A FORMER Stourport Ladies hockey player will captain her country later this month, when 18-year-old Laura Price leads England's under 18 squad out at an international tournament in Holland.

Price, who lives in Kidderminster, has just completed her first season playing alongside Olympic medallist Jane Sixsmith for National Premiership side Sutton Coldfield.

The tournament in Rotterdam will be the second time she's led the U18 side, having been awarded the captaincy in March where the side came third in a tournament which included such sides as Germany, Holland and Spain.

This month's competition will comprise of two pools of eight teams, with the top two in each pool going through to the semi-finals.

Laura isn't worried about the responsibility that the post brings, saying: "I thrive on the challenge of keeping everybody's heads up if things were going wrong."

Despite the influence of playing a higher standard of hockey at her new club, it's her association with Stourport that the youngster attributes her current success to.

She said: "The training and encouragement I received at Stourport, has led to where I am today."

Laura is currently seeking a position coaching at a local school next year when she takes a gap year from university.

Any school interested in talking to Laura about a coaching position, can contact her at Stourport Hockey Club's E-mail address at roblash@stourport-hc.fsnet.co.uk