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INTERNATIONAL TEAMS - under 18 Boys

U18 Boy’s Programme
The U18s target is the European Tournament held every two years. Currently the boys are in the Trophy (B Division), however, following their bronze medal in 2005 are looking for promotion in 2007.

The programme runs for two years with the priority of the first year being continued technical development while during the second half of the first year an element of tactical development will take place. This aims to advance the skills developed in the Junior Academy with emphasis on their continuation when under pressure and fatigued. The year will include a variety of fixtures including test matches.

The focus of the second year is tactical development and game play. Technical development will be maintained, however, it will occur within a tactical framework. The programme allows more fixtures and Championship (‘A’ division) opponents are targeted. The Welsh Hockey Union will aim to enter the squad into a mini tournament where the athletes can get a feel for tournament play. The programme finishes off with the European Tournament normally held in July.

This series is a great opportunity for athlete’s to be exposed to international hockey and work on the plays that have been developed throughout the year. Athletes have access to a variety of support staff including coaches, a manager, physiologist, sport psychologist, physiotherapist and central support by the Welsh Hockey Union Performance Section.

EuroHockey Youth Nations - Day 1
Wales 3-1 Italy
After 3 days in Milan eagerly anticipating the start of the tournament the Welsh boys were ready and raring to go. Playing at 18:30 meant that the temperature had dropped a little and the two teams were therefore starting on a level playing field.
From the 1st whistle Nick Rees & Mark Duxbury played the ball straight through the heart of the Italian team and were finally stopped just as they entered the 25.
In the 9th minute the Welsh team were awarded their 1st and only penalty corner, which was dragged just wide. The Italians soon countered and it was Sean Whitehouse who cleared the ball off the line. This was followed by James Hughes also clearing a ball off the line from an Italian penalty corner. Wales had several scoring opportunities but the Italian defence held strong and it was the Italians who opened the scoring after being awarded a penalty corner in the 27th minute and scoring with a drag flick. Wales finished the half strongly with Mark Duxbury’s reverse shot going just wide.
Wales hadn’t found third gear in the 1st half and this was turned on its head at the start of the 2nd half when in the 2nd minute Owain Dolan-Gray passed to Nick Rees who sent the ball to Mark Duxbury, then on to Lloyd Francis who passed the ball across the goal for Chris Fido to slot the ball home at the far post. Score 1-1.
The next 10 minutes were a little unsettled with Rees being shown a yellow card, Nils Lloyd-Penny receiving a blow to the head and an Italian player also being shown a yellow card. Thankfully Wales came out of this patch the stronger and Wales’ 2nd goal came from a flowing move started by Lewis Prosser and finished by Lloyd Francis with help from Josh Williams striking the post with the ball along the way.
Soon after the Italians were shown their 2nd yellow card for a rash tackle. The Welsh corner defence was able to stand their ground and the Italians penalty corner in the 24th minute was cleared. Nick Rees had another opportunity to score towards the end of the half and there was so much power in his shot that the keeper ended up on the floor. Wales’ final goal was scored by Mark Duxbury taking on two players at the top of the D and striking a reverse shot into the bottom corner. Wales held strong from then on and the 3rd goal gave the Welsh team the cushion needed to run the clock down. Final score Wales 3-1 Italy.
Head Coach Mark Hopkins said ‘to come out of the first match against the hosts with three points was very pleasing. The first match is always a battle of nerves and the performance was just enough to get the result. The boys showed great belief in their ability and deserved the win. We realize we have to significantly improve if we are to achieve our goal but gladly take these three points'.

EuroHockey Youth Nations - Day 2
Wales 2-2 Austria
Wales found it hard going to top yesterday’s result. Despite looking evenly matched early on in the match, the Welsh looked to penetrate the Austrian 23m at every opportunity and were therefore disappointed when the Austrians opened the scoring in the 25th minute. Both of Wales’ penalty corners were saved but the Welsh corner defence also denied Austria from scoring a 2nd goal.
The 2nd half needed Wales to show the pride and passion that brought them the win against Italy the previous day. Before they had chance Wales were down to 10 men and the Austrians had 2 penalty corners. The 2nd of which they converted via a drag flick. Thankfully rather than letting their heads drop, the Welsh boys fought back and scored 2 minutes later when Ben Carless cleared from defence to set Chris Fido off on a run, a one two with Josh Williams brought Fido the chance to shoot and he scored to bring the score to 1-2. Two minutes later the Welsh leveled the score when Lewis Prosser took a hit outside the D for Nils Lloyd-Penny to deflect in. With 20 minutes of the half remaining, the 3 points were there for the taking. Nick Rees had to leave the field after a ball to the arm and Chris Fido’s head injury left the team striving for the win. It wasn’t until the 70th minute and the final whistle that Wales had to settle for the draw. The result leaves the Welsh team on 4 points and 2nd in the table. Tomorrow the Welsh take on the Polish where a point will take them through to the promotion pool. With over 50 penetrations into the opposition’s 23, the Welsh had to be disappointed not to take their chances and seal the 3 points.
Coach Mark Hopkins said ‘the performance warranted a win however if you don’t take your chances then you don’t deserve to take the three points. The belief in the team to come from 2 goals down shows the character in the team but we need to take our chances to have a chance of promotion. We are confident of putting a 70 minute performance together tomorrow and giving ourselves a chance of fulfilling what we have set out for.’

