Olympic champ conducts special session for Slough

Double Olympic medallist Hollie Pearne-Webb conducted a rather special training session for juniors at Slough Hockey Club on Sunday, after the club raised hundreds of pounds for

Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Pearne-Webb was greeted by nearly 100 juniors at the club, not only from Slough, but from surrounding clubs including Staines, Reading, Wycombe, Windsor and Yateley.

There was also a good representation from schools in the area, including the Marist School, LVS, Daneshill and Castleview.

Pearne-Webb is most famous for scoring the decisive winning goal at the Rio Olympics that won the GB Women's team their first ever Gold Olympic medal. An event that was watched by more than 10million people in the UK alone. She went on to captain Great Britain to a bronze medal at the Toyko Olympics last year. The session started with a question-and-answer session with Hollie where children got the chance to ask her about her career and achievements. She spoke about her junior clubs and early career and the pride she felt at captaining both England and Great Britain.

The juniors then got the chance to train with

Hollie and a team of coaches from Slough Hockey Club on the pitch before the day finished up with lots of autographs and photos with Hollie and her Olympic medals.

The session was arranged after Slough Hockey Club raised £640 for the 'Going for Gold' Challenge organised by England Hockey and Alzheimer’s Research UK, in support for GB Olympic legend Imran Sherwani who is currently living with the disease. Sherwani scored two goals as Great Britain won Olympic gold in 1988. Slough raised one of the largest amounts for the initiative.

Slough chairman, Harjit Sandhu, said: “We were more than honoured to have Hollie Pearne-Webb, the current GB and England captain, visit us and help with inspire the next generation of hockey players in the area. She is a legend of the game and well respected around the world and we were super excited to welcome her to Slough Sport is so unifying and teaches us all so many valuable lessons both on and off the pitch. Hollie is a fantastic role-model, and we hope everyone that attended had an amazing time.”

Slough HC has a mixed junior section catering for both boys and girls aged six to 18 years. Sessions run every Sunday from 9am.