5 Gloucestershire players selected for England Ladies Masters Hockey
10th June 2008
Four hockey players from Gloucestershire have just returned from playing for the England Ladies Masters hockey squads in the Home Internationals at Chelmsford HC.
Angie Pearce and Karen Keating (Cheltenham HC), Sally Privett (Lansdown HC) and Mo Lawley (Gloucester HC) were all selected for the squads and have all been training recently at Cannock Hockey Club with other squad members who travel from all over the Country to attend. A fifth player Linda Bell (East Glos HC) could not play due to recovering from a knee operation.
The squads of O'40's, O'45's and O'50's all took part in the Home Internationals tournament with teams from Scotland and Wales also competing.
The weekend was a great success with the England O'40's winning their tournament comfortably and the England O'50's winning the group which comprised of England O'45's, O'50's and Wales O'45's. In the final game of this group the EO'50's beat the EO'45's by 1 goal in a very closely contested match. Other results in the tournament (where every team played each other twice) were England O'45's 5 Wales O'45's 1, + 3 - 0, EO45's 2 - EO50's 2, EO50's 7 - Wales O45's 1, + 5 - 0.
The original England Ladies Masters O'45's team was founded two years ago by a lady called Deb Wilkes from the Midlands, who had a vision that there should be a women's Master's team as well as the men's Masters, who already have teams that range from O'40's - O'70's. The England ladies team won the silver medal in the inaugural tournament in Germany and have also played internationals against France, Scotland and Wales last year.
Players including England legends, Lesley Hobley, Val Robinson, Jane Sixsmith and Ruth Hine (Current captain of Masters 0'50's) have all given their support to the teams and all played last year in an exhibition match at Cannock against the current Over 45's squad. The match was also to celebrate the link between England Ladies Masters Hockey and the Breast Cancer campaign. All players who take part in England Masters have to self-fund it themselves.
So far this year there has been a Ladies Masters tournament in Aldershot, the home Nations in Chelmsford with International matches v Wales and Scotland due to take place in July and August.
The next event will be the Regional O'40's and O45's tournament at Cannock HC on the 21st and 22nd June.
