Congratulations to Laura Bevan (Ashmead) who has been selected to represent England in the national U18 hockey squad.Laura is one of only 27 students across the country chosen to be in the squad.

In addition to captaining the XI College hockey team, Laura is part of the Wessex Leopards squad, the top tier of players in the West of England. Six other students have been chosen from Wessex Leopards to play alongside Laura in the England team.

Her first England commitment will be to attend a Strength and Conditioning Camp in December at Lilleshall NationalSports Centre, run by England Hockey. Several training camps will be held over the winter, with April 2012 seeing the first 4 Nations tournament to be held in Germany.

Hockey has a strong tradition at College, with five other pupils chosen this term to take part in the Futures Cup andHigh Performance Assessment Camp, programmes run by England Hockey to discover and develop and upcoming talent. In the past three years, three other College students; Georgia Rawlinson, Flora Peel and Holly Chipman have all gone on to represent England on the hockey pitch.

Gwyn Williams, Master in Charge of Hockey at the College commented: “This is a marvellous achievement for Laura and a great reward for the personal commitment she has put into her hockey over the past few seasons. Not only has she captained the XI this season but she has shown real dedication to improving herstrength, fitness and core skills through the College’s Talented Athlete Programme.”

The Cheltenham College Talented Athlete Programme has now been running for over a year under the leadership of Richard Lane, the College Hockey Professional. An England player himself, Richard has developed the programme to help the College’s top sports pupils fulfil their potential. From individual mentoring, goal setting and training to fitness testing, sports talks and video analysis, the programme takes sport beyond school level to national and international standards.

Laura commented: “It’s an honour to have been selected and I am looking forward to working hard at the training camps, both in College and with England Hockey. My main aim is to pull on an England shirt at the tournaments next year but I appreciate there is a long way to go first!”