Summer Hockey Camp at Kirkham Grammar School

Fresh from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Kirkham Grammar School were delighted to welcome back Team GB bronze medallist, Susannah Townsend, to host their annual Summer Hockey Camp for a second time. Team GB Women's Assistant Coach, Katie Glynn, also joined this year's camp coaching team, along with Strength and Conditioning Coach, Charlotte Benson.

Susannah competed for England in the women's hockey tournament at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a silver medal, for GB at the Rio 2016 Olympics winning gold and her most recent achievement, winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. At the age of 32, after achieving an outstanding 188 international caps for GB and England, Susannah has decided to retire. However, her hockey journey is not over as she will join Wimbledon Hockey Club for the forthcoming season.

Katie Glynn, a deadly forward who scored 77 in 134 international caps for New Zealand (a national record) in a career that saw her win a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and appear at the London 2012 Olympics, brought a wealth of experience to the camp. After injury cut her career short, Katie transitioned into coaching and worked with the New Zealand U18 and U21 teams before moving to the senior squad in 2019. Katie then joined the GB programme in July 2020 with her main role involving working with GB’s exciting forwards to help them develop into world class players over the next few years.

Charlotte Benson has worked with athletes from a wide range of high-performance sports teams including GB Hockey, GB Rowing, Harlequins Rugby and Surrey Storm Netball. Coming from an elite sporting background in football herself, she is aware of an athlete’s needs and expectations through the pathway into elite sport. She looks to implement this into her physical preparation strategy when coaching everyday female athletes.

During the week, in addition to the hockey technical sessions, Susannah, Katie and Charlotte shared their hockey/sport journeys and inspired the girls with video footage of their sporting achievements, including Susannah and Team GB's Rio 2016 Olympic gold achievement. They learnt about the importance of nutrition and thoroughly enjoyed Charlotte's strength and conditioning sessions - very important in preventing injury.

Later in the week, the girls were given a one hour break from hockey to enjoy a 'Sports Day with a difference'. The coaches had arranged a variety of fun races for the girls, the highlights being any that involved the inflatables!

The final day saw a tournament take place in front of the girls' parents and family members which gave them the opportunity to put into practice everything they had learnt over the four days.

After the tournament, a prizegiving presentation took place with Susannah, Katie and Charlotte presenting a selection of awards including: a signed hockey stick to 'Coaches' Player of the Camp' Millie, 'Coaches' Choice Award' to Keira, Alice and Frankie and a 'Most Improved Player Award' for each year group.