Five Old Loughtonians’ rising stars have been selected from a pool of the country’s most promising young hockey players to participate in the Futures Cup.

Emily Defroand will captain the Saxon Tigers under-18s girls and play alongside club-mate Emily Wills.

Chigwell school pupils Conor Caplan and William Godfrey have been named in the Saxon Tigers under-16s boys’ squad, while James Albery has been selected for the under-18s.

The tournament begins today (Thursday) and will be held at Cannock Hockey Club in Staffordshire over four days and is part of the England Hockey Board’s long-term athlete development strategy, the Single System.

The Loughts quintet are among 288 youngsters that have been whittled down from a pool of 2,500 and will compete in the tournament designed to replicate a senior international event following four months of coaching and advice on fitness, nutrition and lifestyle management at 12 Junior Regional Performance Centres across England.

EHB’s national manager for the Single System, Melissa Bennett, said: “The participants will experience a hockey tournament in a performance environment with the focus on implementing the core skills developed over their training sessions.

“It also provides a chance for coaches and managers to get a taste of how important their roles are in the coordination and development of players in this environment.”