Pupils at Altwood Church of England School in Maidenhead, Berkshire, are excitedly awaiting the arrival of the Great Britain and Australian Olympic women’s hockey teams this week ahead of their test match, which will be played at the school this Friday.
With the enthusiastic support of the school, Great Britain will play their second test of a two match series against the triple Olympic gold medallists at Altwood, giving hundreds of young school pupils the chance to see the stars of London 2012 in action as they prepare for the Olympic Games in two years time.
Explaining the motivation behind playing the match away from the squad’s training base at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre, Great Britain Hockey Performance Director David Faulkner said, “We are very keen to raise the profile of hockey in this country and taking the international teams to play at schools gives us the perfect chance to do this in front of enthusiastic young people. Hopefully this will be the first of many such initiatives.”
Paul Milligan, Business Manager at the school, said, “We’re thrilled to be hosting the match here at Altwood Church of England School. It is a great opportunity for the students here to see two teams of this standard and in particular, to support the British team.”
The Australia test series comes hot on the heels of matches against China in April and Germany in May and ahead of a busy summer of international hockey for the home nations that make up Great Britain. In July, England’s women will take part in the Samsung FIH Champions Trophy in Nottingham before heading to Rosario in Argentina for September’s World Cup. Alongside England, Scotland and Wales will compete at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October where Scotland’s athletes will meet Australia in Pool A.
Australia, known as the Hockeyroos, are one of the most successful teams in the sport’s history having won three Olympic titles (in 2000, 1996 and 1988), two World Cups (in 1998 and 1994) and six Champions Trophy tournaments. In 2009, three Hockeyroos were named in the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) World All Stars team; Madonna Blyth, Tony Cronk and Casey Eastham were acknowledged in the list of the 18 best players in the world, while Coach Frank Murray was named as coach of the team. Also amongst the names in the 2009 World All Stars team was Great Britain’s own Helen Richardson after a year of consistently excellent performances on the world stage.
The last time the two sides met a goal in either half led Australia to a 2-0 victory in the fifth place playoff at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Despite the defeat, the match signalled the culmination of a successful Olympic Games for Danny Kerry’s squad as they finished sixth, three places higher than their ranking at the time. Since then, Great Britain has climbed the world rankings and now sit just two places behind fifth placed Australia in seventh.
FIXTURES Date - Time - Fixture - Venue Wednesday 16 June 2010 - 15:00 - GB (women) v Australia - Bisham Abbey NSC, Marlow Friday 18 June 2010 - 16:00 - GB (women) v Australia - Altwood C of E School, Maidenhead