EuroHockey Youth Nations - Day 3
Wales 3-2 Poland
With Wales aiming to top the group, today’s match against Poland was the decider. After having dominated yesterday’s play but not taking their chances Wales were keen to make all their hard work pay off by gaining the 3 points to take them into the promotion pool.
During the early play both teams were sussing out the opposition and guarding against silly mistakes. It was the Polish who took first blood when awarded a penalty corner in the 12^th minute. Adam Williams saved the drag but 4 minutes later the Polish team opened the scoring with a goal in open play following a Welsh mistake. The Welsh played their way back into the game and in the 22^nd minute drew the score level when James Hughes’ strike off a short corner was deflected in by Mark Duxbury on the right post, textbook! The half time score remained 1-1.
With honours even and both teams wanting the win to guarantee taking 3 points into the next pool, Wales were dealt a blow when the Polish team scored from a free hit outside the D following a Welsh lapse in concentration. The Polish team went down to 10 players following a bad tackle and Wales made the power play count by gaining a penalty corner and then 2 minutes later levelling the score again when Lewis Prosser took a hit outside the D which the keeper blocked back to Josh Williams who in turn passed to Nick Rees who slotted the ball home. Within 60 seconds Wales had another penalty corner, which Prosser struck to Duxbury on the right post who again deflected it in.
With 20 minutes remaining the game hung in the balance and Wales held strong denying the Polish possession. Adam Williams and James Hughes patrolled the Welsh D and the forwards gained another penalty corner 5 minutes from the end. As the clock ran down the Welsh team and supporters were counting every second.
Coach Mark Hopkins said ‘the result is a massive boost for us, however, we will have to dramatically improve our performance if we are to beat the Swiss. The boys didn’t follow the game plan but the belief we have developed during the preparation phase saw us home. It was really pleasing to finally get our set pieces functioning and convert our chances. We are all looking to recharge our batteries over the rest day and then prepare for the final push.’
Wales now go into the promotion pool with 3 points to count. After the rest day they’ll play at 16:30 on Friday against Switzerland. And then the final match on Saturday sees the Welsh take on the Spanish.

Wales take another step forward in Ireland
The Welsh U18 boys travelled to Belfast to take on the Irish U18 in final preparation for the Europeans in Milan in July. With the Irish having beaten both England and Scotland earlier in the year, the Welsh boys knew that they had their work cut out to get a result against a strong Irish team who field several players with senior/U21 caps.
With two games in two days and the travelling to contend with the Welsh boys had an early training session on the Saturday morning and playing on a different surface to their pitches back home the boys had to adapt quickly.
That afternoon the two teams lined up for their first meeting in a number of years. Wales started attacking straight from the whistle and despite dynamic attacking moves from the Irish, the Welsh defence held strong and the half time score was 0-0. Complacency set in in the 2nd half and in a fifteen-minute spell the Irish created and took all their chances to take a 4-0 lead. With a 5th goal scored before the final whistle, the Welsh boys were left wondering where their 1st half performance had gone! A mixture of individual errors and more importantly, lack of teamwork made the final score look like a rout.
Sunday’s game offered the players a chance to redeem themselves and with this being their final match before the Europeans, a result was vital.
Wales practiced again early on Sunday morning and worked at stopping the attacking play patterns that Ireland had shown the day before and returning to the pro-active style of hockey demanded.
Both attacking and defensive short corners were worked on and this paid dividends in the match.
From the start Wales took the game to Ireland and a counter-attacking move from Chris Fido resulted in Wales being awarded a penalty corner 4 minutes into the match. This was converted by Nick Rees to open the scoring. Both teams were evenly matched in the middle of the field but the Welsh corner defence didn’t allow Ireland to score from their penalty corner. Wales had the lead at the break, 1-0.
In the 4th minute of the 2nd half Wales doubled their lead via another penalty corner, this time finished off by Lloyd Francis. Wales had 2 more close opportunities during the half with Rees and Francis both putting the ball just wide. Ireland had numerous penalty corners but the short corner defence led by keeper Adam Williams was resolute and Ireland didn’t convert their chances. Final score 2-0 to Wales.
Having beaten the Irish on their home soil made the victory even sweeter. This was also Ireland’s 1st defeat on home soil for a number of years!
Head Coach Mark Hopkins was pleased with the progress made over the weekend ‘having competed with and beaten A Division nations in Scotland and Ireland this year I feel we are heading to Milan with a genuine medal chance. The preparation has gone well with the athletes gaining in belief. It is vital that we maintain the belief and improve our consistency if we are going to gain promotion. We are hitting our stride at the right time with both attacking and defensive corners working really well and everyone understanding roles and responsibilities. I am confident that we will perform well in Milan and achieve our goal; however, you always need a little luck!!!’
The players now have their final preparations to put in place ready for the holding camp at WIS on July 5th. They then fly out to Milan on the 6th and the tournament starts on the 9th. With everything to play for and with promotion being the aim, both the players and management have high expectations.

