While most of Britain celebrates Team GB's finest medal haul in living memory, the journey for one Olympic team is only starting now. The British women's ice hockey team have landed in Slovenia for their first pre-Olympic qualifying tournament. For the love of a sport barely noticed in the United Kingdom, these women endure - and pay for - round trips of several hundred miles in the dead of night just to train. Their task is to beat Slovenia, Norway and Austria, and thereby secure a place in a second qualifying tournament, in November. They label themselves "dark horses" at best, but winning these two tournaments would mean a shot at the next Winter Olympics - Vancouver 2010.  | Everybody leaves work on Friday, drives for five or six hours, they get on the ice and you expect them to work hard Reg Wilcox - GB head coach |
Having even the merest sniff of an Olympic place marks an incredible change in fortunes for the British team. "When I first got involved, a lot of players treated it as a bit of a holiday," says Reg Wilcox, the team's head coach. "Things had to change, people had to take it more seriously - we go on trips like this to compete in tournaments, not to go on holiday." The team recently beat Slovenia on penalties to win World Championship gold for their division, gain promotion to Division Two, and earn the opportunity of Olympic qualification. "The fact we're even in a pre-Olympic qualifier shows how far we've come," says Angela Taylor, team captain at the age of just 21. Taylor's story is remarkable. She grew up in Paisley, where she played ice hockey alongside the boys for nine years. Then, while playing in a tournament in Finland, Taylor was spotted by scouts from a number of US universities. Within a whirlwind week, the University of New Hampshire had signed her up. She now plays ice hockey at the highest women's level - the American NCAA - a world away from the British league her GB colleagues call home.  Taylor played in a boys' ice hockey team in Paisley for nine years |
"I think I've been given a better opportunity than some of the other girls, just because I grew up in Scotland, where there's absolutely no women's hockey," she says. "So if you play hockey there, you play with the boys. And if you stick at that you're given more of an advantage. "I would never have become as good a hockey player as I am, if I hadn't had to deal with that. And if it wasn't for ice hockey, I definitely wouldn't be going to university in America." Wilcox has known Taylor since she was 12 and watched as she was drafted into the senior squad at the tender age of 14. He believes his captain's American dream embodies the success story of British women's hockey. "We brought her into the team as quite a young player, and her experience of going to America has made her who she is today, both in hockey terms and personal terms," he beams. And yet Taylor, who at 5ft 11in nearly ended up ditching hockey for basketball, has endured a decade-long slog to reach that point - as has her father. "I used to play a game of basketball in Paisley in the morning, then drive to Dumfries and play ice hockey at night, then the next day I'd have a basketball camp for Scotland and play again at night," she explains. "My poor dad would be driving around Scotland and England the whole time. "For Team GB, the only time we could usually train was a Friday night in Nottingham or Sheffield at 11pm. "So I'd get out of school, my dad would drive me there, we'd stay overnight, then he'd drive me back for another game of basketball or hockey on Saturday." Training conditions have not necessarily improved since. Nicola Bicknell, a veteran at the age of 25, still makes an eight-hour round trip from Berkshire to reach the Sheffield rink for 10.30pm on Fridays, the only time the team can get the ice. Hers is not the worst journey. "It's very difficult," says Wilcox. "Everybody leaves work on Friday, drives for five or six hours, they get on the ice and you expect them to work really hard. "And they do, but what they can give at that point is a lot less than what they can give at other times. "The girls are all amateurs, so if we want a week-long camp, people have to give up their own holiday or pay to be there, and that's a big ask when they're already giving up time to go to championships." | The easiest way for Britain to get a Winter Olympics medal is women's hockey - if I was on our Olympic Committee, I'd be giving us the money |
With those circumstances in mind, it can seem strange for Britain's fledgling Winter Olympians when their better-known summer counterparts face a funding battle, even following phenomenal success in Beijing. Taylor, surrounded by the comparative riches of North American ice hockey - where Canadian youngsters can earn �4,000 in a summer for the occasional training camp - knows what the national team needs to reach the next level. "It comes down to funding. If we do well now and turn some heads, we'll get some money," she says. "Realistically, the easiest way for Britain to get a Winter Olympics medal is women's hockey. It's such a developing sport and any country with money can push its team up within eight years. "If I was on our Olympic Committee, I'd be giving us the money," she laughs, listing Britain's few achievements at the Winter Games. "We've got curling and skiing, but when you think of the Winter Olympics you don't think about Great Britain, do you? "I can think of Alain Baxter, and he got his medal taken away, and then the curling team. Those are the only things you can talk about. "If we want to be respected then the Summer Olympics is amazing, but you can't just disregard the Winter Olympics. But then, that's the nature of the beast."
British squad for pre-Olympic qualifiers in Slovenia
3-5 September 2008 Netminders: Kelly Herring (Slough Phantoms), Laura Saunders (Sheffield Shadows) Defence: Amanda Carr (Bracknell Queen Bees), Georgina Farman (Sheffield Shadows), Lauren Halliwell (Sheffield Shadows), Alexandra von Haselberg-Palyvou (Bracknell Queen Bees), Alice Lamb (Slough Phantoms), Sarah Ledger (Sheffield Shadows), Kelly Simpson (Sheffield Shadows) Forwards: Natalie Aldridge (Bracknell Queen Bees), Nicola Bicknell (Slough Phantoms), Laura Byrne (Slough Phantoms), Leanne Ganney (Bracknell Queen Bees), Hannah Glenn (Kingston Diamonds), Katie Henry (Solihull Vixens), Bethanie Kavanagh (Slough Phantoms), Eleanor Maitland (Newcastle Vipers), Angela Taylor (captain, University of New Hampshire), Emily Turner (Sheffield Shadows), Katherine Wiggins (Sheffield Shadows)
| 
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?