THREE girls from Hereford Cathedral School have been picked for the last 16 within their region in hope of being selected for future England sides.

Rebecca Heywood, Rene Johnson and Rosie Hanks were initially chosen from county tournaments when they represented Herefordshire at the West tournament at Clifton College.

The girls then went on trial at Millfield School against 48 girls from the West of England and the Channel Islands. From this 16 were selected for the region.

Rebecca Heywood and Rene Johnson were selected for the Bristol Junior Performance Assessment Centre side u16 girls who went on to play the Exeter and Winchester Centre sides at Millfield.

The Bristol Centre covers the Counties of Avon, Gloucester and Hereford, but catchment areas are flexible.

This was the inaugural competition, known as a tier one competition, and was a combined event from the West and South Regional Hockey Associations.

From this three-way tournament over two weekends, a side called the Wessex Leopards will be picked.

This side will play against The Mercian Lynx, Saxon Tigers and Pennine Pumas at Cannock Hockey Club between October 30 and November 2.

This new-style competition replaces the old regional tournament, and is called the England Hockey Futures cup.

Rebecca was sadly injured for the first tournament. Rene played in the 3-3 draw with Exeter and 3-1 loss to Winchester.

In the summer, Rene played at the first High Performance Assessment Camp (HiPAC) for a 16-person squad from the West at Loughborough for u14s, 1994 birthdays, as a prelude to selection for the youngest of the Junior England sides which is the u16s. England Hockey is looking ahead for future national representatives.

Rene is waiting to hear whether she has been selected for the next slimmed down session of this process.

Rosie Hanks played for the Bristol u15 side again at Millfield over the same weekends.

From this two-legged tournament a squad will be picked to play at a HiPAC competition from October 26-28.