Squad for Belfast & Milan: Adam Williams, Michael Jones (Belfast), Craig Simms (Milan), Nick Rees (C), James Hughes, Mark Duxbury, Sean Whitehouse, Ben Carless, Nils Lloyd-Penny, David Bond, Tom Stoneham, Joe Fellows, Ben Mackriell, Tim Fuller, Owain Dolan-Gray, Chris Fido, Lewis Prosser, Lloyd Francis, Josh Williams.

 

Wales U18 Easter Camp
Following their successful trip to Holland back in February the Welsh squad met up again for a training camp and test matches against Scotland. Having played Scotland four times last season and the score standing at 2 games all the Welsh boys were keen to take the lead.

The Easter camp started with a day’s training and this was followed by an end-to-end game against Whitchurch 1sts with the final score of 5-5. Wales’ goal scorers were Ben Carless, Lloyd Francis and captain Nick Rees with a hat trick. Goals were conceded via 2 drag flicks (from national league players Jon Collis and Laith El Katib) and a mixture of sloppy mistakes.

The 3 test matches against Scotland took the form of a 2-1 victory to Wales, a 1-0 win to Scotland and then a 4-4 thriller to level the series. The first game saw Wales tighten up at both ends of the pitch! Although the defence tidied up their play the attack weren’t able to find as many flowing moves as they had against Whitchurch. Wales conceded an early penalty flick but came back with 2 late goals at the end of each half scored by Mark Duxbury and Ben Carless.

The second game saw Wales have the majority of possession but with Scotland defending deep Wales were unable to counter attack. Scotland scored a drag flick early in the 1st half and that was the only goal scored.

With all to play for in the 3rd game Wales started the brighter with Lloyd Francis scoring in the 3rd minute. This followed Nick Rees’ effort hitting the post in the 1st minute! Wales went 2 up in the 14th minute from a well-worked long corner that Mark Duxbury finished off. Just as it looked as though Wales had control, a couple of individual errors that the welsh boys were unable to compensate for allowed Scotland to draw level with 2 goals in 5 minutes. The 2nd half was also a close fought battle with Wales taking the lead again through Nils Lloyd-Penny off a penalty corner. This was cancelled out as Scotland scored their 3rd following a quickly taken free hit. The Scots then took the lead as a quick counter attacking move caught out the Welsh defence and it wasn’t until the 70th minute that Wales levelled the score with Sean Whitehouse finishing off another penalty corner.

After an intensive 6-day camp the Welsh boys had to be pleased with their overall performance against an “A division” team. They all agreed however, that cutting out the silly mistakes and thinking about possession and playing as a team would enable them to take their game forward to the next level.

With 2 camps remaining before the Europeans in July all the players have a desire to improve their performances both individually and as a squad. Next camp @ NEWI June 1/2 and then a trip to Belfast to play the Irish U18 on June 22/24.

The final selected squad will then travel out to Milan on July 6th in preparation for the Europeans.

Squad for Easter: David Bond, Ben Carless, Owain Dolan-Gray, Mark Duxbury, Joe Fellows, Chris Fido, Lloyd Francis, Tim Fuller, James Hughes, Nils Lloyd-Penny, Ben Mackriell, Lewis Prosser, Craig Simms, Tom Stoneham, Adam Unitt, Sean Whitehouse, Adam Williams, Josh Williams, Nick Rees.

Wales U18 Hooked on Holland

Following their success at the Millfield tournament in January, the Welsh U18 men’s team travelled to Holland this week to hone their skills and learn from the best. The team were very kindly hosted by HC Bloemendaal, who allowed the Welsh team and its staff free reign of the facilities during their 4-day trip.

