their game against Germany in the group stages of the EuroHockey Championship last month, the Scottish national anthem got cut out halfway through.

She said: “Because of the TV times they ended up stopping our anthem with maybe three or four lines still left.

“We kept on singing and there was loads of Scottish school kids there as well, so they were singing along as well and it sounded really good.

“But that was an accident, for the England game the coach got them to stop the anthem, they did the first verse like they do at Murrayfield [Scottish Rugby] and then they kept singing. That was really good, we enjoyed that all to.

“Being able to sing your anthem and know you’re representing Scotland, that’s pretty cool.”

Gibson is hoping to add to her 88 caps next month when Scotland travel to Ireland, with one eye on the Commonwealth Games next year, to be held in Australia’s Gold Coast.

She added: “It’s the Commonwealth Games selection In the middle of February, and then we’ve got 3 weeks to train and then we go to the gold coast in April. It’ll be worth it though - fingers crossed I get selected.”