Five players from Edinburgh University, last season’s Division One league champions and currently second in the table, are included in Scotland’s women’s international hockey squad for warm-weather training before and after Christmas.
The selection is part of the team’s quest to find 18 players to compete in the Hockey World Cup which starts with February’s World League 2 tournament by taking on Spain in Valencia.
Coach Gordon Shepherd hosts training in Gran Canaria before Christmas and then in Valencia in January where they will play four matches against a competitive Spanish side from January 9 to 15.
The two sides met in Alicante in June in a three-match series with the hosts coming out on top.
World League 2 will be held in Valencia from February 4 to 12 where the Scots face Spain, Czech Republic, Ghana, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine and the top two teams qualify for the Hockey World League semi-final is up for grabs. The Hockey World League semi-final is where teams can qualify for the Hockey World Cup..
Glasgow-based but Dundee-born Shepherd said: “Both the Gran Canaria and Valencia camps are the final stages of preparation for World League 2.
“We have 26 players competing for 18 places. The camps will be a mix of physical prep, tactical prep and international games versus Spain.
“I am looking for players to push themselves through this phase and make final selection difficult for the coaches.”
Scotland squad: Nicola Cochrane (unattached), Lucy Camlin (Watsonians), Susan Al-Haddad, Sarah Robertson, Amy Brodie, Becky Merchant, Laura Swanston (Edinburgh University), Kareena Cuthbert (Western Wildcats), Becky Ward and Charlotte Watson (MJV Dundee Wanderers), Robyn Collins (Surbiton), Amy Costello and Bex Condie (University of Birmingham), Susan McGilveray, Heather Howie, Jennifer Eadie, Fiona Bruce, Millie Brown, Ali Howie (Milne Craig Clydesdale Western), Kate Holmes and Fiona Burnet (Clifton), Nikki Lloyd, Mairi Drummond (Wimbledon HC), Nicola Skrastin, Katie Robertson and Sarah Jamieson (Grove Menzieshill),
Experienced news, business, arts, sport and travel journalist. Food critic and managing editor of a well-established food and travel website. Also a magazine editor of publications with circulations of up to 200,000 and managing director of a long-established PR/marketing company with a string of blue-chip clients in its CV. Former communications lecturer at a Scottish university and social media specialist for a string of successful and busy SMEs.
