Sheffield Steelers legend Jonathan Phillips set to hang up his skates

The Sheffield captain turned 40 last Summer and feels he needs the security of a career away from sport.

It is a huge wrench for the workhorse player – and the club will never truly be quite the same again without him.

But he has been volunteering to help school children with issues and has now accepted a full-time job with them.

“This is going to be my last season,” said the winger, who joined Steelers in 2006.

“I never thought I would be here (in Sheffield) for this long at a club of this size

“After all these years and being 40 years old, I just felt I needed to find a career.

“I have loved everything about playing hockey and being with the Steelers; I felt that I needed to find an extra chapter.”

He said he had been volunteering at Netherthorpe High School most of the season, applied for a job, and “was lucky enough to get it.”

He will be managing an inclusion centre helping youngsters who are on the verge of being permanently excluded.

He will lean on the team work and respect that has become second nature for him over his time in pro sport.

The former Cardiff Devils’ skater said he had a lot of passion for a job aimed at helping children towards a better future.

He had enjoyed what he’d done already in the role saying: “You really get a sense of fulfillment at the end of the day.”

Ice hockey, though, had been: “My life. It is going to be really hard, I have got no doubt in my mind I could play for another two, three, or four years, my body feels absolutely fine, and I still feel good every single morning I wake up.

“If I play again it is kind of selfish on my part, I have got to think of my family first and start to get myself into the big wide world.”

Phillips said he would “never say never” at joining old buddy Jason Hewitt over at the second-tier Steeldogs.

“We’ll see what happens.”

Phillips will still be available to skipper Great Britain in the World Championships in April in Nottingham.