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Guernsey Hockey LBG will send two teams to represent the island in the England Hockey U14 Boys and U16 Girls National Championship for the first time.
"This is a significant step forward in our development of young hockey players and has been something we have been working towards for a number of years. Historically we have had players selected to play at national level but we’ve never had the opportunity to enter entire teams in UK leagues," said Julien Sharpe, director of junior hockey for Guernsey Hockey LBG.
"Until now, the teams have had to play against adults but it’s vital for them to be able to compete in their relevant age divisions. We know the competition is going to be very strong as we will be playing against some very established teams but that’s a challenge all the players are looking forward to."
Both squads have been sponsored by Ravenscroft as part of the understanding for the teams taking part in the England Hockey-organised competition is that Guernsey travels to the UK for all of their games.
"England Hockey has been extremely supportive, as have the teams within our division, and have organised that we play our initial four games over two days. That will be tiring but the teams have been training hard so that they have the fitness to cope with two competitive games back to back," said Mr Sharpe. "From a financial perspective, it would have been almost impossible to do this without the support from Ravenscroft. All of the players have been fundraising to subsidise the costs of flights, transfers and kit but the sponsorship from Ravenscroft means we can keep the financial commitment as low as possible."
This Sunday, the under 14 boys will take on Winchester and Havant and the under 16 girls will play Guildford and Havant. On 23 November, they will travel back to the UK with the under 14 boys taking on Trojans and Fareham and the under 16 girls playing Trojans and Bournemouth.
If Guernsey finishes in the top two of their respective West 2 league, they will go into regional final with the top two from each regional final playing in a national final.
Mr Sharpe said he hoped the move would allow more players from Guernsey to be chosen to play at national level following in the footsteps of Adam and Andrew Clark and Andrew Oxburgh, who is currently playing for England under 18s.
Ravenscroft Chief Executive Jon Ravenscroft said it was a great opportunity for the players: "Ravenscroft is passionate about supporting young sports players in their development and this is an opportunity that they should not miss out on. Hockey is an extremely popular sport and they have had some significant successes in recent years and our hope is that with Ravenscroft’s support, the island’s under 14 boys and under 16 girls will add to that success."
