'Mere's Flint joins England's U16 hockey squad (From The Westmorland Gazette)

'Mere's Flint joins England's U16 hockey squad

9:32am Friday 19th December 2008 in Sport By Gazette Sports

FIFTEEN-year-old Richard Flint, a student from Windermere St Anne's School, has become a member of England's U16 Boys' National Age Group Squad.

After a selection process that started by playing for Cumbria, Richard progressed through the new Hockey England training programme, via their two-tier training and competition pathway.

It culminated in a selection weekend at Bisham Abbey at High Wycombe at the end of November, from which 26 boys were selected for the England training squad.

Richard developed his hockey skills first through playing for Windermere St Anne's School, where he is taking his GCSEs this year, Cumbria's county teams and via Glaxo and, more recently, Preston Hockey Club.

He currently plays for Preston men's first team in the North Premier league.

Richard has set his sights on earning selection for the annual Four Nations Invitation Tournament (with Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands) at Easter 2009.

In August this year Richard played in a representative England team in a victorious side in Hamburg against Germany, Poland and Ireland.

His ultimate ambition is to play in the 2012 Olympics, towards which end he is putting in unstinting daily and weekly training, with up to three visits per week to Preston from Windermere.