England Hockey has released the names of the 18 athletes that will make up the England U21 men's squad for the Easter four nations tournament in Seville, Spain. Of the 18, 12 were members of the Great Britain Youth squad that won Bronze at the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival in January.
England will play Malaysia, Spain and Germany U21.
Ben Arnold, David Beckett, Nick Catlin, David Condon, Richard Dawson-Smith, Marc Edwards, Simon Faulkner, Chris Gregg, Johnny Kinder, Martin Scanlon and Henry Weir all played in the 5-2 Bronze medal match win over Malaysia while goalkeeper Tom Millington was also there as one of two travelling reserves.
With the squad preparing for the Junior World Cup in Malaysia and Singapore in June the Easter four nations tournament presents an early opportunity for the England players and coaches to see what they will be up against in the Far East. In addition to both Spain and Malaysia, who have been drawn alongside England in Pool C for the Junior World Cup, David Ralph's team will play Germany at the four team tournament in Spain.
Speaking about the Easter tournament, Head Coach David Ralph said: ÔÇ£The trip to Seville is the start of the intensive part of our program and it gives us a good opportunity to see how we are placed against two teams that we will play in our pool in Malaysia. We will also have several new players in the squad and it is a good opportunity for them against quality opposition.ÔÇØ
The squad for the four nations tournament is as follows: Ben Arnold, James Bailey (GK), David Beckett, Nick Catlin, David Condon, Richie Dawson-Smith, Marc Edwards, Alex Edmonstone, Simon Faulkner, Chris Gregg, Chris Griffiths, Johnny Kinder, Sam Middleton, Tom Millington (GK), Martin Scanlon, Ben Tibble, Henry Weir, Tom Woods.
Source: England Hockey
