specialist England training
The best talent the North of England League has to offer
was put through it's paces at the weekend at a specialist
England training camp at Manchester City's Dome sport complex
at Platt Lane. Around fifty of the region's international
hopefuls were given the chance to make the grade for the England
team which competes at the International Lacrosse Federation
(ILF) European Championships in Prague later this year. And
the signs were very promising for players from Heaton Mersey,
Stockport, Cheadle, Manchester Waconians and a host of other
top clubs who had been invited to the camp with the opportunity
of trying to enhance their chances for a place on the plane
to the Czech Republic come mid-July.
"We are taking a squad of 23 players to the Czech Republic
and three travelling reserves," admitted Greg Caplin,
the England manager, "but in that squad there is room
for four overseas players. The pressure will be on all the
players, but I've been pleased with what I've seen so far.
"Since we've come back from the 2002 Senior World Championships
in Australia we have felt isolated and we knew we needed more
help. That prompted us to form the National Squads Committee.
The national policy is to get support from everyone in the
game and that means looking abroad as well as on the domestic
scene."
Stockport A extended their excellent unbeaten run to 13 games
courtesy of a comfortable 16-5 triumph at home Poynton in
Division 2 of the North of England League. The Beech Road
club have won 12 and drawn one of their matches this season
and done so having netted a staggering 210 goals to leave
them flying high at the top of the table. Sean Ward, the Stockport
skipper, was delighted with his team's performance which has
strengthened their charge to win the domestic title.
"We are riding high at the moment," beamed Ward,
whose team led throughout 4-1, 9-2 and 12-4. "We won
a lot of ground balls and our finishing was excellent. We
had a three-week layoff, but we did the basics well."
C hris Livesey and Mark Collister led the Stockport charge
with four goals each, while Ian Sanderson (2), Charlie Cox
(2), Martin Gosnay, Malcolm Gosnay, Andy Barlow and Dave Cottam
were also on the scoresheet. Sam Davidson (2), Chris Wainer
(2) and Glyn Warrington replied for Poynton
Weekend results
Men's North of England League - Division 2:
Stopfordians 4, Sheffield Steelers 18; Heaton Mersey A 6,
Manchester Waconians A 6; Stockport A 16, Poynton 5; Oldham
15, Norbury 7; Nottingham 7, Cheadle A 9. Division
3: Poynton A 4, Stockport B 5; Manchester Waconians
B 11, Heaton Mersey B 8; Timperley A 9, Mellor A 15. Division
4: Rochdale B 4, Brooklands Hulmeians Ex A 12. Division
5: Manchester Waconians C 13, Heaton Mersey C 5;
Boardman & Eccles B 4, Wilmslow A 14; Norbury A 5, Cheadle
C 6. Women's North of England Premier League:
Heaton Mersey 12, Stockport 5.
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