From 29th -31st July, 6 talented young Ops travelled to Nottingham for the England Hockey Talent Academy Festival. The festival brings together the best 800 young players across the country between the ages of 14-18. It is a culmination of the hard work the players have put in across the year attending the training programme as part of the Holcombe Talent Academy. The programme involves regular training sessions and warm up games across the season vs Old Loughts TA, East Grinstead TA & Sevenoaks TA.

Cleo Steer, Maddie Timmins, Maddie Richardson, Sofie Goode and Laurel Fry were selected as part of the Holcombe girls squad whilst our England U16 International Ambrose Davis represented the Holcombe Boys. Maddie T & Ambrose were selected to captain their sides.

Arriving in Nottingham, they faced sides from Birmingham TA, Timperley TA and South Coast TA, where both the Holcombe Boys and Girls sides performed brilliantly throughout. Maddie Timmins got on the scoresheet against Birmingham from a well worked penalty corner routine with Maddie Richardson - something that has been seen many a time at Three Hills since they were in the Ops U10s!

Everyone at Folkestone Optimist Hockey Club is extremely proud of the efforts that all of our talented young players have put in and we can't wait to see them continue to progress on their hockey journeys.