This season has seen some great success for Plymouth College students in the England Hockey Single System. The Single System has replaced the old county and regional system, and provides the player pathway through to international teams.
Will Warnock and Will Ingram have been selected for the JAC squad (Devon county equivalent) which is a great achievement and is a result of their hard work both at school and club.
Four students were selected for the JRPC squads (equivalent of regional); Ava Courtman U15s, Dizzy Leman U16s, Ollie Dinnis boys’ U16s and Abbie Ingram U17s. Training was held at Exeter University over six weeks in the summer and included intense pitch work and theory presentations on hockey, as well as sports science presentations to help athletes maintain performance.
From the JRPC programme, Dizzy Leman, Ollie Dinnis and Abbie Ingram (pictured) were selected into the Tier 1 competition team. Tier 1 is a tournament held between the three UK JRPC centres. All three Plymouth College players had strong performances throughout the tournament. Selection for Tier 2 is made at this tournament with the U16 and U18 groups going through to the Futures Cup and the U15 and U17 age groups going to HiPaC (High Performance Centre).
Abbie Ingram was selected as a reserve for the U17 HiPaC training camp which was a great achievement in a strong age group. Following this Abbie has been invited to join the regionalised NAGs (National Age Groups) Academy training which will see her training alongside some of the top players in this area of the country.
Dizzy Leman was selected for the Wessex Leopards U16 team for the Futures Cup held over four days in Cannock. The Leopards lost their first game 5-2 to the Saxon Tigers who are usually the form team in these competitions before going down 2-1 to the Mercia Lynx in a hard-fought game that could have gone either way. The Leopards pulled it back on the third day with a strong 3-2 victory over the Pennine Pumas. This result saw them safely to 3rd place.
Director of Hockey, Charlie Haigh said: “Dizzy, Abbie, Ollie, Ava, Will and Will should be very proud of their achievements, which are a result of a season’s worth of hard work last year and their continued efforts over the start of this season.”