Friday 30 January 2015 Hockey players from The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) are making a name for themselves on England Hockey’s selective Junior Performance programmes to develop talented young players. Katie Birch, lower sixth, has been selected for England U18s, and will have the opportunity to play against Holland in the Easter holidays and in the European Championships in the summer. Meanwhile her twin sister Rebecca is in the U17 High Performance Assessment Camp (HiPAC), having been selected on the strength of her play in the Junior Regional Performance Centres (JRPC) tournament last autumn. She has also been invited by England Hockey to participate in the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) programme, an accredited scheme covering modules such as nutrition, psychology, media and communications skills, fitness, career development and lifestyle management. Three of their GSAL First XI team mates, lower sixth students Claudia Aston, Millie Jeavons and Jaypreet Dhesi, have earned selection to the U18 JRPC for this year, while two lower sixth boys, Eddy Fuller and James Pellow, are in the boys U18 JRPC. Becky Hutson, upper sixth, trained with the U18 JRPC last year and played for the north of England team – the Pennine Pumas – at the Futures Cup last October, which earned her selection for the National Age Group Squads (NAGS). NAGS feed into the England squad and selection for NAGS is the highest honour a junior hockey player can attain. Younger students in GSAL’s hockey teams are also making their mark in the England Hockey player development schemes. Representing the north of England, Hannah Gorman, Flo Straughan and Aisling Madden, all year 11, played in the U16 Futures Cup last October, coming second against tough opposition from the other three regions of England. A further two players, Gabs Aston, year 10, and Rafa Brandao-Lee, year 9, were selected for HiPAC and took part in an intensive training camp and tournament. GSAL’s acting head of hockey Charlotte Glass said: “These individual hockey honours are very encouraging and emphasis the depth that we have in our school teams, both girls and boys.” General Senior School Sixth Form News
