Two pupils from Queen’s College in Taunton have been chosen to compete for England and Wales in hockey.
Dan Wilde (14) from Trull has just returned from a tour of Switzerland where he played three test matches for Wales U16 team. Dan was one of three players voted as player’s player of the tour when he competed in Lausanne over the Easter weekend.
Patrick Free (15), from Angersleigh, who has been selected for the England U16 team, will be playing his first match against Ulster on the 4th and 5th May at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre near Birmingham. Paddy’s success is particularly remarkable given that he suffered a serious head injury last November.
Both Dan and Patrick are also sporting all-rounders. Dan and Patrick also compete at county level for cross-country and Dan, in addition, at athletics. They were part of the Queen’s College hockey side which won the U13 national hockey finals in May 2012, gaining gold medals, and were bronze medal winners when they both competed in the nationals again last year for the U14 team at Cannock Hockey Club.
In addition, Ben Stevenson (16) has been selected for the England U15 squad and will attend a two day training camp at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in May. Ben was selected from the England Hockey HiPac Camp last October – a high performance training environment for the best U15 players in England. Queen’s College has also had ten players across various age groups selected for the England Hockey JRPC squads.
The boys are trained by Olympian, Ian Haley, who represented South Africa in the 2012 London Olympics and is Director of Hockey at Queen’s College. Said Ian: “The secret of the boys’ success is hard work, team building and a will to succeed. We have made massive strides in sport here at Queen’s College and have become very successful because we have a sensational team of sports coaches, a good ethos and the ability of our staff to spot and nurture talent. From my perspective, I like to challenge my teams as much as possible and teach core, basis skills which can be repeated and improved.”