After the day’s travelling the team were very appreciative of their welcome meal and woke early the next morning for their 1st training session. Wouter Jollie (Netherland’s U21 Captain and now full member of Dutch national team) and Willem van Poll (HC Bloemendaal Goalkeeper), two Members of the Bloemendaal Heren 1 (men’s first team) were on hand to offer advice and put the boys through their paces.

Monday evening saw the team travel to Amsterdam to the AB&HC to play one of the top U18 teams in the Netherlands. After walking past the National Stadium and seeing the facilities the players were determined to show they fitted in. Wales started strongly with 2 goal scoring chances in the first five minutes. Amsterdam, fielding a number of Dutch U18 internationals, countered the pressure and were awarded several penalty corners. The Welsh defence did it’s job and from the six corners conceded, only one was scored, 2 minutes from time after Wales sloppily failed to clear their lines. With such a close run half the Welsh team were disappointed that they’d conceded a soft goal and that all their opportunities didn’t end with a goal!
The 2nd half was another evenly balanced game possession wise but Amsterdam took their chances and punished Wales for their mistakes whereas Wales created numerous opportunities but didn’t finish them off! After Amsterdam scoring 3 more goals, 2 of which on the counter attack, Wales finally scored a goal with a training ground move finished by Sean Whitehouse. Final score 4-1. On reflection, the Welsh boys showed what they can do in patches, but greater consistency is needed to turn the pressure into a winning result.

Tuesday saw another early start for training. This was followed by a trip into Haarlem to “DeHockeyShop” where replica Bloemendaal kit flew off the shelves! After lunch the team focussed on putting right the mistakes from the previous night. With coach Mark Hopkins now facing his club team the players were determined to make him proud. The game v Bloemendaal JA1 (U18 Boys), another top team also including Dutch junior international players, started with both teams sussing each other out. The Welsh boys didn’t want to make the same errors again and consequently were a little more cautious and controlled. This paid dividends as instead of letting the opposition score just before half time it was Wales who had the final play of the half with Ben Carless finishing for Wales.

Wales were looking to double their lead in the 2nd half and in the 11th minute Chris Fido on the counter attack passed to Nils Lloyd-Penny who played a 1-2 with Mark Duxbury and then slotted the ball passed the Bloemendaal keeper to make it 0-2. Wales increased the pressure and were awarded a penalty corner. This went unconverted but in the next attack Owain Dolan-Gray passed to Lloyd-Penny who found Lloyd Francis waiting to score Wales’ 3rd. Fifteen minutes of pressure was rewarded with 3 goals and a mixture of a Bloemendaal fight back and tiring Welsh legs led to Bloemendaal scoring a goal in the 25th minute and another in the 33rd. Final score 2-3, Wales victory. A much more convincing performance from the Welsh players but still lots to work on in the run up to the Europeans in July.

Following the post-match refreshments, Wales drove to Utrecht to watch a friendly between Bloemendaal heren 1 and Kampong heren 1. Numerous international players were on the field and the boys were able to watch players such as Teun De Nooijer, Tibor Wissenbourn, Chris and Philip Zeller, Ronald Brouwer and Jaap Stockman in action. The game finished with a win for Bloemendaal.

Wednesday’s training also saw the introduction of the German international players Philip and Christopher Zeller. Attackers and defenders alike were offered advice and feedback. Comments that will stay with the players for life.

The training camp finished with an inter-squad match where players were making their final bid to be selected for the squad to face Scotland in Cardiff at Easter.

Other than the 3hr flight delay on the way home, only positive memories will be taken from the trip. The squad again stepped up a level and players are staking their claim for a place in the final 18 to travel to Milan.

Huge thanks go to HC Bloemendaal for making this trip possible.
Thanks also to AB&HC, the umpires and the travelling supporters.

Coach Mark Hopkins summed the trip up by saying “the boys learnt a valuable lesson regarding converting chances and individual errors leading to goals. It was great for the boys to see and speak to some of the best players in the world and I hope that inspires them in their build-up to the Europeans. This squad is developing nicely and starting to develop the ability to win matches. It was a very hard tour with pressure on selection growing. I feel this tour has brought the squad closer together in our pursuit for promotion. I would like to personally thank HC Bloemendaal for letting us use their facilities and making the squad so welcome”.

Squad for the Trip: David Bond, Ben Carless, Owain Dolan-Gray, Mark Duxbury, Joe Fellows, Chris Fido, Lloyd Francis, Tim Fuller, Gareth Hughes, James Hughes, Louis Jones, Michael Jones, Nils Lloyd-Penny, Ben Mackriell, Lewis Prosser, Craig Simms, Tom Stoneham, Adam Unitt, Sean Whitehouse, Adam Williams, Josh Williams.

U18 Boy’s Management Team

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