Scotland’s hockey women start Euro build-up

Scotland’s national women’s hockey squad have kick-started their preparation for the European Championships in Germany in the summer with a weekend training camp in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Coach Chris Duncan included the under-21 squad in the session as part of the pathway programme being generated by Scottish Hockey.

And the coach explained that the squad were early in their preparations for the summer but the players have completed a strong physical block over the winter.

He said: “We are now re-building the pyramid and principles and our style of play and it was great to have the senior team in all weekend and for them to be working with the under-21 to see what the future looks like and to mould a pathway through to senior level.

“It is an exciting summer for us and we have a lot of work to do and we’ll see where it takes us but I am really pleased with the progress we have made so far.”

The coach wants to use some of the senior players to help guide the younger players and he added: “It is a really good leadership exercise for some of our senior players. The ambition is a strong Scotland and the ambition is to deliver a world-class squad.”

Scotland have the European Championships in Germany in August against some of the elite of world hockey including Germany, England and Ireland, but they also have games against Australia and China in the build-up.

He added: “We come into the tournament in Germany looking to finish as high as we can and the time we spend together now will help contribute to that.”

PICTURE: Scotland were involved in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last summer. Picture by Nigel Duncan