AFTER winning a bronze medal as part of the England U21 hockey team in the European championships in Dublin a few weeks ago, 18-year-old E & Y Quackers hockey team member Beckie Herbert is preparing for life at Loughborough university.
‘I’m looking forward very much to going.
As well as studying I’ll be playing club hockey every week, and have to commit to a certain amount of training time each week.
I’ll be travelling to Bisham every Thursday evening for a two-hour training session with the U21 squad - although it’s a two-hour journey there from Loughborough, and two hours back!’ Some training sessions will also be at Loughborough, and the squad will maintain that regime until the end of next summer, allowing them plenty of time to train together.
The England U21 side have their eyes firmly fixed on the hockey World Cup which takes place in Santiago, Chile, at the end summer 2005.
‘We qualified for the World Cup by finishing third in Dublin,’ she explained.
‘We were very pleased to get a 1-1 draw with Germany in the group stages - actually we really thought we could have beaten them.
But the final score was rather better than when we played them at Easter!’ Herbert played as a central midfielder and at full-back for her team.
The England side, in Group B, went on to beat France 5-0 and Belarus 7-1, then met winners of group A and eventual champions Holland - who beat them 4-2.
‘There were 15 minutes in that game when we just fell to pieces,’ Herbert said.
‘They won and we were absolutely gutted, we felt we could have beaten them too.
It was only slight consolation to have been beaten by just one team in the tournament, the one that eventually won.’ ‘We were so disappointed, and I think we did very well to beat Scotland 5-1 the next day for third place.’ She added that the England team had not been able to play together in the run-up to the Europeans as often as they’d have liked because most of them were juggling study and exams.
‘Of the 18 players in the squad now, most are 18 or 19.
It’s a young team and we’ll only be losing six or seven as they move out of the age-group.
By the end of September there will be about 24 and the numbers will increase to around 30 as the World Cup gets nearer.’ She added that Santiago seemed a bit unlikely as a hockey venue.
‘I’ve never heard of a Chilean hockey team, and we’ll be playing at altitude, so we’re not quite sure what to expect!’ For now, though, she is enjoying the time she has at home before she goes to England.
‘I’ll be back for the matches against Guernsey, you can be sure of that,’ she said.
Article posted on 25th August, 2004 - 12.00am
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