Black Sticks Squad named for the Champions Trophy ahead
New Zealand’s women hockey Head Coach, Mark Hager, recently announced the 18-member squad that will participate in the Champions Trophy in Amsterdam, this June.
One of the top events of 2011 in the international hockey calendar for women is the Champions Trophy, which will commence from June 25 to July 3.
The head coach thoroughly tested the players with the help of the thirteen home Test series that were played against world’s top teams, namely Argentina, Japan and Korea. Conclusively, Hager picked out the best performers of the series for the upcoming championship.
Hager said, “We have had some strong test series over the last few months, but the level of competition at Champions Trophy will be world class and if we want to place in the top six, we need to be playing at our very best.”
Among the selected eighteen, five of the players namely Alana Millington, Sophie Devine, Sally Rutherford, Anna Thorpe and Cathryn Finlayson did not appear in the last edition of the Champions Trophy. However, this year they will be honoured to accompany
the Black Sticks' women who have a high international cap record.
According to the co-captain, Kayla Sharland, “The training and competition over the last few months has been pretty intense, and we need to keep training hard over the next couple of months to make sure we get the results we want. The motivation and drive
from the team to perform is evident.”
The championship states two pools in its schedule in which New Zealand has been placed in Pool B with the company of three other nations Germany, Netherlands and Australia. On contrary, Pool A includes Korea, China, Argentina and England.
The Black Sticks' co-captain suggested that if the team manages two wins in the pool round, the team will possibly make it to the top-four in the championship. Even though, it is not an easy task, but the best player will be down on the field that proved
some good results in their recent matches.
Two weeks prior to the Champions Trophy, some practice matches have been arranged in Europe for the team to play against China, Germany and Holland. Hager has invited a pair of players to feature in these matches, namely Petrea Webster and Laura Douglas.
According to Hager, the team will learn a lot from these practice matches and will allow them a chance to experiment various playing combinations, before the Champions Trophy ahead.
Meanwhile, Black Sticks are scheduled to play a four Test series next month against Japan in Gifu, starting from May 24-29.
Along with the squad announcement, the coach has also named a Development Team to accompany the Black Sticks in the Japan tour.
This team comprises of Ella Gunson and Anna Thorpe who will be a part of Black Sticks for the Japan-series as well as the Champions trophy, this year.
Hager stated that both these players need to have some extra games to improve and these events will help them get that additional experience before playing in Europe.
The 18-member squad announced by Hager consists of Emily Naylor, Cathryn Finlayson, Bianca Russell, Kayla Sharland, Anna Thorpe, Alana Millington, Katie Glynn, Samantha Harrison, Stacey Michelsen, Sally Rutherford, Sophie Devine, Krystal Forgesson, Anita
Punt, Lucy Talbot, Ella Gunson, Gemma Flynn, Clarissa Eshuis and Charlotte Harrison.
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