IAS Hockey Graduate and 2012 Female Hockey Athlete of the Year, Mikaela Patterson has been named in the National Junior Hockey Squad the Jillaroos. The National Junior Squad comprises athletes in the under 21 age group, in preparation for the Junior World Cup in Chile in late November. In addition to those named in the squad, a number of junior players currently participating in the senior and development high performance programs, including fellow IAS Graduate Grace Stewart, remain eligible for Junior World Cup selection. Additionally, next week, an Under 23 side will travel to England to play a series of competitive fixtures in Nottingham. The tour, which runs from 11-27 June, has been made possible thanks to the support of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association through its NextGEN AUSComGames program. The tour will provide the athletes with exposure to a high level of competition against their British and Dutch counterparts in a tournament structured in a similar manner to the Champions Trophy, in which the senior Hockeyroos are competing. Athletes have been assessed across the year including at the National Futures Camp, the Junior World Cup qualification camp and the Junior World Cup Qualifier on the Gold Coast, at the Under 21 Australian Championships in Sydney in April and, most recently, the National Training Centre Challenge in Canberra in May. The Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile, runs from 24 November to 4 December. National Junior Coach, Craig Victory, said, “We are very much looking forward to our tour to England. It is a significant opportunity for our athletes as we play quality international teams, Great Britain and the Netherlands. “I want to acknowledge the tremendous support we receive from the Australian Commonwealth Games Association through its NextGEN AUSComGames program, without which our athletes would not receive the opportunity to experience such first-rate competitive matches at this age group. “This was naturally a very difficult selection given the nature of the under 23 age range and some very talented young girls coming through our system. “Ultimately, our overall philosophy was to be able to hit the ground running post-Rio. In Jocelyn Bartram, Penny Squibb, Jacqui Day, Jordyn Holzberger and Laura Barden we’ll have one ‘senior’ player on each of the five lines. The other 13 athletes are all eligible for the Junior World Cup, along with Mariah Williams who will be part of the Hockeyroos’ Champions Trophy squad. “We finish off the tour by watching the final of the Champions Trophy in London, which will be yet another wonderful learning opportunity for the Jillaroos.”
