TWO of Ipswich School's brightest young hockey prospects have put the icing on their school's phenomenal hockey season with the news that they have been selected for England Hockey's High Performance Assessment Camp later this month.

Stuart Watson

TWO of Ipswich School's brightest young hockey prospects have put the icing on their school's phenomenal hockey season with the news that they have been selected for England Hockey's High Performance Assessment Camp later this month.

Over a two-day period at Loughborough University, Katherine Gwynne-Wood, 13, and Hannah Martin, 14, will join gifted young players from all over the country for sessions led by England Hockey performance coaches.

The camp, known as HiPAC, is regarded as part of the pathway for talented young hockey players to eventually represent their country's senior side.

It has been an incredible hockey season for the school whose Director of Games Julian Halls was himself a member of the British Olympic hockey team at the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Games.

Harry Martin (Hannah's brother), Josh Godfrey and Jonny Gall have all been selected for the England U16 boys' hockey side this season, the trio competing in the Four Nations tournament at Nijmegen, Holland at Easter.

They are now all looking forward to returning to the Netherlands as members of the England squad for the European Championships which take place in Den Haag late this month.

Two Ipswich School sides - the Under-13 and U16 boys - have both won National Outdoor Championships, the U13s having now won the title for the past three years.

The U16 boys also won the East Region Indoor title and distinguished themselves in the National Finals where they eventually lost to tournament winners Perse School in the semi-final.

Meanwhile, the U16 girls' indoor side went one stage further than their male counterparts to reach the final of National Indoor Championships in which they eventually lost to title-holders Belper in a tense encounter.

In addition, no fewer than eight Ipswich School sides - the Under-11, U13, U14, U16 and U18 boys and U13, U14 and U16 girls - have won County titles this year.

Overall, 28 girls and 55 boys from Ipswich School and Ipswich Preparatory School have played for Suffolk teams during the past two seasons.

The final end-of-season statistics show that, of the 122 hockey games played by Ipswich School across all age groups, they have won a formidable 91, lost only 21 and have drawn just 10.

The boys' U15A and U13A sides have both enjoyed unbeaten seasons, while nine players have achieved double figure goal tallies.

Halls attributes these impressive successes to three factors. He said: “Firstly, it is down to the tremendous commitment and enthusiasm of the girls and boys.

“Secondly, the strength in depth of our coaching team. Some of our coaches also have a role in the game at county and regional level. David Walsh, Steve Godfrey and Iain Gall have all recently been involved in the management, coaching and selection of regional and county hockey teams, while James Ashton has also run a Suffolk side.”

Halls himself has extensive international experience as a player and is now a centrally contracted coach with England Hockey and is men's coach with Old Loughtonians Hockey Club, while Iain Gall, who represented Combined Services, is men's coach at Ipswich Hockey Club.

Halls added: “The third factor is the commitment of our players' parents. They are every bit as enthusiastic as their sons and daughters and the quality of support we get, whether it's a routine fixture or a national final, is superb.”

This remarkable season continues a growing reputation at the school for producing top hockey players.

George Pinner, a pupil at Ipswich School from 1998 to 2005, achieved his first Great Britain hockey cap when he played in goal against the Netherlands last October, while James Southgate, at Ipswich School from 1994 to 2001, was selected for England U16s in 1998, England U18s in 1999 and since captained the senior England side.

Ipswich School Hockey Fast Facts

2 - National Outdoor titles won by Ipswich School this season

5 - Players to have been selected for England hockey sides and development camps

8 - Sides to have won county titles this season

9 - Players to score ten or more goals this season

75 - Percentage of games won by all of Ipswich School's hockey sides this season

83 - Number of Ipswich School pupils to have represented their county over the past two seasons

Ipswich School top-goalscorers

Josh Godfrey 34, Simon Uzokwe 12, Harry Martin 19, Tom Watson 15, Josh Fry 13, Hannah Martin 11, Alex Flory 10, James Trott 10, Jonny Gall, Charlie Hardman 9, Henry Mills 9 and Michael Wright 9.

Ipswich School's Suffolk representatives

Girls: Sumitha Bose, Hannah Brooks, Rebecca Christie, Ellen Cook, Charlotte Devlin, Annabel Driver, Lucy Dunnett, Mollie Fry, Mary Galbraith, Gemma Gardiner, Sarah Glanvill, Jasmine Grayling, Katharine Gwynne-Wood, Natalie Hallworth, Kate Hills, Felicity Last, Hannah Martin, Catriona McDonald, Alexandra Olding, Olivia Padfield, Bethany Scott, Eleanor Shone, Gabriella Stanley, Charlotte Taylor, Francesca Tew, Abigail Thompson, Kate Watson and Kate Wingar.

Boys: Alex Bond, Jamie Bowden, Tom Braybrooke, Henry Burge, Calum Craig, Joe Crame, Will Davis, James Davis, Will Dudley, Alex Flory, Josh Fry, James Gall, Jon Gall, Ben Gallagher, Josh Godfrey, Zachery Grayling, Charlie Hardman, Alex Hardwick, Charlie Harpur, Will Harrison, Matt Heal-Cohen, Sam Heal-Cohen, Ben Hills, Jack Hinshelwood, James Hodgkinson, Joe Knowland, Max Macaulay, Harry Martin, Chris Maynard, Henry Mills, Kelvin Morgan, Tom Mulholland, Gareth Nicholas, Will Olding, Henry Patten, Ashwin Raj, Matt Richardson, George Roberts, Will Shepard, Euan Smith, Hugh Thomas, Harry Thorne, Josh Turner, Ben Underwood, Max Underwood,, Simon Uzokwe, Sasha Ward, Felix Ward, Alasdair Watson, Tom Watson, Sam Webb-Snowling, Ben Wheaton, James Wheaton, Charlie Young and Patrick Young.