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How's hockey doing in Staffordshire?

At grassroots level there are quite a few clubs in the three main leagues in the county, i.e. The Staffordshire League Divisions 1, 2 and 3.

What about the big guns?

Cannock and Stafford are both very strong clubs, and if you want to watch good hockey played, these two are the ones to watch.

Cannock Hockey Club usually have a strong presence at international level, with a history of grooming England and Great Britain internationals including Martin Jones, Jimi Lewis and Charlotte Craddock, who's the youngest women ever to appear for GB at the Olympics.

Former Cannock striker Martin Jones

Cannock are a very prosperous team and in the last ten years the club has worked to become one of the Nation's best hockey clubs.

Their first team are the only club to have won the National League play-offs three times in a row and have previously also hosted the European Club Championships.

Stafford have worked hard to build their growing reputation and now have a range of teams across the ages.

The Lichfield Men's Hockey team won their league in 2005 and have now been promoted to National League level - well done lads! The Lichfield Hockey club's Junior section is also specifically large - to find out more about training etc click on the link at the bottom of this page.

Right, well I want to get started...

If you're a beginner, the list on Cannock's website offers plenty of advice, but you could do worse than trying to get into one of Cannocks youth coaching sessions.

Sadly, there isn't a specialist shop in the county to buy equipment, although many sport shops now stock hockey sticks and balls to get you started.

Am I likely to get hurt?

It's a contact sport, and the most common injury is twisted knees. It's recommended that you wear shinpads too, because we all know how it feels when you get rapped there!

Other than than that, the worst thing for boys is when people say to you 'Isn't hockey a girls' sport?".

Cool, are there any local heroes?

Imran Sherwani is not a member of the hugely successful Pakistani teams, but in fact an Englishman who won Olympic gold with the Britain team.

At the time he was running a newsagent's shop in Stoke-on-Trent!听Find out more about him in our special profile here:-