Chelmsford Highway star players Becky Alltree and Katy Roberts missed out on early season team training - because they've been on England duties.

Team training began in the first week in July, but Alltree, 18, has just returned from a two week tour of the USA with England Under 21s.

Roberts, 21, the team's goalkeeper has moved up to the Senior England training squad.

In May, she was also selected for the Great Britain training squad of 26, preparing for the 2000 Olympic Games, and the final GB training squad of 24 will be announced at the end of August.

Roberts' training schedule ran on from the end of last season and she won her first home Senior International Cap last week in the International Match against Japan at Milton Keynes.

England won 3-0 and Roberts was pleased to have kept a clean sheet in front of a home crowd.

She narrowly missed out on a place in the England squad of 16 named for the European Cup in Cologne in August.

Although disappointed, Katy said: "Being selected in goal is tough, especially when you are competing for a place with the likes of Hilary Rose, who kept goal in the last Olympics and Carolyn Reid, who was the Sports Writer's Player of the Year last season''.

August is a difficult time for training, as a lot of of the Chelmsford squad are either students or teachers, and have to take their holidays to coincide with university, college or school holidays.

However, anticipating a return to the top flight of Premier Division hockey and becoming one of the top 10 teams in the country, the management team had already primed players that the preparation would begin in earnest at the end of August and all the squad will be back for the preparation.

Chelmsford travel to Holland over the August Bank Holiday for an International Tournament, have a training camp weekend in Surrey at the beginning of September and play in the Premier Division Club tournament at Southgate the following weekend.

Because of the preparation of the GB squad for the Olympics, the Premier Division fixtures have had to concentrate in the early part of the season and Chelmsford will have 15 matches before Christmas, and the remaining three after the Indoor National League finishes at the end of January and beginning of February.

This left those players who were not required for GB duties with a season finishing on February 18, so the EHA have organised an English Hockey League Cup programme at the end of February and in early March.

Newly-promoted Chelmsford Highway will start their Premier Division campaign with three home fixtures, commencing with a fixture against local rivals, Ipswich.

Chelmsford Hockey Club's Becky Alltree, who has been in America with the England under 21 squad.

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