AFTER a short Christmas break, Ipswich women's first team spring back into action this weekend as they travel up to Birmingham for the first weekend of the EHL Indoor Premier League.

AFTER a short Christmas break, Ipswich women's first team spring back into action this weekend as they travel up to Birmingham for the first weekend of the EHL Indoor Premier League.

With the outdoor season on hold until January 27, the focus of English hockey turns to the fast and exciting indoor version of the game.

The top four teams, after two weekends of league action, will play in front of over 4,000 fans at the NIA Arena in Birmingham on Sunday, January 21 to decide who is crowned champions of England and will go onto to represent the country in Europe in 2008.

Ipswich lost in the semi-finals last year to eventual champions Chelmsford but have strengthened their squad and will be keen to improve on that this year.

The Suffolk team, coached by Sandie Lister, have enjoyed good preparation going into this event, winning the East Indoor title by beating current champions Chelmsford 6-2, and will be aiming to take that form into this tough first weekend.

Ipswich face Leicester in the opening game, then play Slough, Chelmsford and Canterbury to complete their first weekend of fixtures.

With all sides missing their England players, due to a training camp in South Africa, it could mean that there may be a few surprise results but, while Ipswich will no doubt miss the flair of Jo Ellis, they know that they have the depth in the team to still get the results they want.

A good first weekend would set up the Suffolk side nicely for a return to the most exciting event of the hockey season.