Photo: L-R : Niamh Clements, Carys Haeney and Jess Groombridge

Three First Year pupils, Niamh Clements (U13), Carys Haeney (U13) and Jess Groombridge (U12) have been selected for the North Yorkshire Junior Academy squad for hockey.

As well as their Pocklington School hockey commitments, the girls all play for York City Hockey Club.  To secure selection for the Junior Academy Centre (JAC) squad, they attended a rigorous assessment day and were all delighted to hear that they had been successful.

The Junior Academy Centre is a national directive supported by England Hockey. It is designed to offer high quality training and competition, to develop young players who have been identified as having the potential to play at an elite level.

Training with the JAC squad began last November. The girls will take part in a total of four regional competition days and six training sessions at Ampleforth College (U13 squad) and Queen Margaret’s School Escrick (U12 squad).

Mr Clements, father of Niamh said: “The girls are very committed to their hockey, playing as often as they can and making the most of every opportunity to take their hockey as far as they can.”

He added: “Pocklington School has a really strong contingent of girls currently.  It will be good to see them progressing with the excellent coaching available inside and outside the school.”

Miss Hornby, teacher of PE and i/c hockey at Pocklington School said: “The girls have done extremely well to be selected for North Yorkshire and the selection is thoroughly deserved; with continued commitment to their training, we will look forward to seeing how far they can go with their hockey.”