Progress towards 2012
The FIH Women's Champions Trophy in Amsterdam has just finished. We were slightly disappointed with our fifth-place finish, having won the bronze medal in the same competition last year. It was frustrating to come third in our pool, as this meant that we were out of contention for the medals. However, if you analysed our performance in the tournament, we did not actually play that badly. Our fifth place means that we qualify for next year's Champions Trophy in Argentina, which will provide the crucial preparation leading up to the Olympic Games. As well as this, we only lost one match and that was against the world's highest-ranked nation in Argentina. That was our opening match of the competition, which meant that we were facing an uphill struggle to finish in the top two of our pool. We drew our next two matches and won our last three, including two victories over Australia. Following the tournament we have risen up the world rankings from fifth to fourth
Training schedule
We've been on the current training regime since 2009 and we've all moved down to the Bisham Abbey area so that we can train twice a day, every day. The facilities there are fantastic and we also play matches at the venue. In August this year, we play host to the Netherlands, who are the world champions, in a Test series
Biography
Born 20 August 1985, Boston, Lincolnshire
Educated Oakham School, Nottingham Business School
Hobbies
I'm into extreme sports, but obviously I can't really exert myself too much for fear of picking up an injury prior to the London Games
Favourite film The Shawshank Redemption
Favourite band
I don't follow bands too much. My favourite pop star, however, is Beyoncé
Sports followed
I prefer rugby to football and I support Leicester Tigers
Key statistics
Club
Leicester Hockey Club
Position
Full-back
Debut
2003 (v Scotland)
Caps
England 61; Great Britain 43
Honours
Named in the 2006 World Cup IHF World Star squad
Great Britain Hockey Athlete of the Year, 2006
Hockey Writers' Club Player of the Year, 2006
Olympic countdown
1 August
Great Britain v Netherlands Test series, Bisham Abbey
28 January to 5 February
Women's Champions Trophy, Argentina
15 to 26 Feb
Olympic qualifying tournament (India)
14 to 25 March
Olympic qualifying t'nament (Belgium)
25 April to 6 May
Olympic qualifying tournament (Japan)
2 to 6 May
Four Nations invitational test event (London)
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