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World Cup awaits for Loughborough's hockey eight
Posted on 07/05/2009
World Cup awaits for Loughborough’s hockey eight
Eight Loughborough Students have been included England Hockey’s 18-man squad for the 2009 Men’s Junior World Cup in Singapore and Malaysia next month.
The young side, which has an average age of just under 19, will also play Germany’s U21 men in three fixtures this week (7-10 May) as their preparation for the competition in the Far East continues.
Loughborough is the best represented club in the team, with 20-year-old midfielder Nick Catlin the only athlete to have played senior international hockey, having made two appearances for Great Britain as part of the men’s training squad prior to the Beijing Olympics.
Catlin is joined by University team mates David Beckett, David Condon, Marc Edwards, Simon Faulkner, Chris Gregg, Martin Scanlon and Henry Weir – all of whom helped their GB team seal bronze at the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival in January.
Rewarding a number of the players that helped England qualify for the Junior World Cup (JWC), England U21 and Loughborough head coach David Ralph has included nine of the team that finished fifth at the EuroHockey Junior Nations Championships last July.
Ralph speaks openly about the challenges his side will face, but underlines the tournament is an important stepping stone in the players’ international careers.
“The 2009 Junior World Cup will provide some major challenges for the squad,” he said. “Not only do we face some of the top 20 junior teams in the World but the physical demands of the tournament will be tough as well. A gruelling schedule means we face nine games in 14 days and the environmental conditions will be unlike any that the players have experienced previously.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for the players to experience a major global tournament in conditions similar to those frequently experienced by the senior teams.”
Talking about his team’s prospects in Singapore and Malaysia, Ralph is cautiously optimistic.
“While we are a very young squad and we face some tough challenges we are also very excited by this prospect and are confident that we have some exciting talent within the squad to compete at this level.”
England U21’s warm-up fixtures against Germany are being played at Bisham Abbey today (7 May) at 6pm, Saturday 9 May at 4pm and Sunday 10 May at 11am.
The side’s World Cup campaign starts on Sunday 7 June with group matches against hosts Malaysia, Spain, USA and Korea over the following five days.