This year's Junior World Cups are sure to reveal the next generation of young stars to follow in the footsteps of Maartje Scheepstra (NED), Santi Freixa (ESP) and Natascha Keller (GER), all WorldHockey Player of the Year award winners

Future stars to rise at Junior World Cups 

By Claire Middleton, Hockey Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph (London) 

There is no better test these days, no more stringent assessment of a young player’s potential, than an appearance at a Junior World Cup. Senior events may provide the glamour and focus to the world calendar, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the Under 21 competitions in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Santiago, Chile, later this year will be the launching pad for some stellar talents.

The Junior World Cup, with its 16 teams, is both a real examination for the elite teams, and a more democratic testing ground for those with aspirations than the 12-nation senior version. National coaches are taking things ever more seriously, seeing the competition as a means of discovering which athletes are most likely to go on to even greater things, and, also, as an end in itself. After all, we all like winning. 

A list (which is by no means exhaustive) of former Junior World Cup stars makes impressive reading for it’s a proven pathway to success at senior level. For example, Australia’s Olympic gold medallists Travis Brooks, Grant Schubert and Rob Hammond cut their teeth at the Junior World Cup in 2001, while of their female counterparts from Germany, only Franziska Gude had not come through their nursery school of Under 16 and Under 18 programmes, making her first international appearance in the Under 21 side. 

Australia’s coach, Barry Dancer, was in charge of the Under 21 side who won the 1997 Junior World Cup, in Milton Keynes, England. He does not believe that an Under 21 team’s success necessarily leads to senior team medals – after all, Australia was sixth last time in Hobart while the seniors took gold in Athens – but he is a firm supporter of the junior competition. 

“With Australia so geographically isolated, and with limited funding, it gives our young players a rare opportunity to test themselves on the world stage,” he said. “It gives us a couple of years in a four-year cycle to shift the focus. It was also the growth of the group which suffered disappointment in Hobart that contributed to our success in Athens.” 

Dancer, like most other national coaches, is not afraid to move his Under 21s into senior hockey, or to bring them back into the junior fold if the situation warrants it. He has, for example, high hopes for Queenslander Mark Knowles, a member of the 24-strong senior squad and an Athens gold medallist, but who will be a key figure in the Under 21 side preparing for Rotterdam. 

“We want Mark to develop his leadership qualities because we believe he has the potential for senior leadership in the future,” said Dancer. “The Junior World Cup gives us another way of developing those sort of attributes. For us, Rotterdam is not about winning in itself, but providing broader development with senior hockey in mind.” 

One of the first things Maurits Hendricks did when he moved from Netherlands to Spain, was to promote several of the Under 21 players to the senior ranks. Like Dancer, he also has a hands-on role with the younger group, which he feels is key to senior success. As a consequence, brilliant strikers like Santi Freixa and Eduard Tubau have helped establish Spain as a world power.  

“National selection at Under 21 is becoming more and more important as our game develops and becomes more a test of detail, speed and skill,” he said. “It is really important for the top nations to have a good Under 21 programme because without one, the top-six teams will not stay there at senior hockey. They have to have players coming through and so I believe that the better your senior team, the better your Under 21 programme has to be. 

“There are always a core of teams who are really well prepared and so the Junior World Cup means players have to be able to perform their skills under mental and physical pressure and stick to a match plan, probably for the first time in their careers. 

“I’ve always believed that something that is good comes quickly and I believe in putting good Under 21 players into the senior side at a young age. For example, when I was in Holland, I picked Taeke Taekema for the 2000 Champions Trophy when, I think he was just 19. If they are good enough, they are old enough. Santi and Eduard were already stars in the making when they competed in Hobart.

“You always have to challenge athletes at elite level so they are tested beyond their capabilities – while making sure they are comfortable with the older guys. That is vital in the education of a young player.” 

In the women’s game, it seems more possible for younger players to make the transition to senior hockey. We are used to seeing teenagers in senior national sides: in England, Kate Walsh, Helen Richardson, Lucilla Wright and Crista Cullen all made their debuts when in their teens and Germany too have an impressive pedigree. Heike Latzsch, Natascha Keller, Fanny Rinne and the now-retired Britta Becker were Under 21 stars who became the long-term core of the senior team, while other world figures who illuminated junior competition include Soledad Garcia, of Argentina, Angie Skirving, of Australia and Maartje Scheepstra, of Holland. 

Marcus Weise, Germany’s gold-medal winning women’s coach in Athens, echoes the importance of the Junior World Cup. “The players come through our system like an education project, with Franke Gude the only exception from the team who won the Olympics,” he said. “We have a group of around 40 players, select a squad of 24 and then track the rest over the coming years – we try not to lose anyone. 

“The Junior World Cup is really important because it’s the first time the girls compete at a world level. At Under 16 and Under 18 they usually just play England, Holland and Spain. At Under 21 they have to get to grips with China, or Australia. The players see it as prestigious, important and they want to play.” 

Of course, not everyone who plays in the Netherlands or Chile this year will become Olympic stars of the future. Some find the extra physicality of senior hockey beyond their capabilities, some redefine their priorities in life while others find life redefines their priorities for them. 

How vital a presence would Jugraj Singh be now for India had a car accident not robbed him of two years development and broken several bones? Jugraj, remember, was converting corners for fun when India triumphed in Hobart.

What about the mercurial Baeden Choppy, Australia’s lost soul, who spent part of last season playing in England’s National League?  He was already an Olympic medallist – from Atlanta – when he returned as vice-captain to the Under 21 side which won junior honours in 1997. 

As with all sport, there are no guarantees. But what is certain is that whichever sides prosper at the Junior World Cups, a core of their number will become the stars of the future. From Rotterdam and Santiago, then to Beijing and beyond. 

2005 Junior World Cups
Rabo Hockey Junior World Cup
Men, Rotterdam, 29 June – 10 July 

BDO Hockey Junior World Cup
Women, Santiago, 14-25 September 

Junior World Cup Honour Roll
Men
1979 Versailles (FRA): Pakistan
1982 Kuala Lumpur (MAS): Germany
1985 Vancouver (CAN): Germany
1989 Ipoh (MAS): Germany
1993 Terrassa (ESP): Germany
1997 Milton Keynes (ENG): Australia
2001 Hobart (AUS): India 

Women
1989 Ottawa (CAN): Germany
1993 Terrassa (ESP): Argentina
1997 Seongnam (KOR): Netherlands
2001 Buenos Aires (ARG): Korea