By Ollie Williams

England's hockey team will treat this week's men's Indoor World Cup as a chance to develop vital skills for the British outdoor team at the Olympics.

An England squad packed with stars expected to compete at the Games has travelled to the 12-team indoor event, which began in Poland on Tuesday.

"The only reason we're playing is to develop our outdoor hockey," said England indoor coach Andy Halliday.

"If you can do it in a small space, when you get outdoors it'll be easier."

England are without Ashley Jackson, one of the biggest names in men's hockey, because of a pelvic injury, but their Indoor World Cup squad includes other top names such as Barry Middleton and Richard Mantell.

I wouldn't rule out us getting to the semi-finals - that said, I also wouldn't rule out us finishing 10th Andy Halliday England indoor coach

Four of the 12-man squad - including Middleton - had no England indoor caps prior to the tournament, such is the team's lack of experience in a version of hockey the nation ignored until recently.

But England won their first Indoor World Cup clash on Tuesday, defeating the Czech Republic 2-1.

"International indoor hockey is quite a big financial commitment and we withdrew in the 1990s," explained Halliday.

"The powers-that-be at the time decided it wouldn't contribute to the outdoor game.

"We were out of the game for 14 years, but performance director David Faulkner made the decision that we should come back and use it as a development tool for outdoor hockey: use indoor hockey to make us better outdoors."

England, one of the strongest outdoor hockey nations in the world, consequently have no such pedigree indoors - they had to come through the second-tier EuroHockey Indoor Nations Trophy early last year to qualify for the Indoor World Cup.

The squad face Austria, the Czech Republic, Iran, Russia and the United States in pool B, with defending champions Germany alongside Australia, Canada, Namibia, the Netherlands and hosts Poland in pool A.

Barry Middleton and England failed to win a Commonwealth medal

"Teams like Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria have a dedicated indoor hockey season," said Halliday.

"They play the game a lot more but we'll have some of the best outdoor players in the world playing indoors. What we may lack are a few of the specialists, and intricacies, that playing indoor hockey for four or five months in winter will give you.

"We've got a very tight group and we'll miss not having Ashley Jackson with us, but I wouldn't rule out us getting to the semi-finals. That said, I also wouldn't rule out us finishing 10th."

Middleton, who captains the England team, admitted to BBC Sport that he had been reluctant to convert to the indoor game for several months of intensive winter training.

"Myself and a few others, the ones who hadn't played a lot of indoor, didn't initially want to get involved," he said.

"But once we did we enjoyed it and we see it as a useful tool.

"Your close skills have to be so much better, and shooting and scoring is such a big part of indoor hockey, that it can only benefit us outdoors."

Team-mate Simon Mantell added: "I haven't played for England indoors. This will be my first international cap.

We should score quite a few goals, but we have to make sure we're tight defensively Simon Mantell

"We're a lot more prepared this year than we have been in the past but we're still an inexperienced nation indoors, being realistic.

"The difference is the top nations keep it tight at the back. We should score quite a few goals, but we have to make sure we're tight defensively."

Mantell's older brother and team-mate, Richard, pointed out an unexpected benefit of the decision to return to indoor hockey - England's winter indoor programme enabled the squad to avoid the inclement weather which brought much of the country to a halt.

"We'd have lost a lot of sessions outdoors because of the frost and snow and pitches getting frozen," he said.

"It's been good to continue the intensity of our training throughout December and January."

Pool matches at the Indoor World Cup conclude on Friday, with the final and bronze-medal match scheduled for Sunday.

England's players will form the majority of the Great Britain team for London 2012 in conjunction with players from the other home nations' federations.

The outdoor English men's squad picked up a silver medal in 2010's Champions Trophy, one of hockey's major tournaments behind the Olympics and World Cup events, but missed out on medals at the World Cup and Commonwealth Games.

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