England recall for millfield teacher

A Millfield teacher and hockey coach has come out ofinternational retirement to play at the EuroHockey Indoor Nations Championships later this month.

Denise Marston-Smith, a PE teacher at Millfield PreparatorySchool, has been called up to the England squad for the competition,having previously played internationally with Great Britain at theSydney Olympics in 2000.

Marston-Smith originally retired from the international scene in2004 but was persuaded to go back on her decision after being askedto join the national indoor squad for three matches in Polandrecently.

She captained her country in two of the games and has now beenselected for the final 12-strong squad heading to Denmark for theEuropean competition, which starts on January 20.

"I accepted the invite as it was, and still is, a pleasure torepresent my country in a sport I have always been passionateabout," said Marston-Smith.

She previously represented England at under-16, 18 and 21 agegroups and underwent teacher training at Crispin School and bothpreparatory and senior Millfield schools.

She joined the prep school teaching staff shortly after herinternational retirement and currently balances her teachingcommitments with playing for Premier League side Olton & WestWarwickshire.

She said: "This is possible due to the financial support from theclub, who also allow me to travel to training every other week dueto the distance and the nature of my job.

"I have also received great support from the PE and gamesdepartment, especially when I am playing Premier National League ona Saturday."

Marston-Smith has also enjoyed success as coach of Millfieldpreparatory's girls' hockey first team, who have qualified for theEnglish Hockey Association nationals five years out of the six underher leadership, making the top four on every occasion.

Meanwhile, former Millfield student Richard Mantell has beenselected for the senior squad that will compete at the men'sversion of the competition.

Baltonsborough's Mantell is named in the 12-man squad for thethree-day competition which starts in Leipzig tomorrow, althoughthere is no place for his younger brother Simon.

The squad contains nine of the players who helped England winpromotion to the elite Championships from Europe's second tier twoyears ago after topping the standings in Poznan.

Mantell is also one of seven named players who competed in lastyear's FIH Indoor World Cup where England finished sixth havingqualified for the tournament for the first time.

England face the Netherlands (1pm) and the Czech Republic(5.30pm) tomorrow, then Russia (10.20am) on Saturday. The semi-finals take place later on Saturday, with the final andclassification matches on Sunday.