We are delighted to announce that 4 of our female athletes are amongst 22 athletes from 9 winter sport disciplines that will be taking part in the British Olympic Association multi sport winter training camp at St Marys University College Twickenham, Middlesex from 25th - 30th July.

The athletes selected are Sophie Herbert from the Isle of Wight, Holly Cornford from Grimsby, Jenny Bolton from Chelmsford and Laura Price from Streatham. All the girls have represented both England and Great Britain in various age groups and all four are now training with the Great Britain Senior team with the hope of securing a place in the final team for the 2011 IIHF Division II World Women's Championships.

The camp schedule will be a gruelling one for the girls with absolutely no on ice training. The week will be concentrating purely on fitness, strength and conditioning and many other aspects of life as an Olympic athlete, something that our athletes have dreamed of for a very long time. The girls will be receiving elite level coaching, training and guidance from some of the top British Olympic Association staff and will also undergo fitness and physiological testing alongside the other camp attendees. The programme will also include media training, the principles of training as an elite athlete, presentations from Olympic athletes about the Olympic games and an evening with BOA Sir Clive Woodward.

The girls will be joined by 18 other top prospects from the world of Winter sports as they will be joined by both male and female athletes from Curling, Bobsleigh, X Country, Alpine, Snow Board X, Ski X, Biathlon and Figure skating.

We wish Holly, Jenny, Laura and Sophie the best of luck at the camp and we look forward to hearing about their experiences on their return.

This is great opportunity for the girls and everyone who has been involved with the development of the players should be proud to have helped them in their chosen sport – we should also not miss the fact the girls have been chosen and see this as a very positive step for not only Women’s Ice Hockey but the sport in general.