Australian U21 Indoor teams announced

Australian Under 21 Men’s and Women’s Indoor teams have been selected for a tour of Europe later this year.

The players were selected following the recent Indoor Hockey Festival in Wollongong.

“The Australian Indoor Hockey Under 21 European Tour is a key component to developing the depth, experience and playing style within our Australian Indoor Hockey Program,” said Australian Men’s Indoor Hockey Head Coach, Steve Willer.

“It offers younger players the opportunity to experience European indoor hockey, become familiar with the Australian indoor hockey style of play and enhance their skills.”

In December 2019, the Australian Under 21 Indoor Hockey Teams travelled to Russia and competed in the Moscow Night’s Indoor Hockey Tournament.

This was a valuable learning experience for the players and an opportunity for them to play their first matches against strong European opponents.

This November, the Australian Under 21 Indoor Hockey Teams will again travel to Europe to play.

The teams will be looking to compete in couple of tournaments and play a number of practice matches.

Six of the men’s players from the successful 2019 European Tours have been named to head back to Europe for a second successive time.

The team includes goalkeeper Joshua Blakey who was named ‘Goalkeeper of the Tournament’ in Russia, and Lucas Scott who was named ‘Player of the Tournament’ in Russia.

Ryan Pace has been selected again after his performances in Russia and for excellent performances in Wollongong, where he won the ‘Highest Goal Scorer’ and ‘Player of the Tournament’ awards.

Heath McDonald, William Orth and Connor Yates are the other three who will attend their second European tour.

New to the team are Benjamin Edwards, Dylan Forbes, William Graf, Hugh Hamilton, Sam Mudford and Hayden Vaitekenas.

Dates and destinations of the European Tour are to be announced.

2020 Australian U21 Women’s Indoor Hockey Team

ANDERSON, Brooke (VIC) ^{Elevated from 2019 U21 Shadow list.}

CONSTANCE, Talia (ACT) ^{Debut in Australian U21 Team.}

CORCORAN, Emma (NSW)

DOWELL, Aymee (QLD)

FIELD, Litiana (NSW)

HUGHES, Kelsey (NSW)

LEE, Kaitlyn (NSW) ^{Debut in Australian U21 Team.}

NEWMAN, Zoe (NSW)

PRICE, Aleisha (ACT)

SMITH, Liana (NSW) ^{Debut in Australian U21 Team.}

THOMSON, Taylor (ACT)

WARDROPE, Shanae (WA) ^{Debut in Australian U21 Team.}

Shadow Players
BARRETT, Chloe (NSW)

BRUMMER, Monique (QLD)

JOHNSON, Asta (ACT)

PARKER, Taylah (NSW)

TOBBE, Helena (NSW)

STAPLES, Jess (QLD)

SUTHERLAND, Riley (VIC)

2020 Australian U21 Men’s Indoor Hockey Team

BLAKEY, Joshua (QLD)

EDWARDS, Benjamin (QLD)

FORBES, Dylan (WA)

GRAF, William (NSW)

HAMILTON, Hugh (VIC)

MCDONALD, Heath (VIC)

MUDFORD, Sam (NSW)

ORTH, William (NSW)

PACE, Ryan (WA)

SCOTT, Lucas (VIC)

VAITEKENAS, Hayden (WA)

YATES, Connor (QLD)

Shadow Players

CAIN, Dominic (WA)

CHRISTENSEN, Kaleb (QLD)

O'DALY, Daniel (VIC)

PACE, Mitchell (WA)

TUDDENHAM, Connor (NSW)

WHITAKER, Connaigh (ACT)