Congratulations to Guy Bristowe, Charlie Falkingham and Joe Barker who have this week been selected to represent the Pennine Pumas for hockey in their respective age groups. This is the equivalent of representing the North of England and they will soon be playing against the South, East and West areas known as the Mercia Lynx, Saxon Tigers and Wessex Leopards.
Joe is selected for the U15 squad and will benefit from attending The High Performance Assessment Camp (HiPAC) takes place on 7th to 9th October and is all about training. Young people in the U15 and U17 age groups are selected from the JRPC Cluster Days to come together and train with some of the country’s finest coaches. As an integral step on the Single System ladder, the HiPACs aim to show players in the U15 and U17 age groups that training is as important as competition and they will be taken through a number of sessions on the pitch and in the classroom.
Guy is selected for the U18 squad and Charlie the U16 squad. In the U16 and U18 age groups, players learn about the highs and lows of competition at the Futures Cup which is a competition based on a Junior International tournament. Players making their way up the ladder train one year, compete in the second, train in the third and compete again in the final year. They will have two days of training/preparation in October prior to the squads coming together for the Futures Cup competition in Cannock which takes place from 27th – 30th October. This in itself is a great honour and fantastic experience which the boys are all looking forward to. Over this weekend the selectors will still be on duty looking to select a futher squad for the National Age Group Squads (NAGS) who will ultimately represent England at U16 and U18 level in international tournaments.
Good luck boys. We wish you all the best and most of all hope that you enjoy the whole expereince.
