Hi, my name’s Kate Walsh, and I'm the current England and Great Britain women’s hockey captain. I've been playing in the senior international team since 1999 and have more than 230 international caps. Here's a brief insight into our preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games and an introduction to the GB women’s hockey squad.

Although only two players remain from the squad that represented Great Britain in Sydney 2000, there are few differences between the present team and the team playing back then in terms of characters.

That's one of the things I love so much about playing hockey - the different personalities coming together and everyone pushing towards a common goal. For this team that common goal is a gold medal at the London Olympic Games. We know that winning any international tournament is no mean feat, and we're pushing ourselves harder and harder.

The squad members have all recently moved to live closer to our base at Bisham Abbey in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, so we can train full-time together. That's around 20 hours a week, covering hockey sessions, weights sessions, speed and conditioning. But it’s not all hard work and no play.
 
We socialise together far more now than ever before, mainly because we live so close by. Tuesday night is pub quiz night at our local in Marlow, and there are plenty of DVD nights and meals out to celebrate team birthdays. I've really enjoyed getting to know some of the girls away from the stresses and strains of the hockey pitch, and in the long run I reckon it'll make us a stronger unit.

Our pub quiz geniuses are Emily Maguire, our Scottish defender, and Becky Herbert, who is currently out with an injury. Their general knowledge is amazing. I know for a fact that they are entirely happy on websites questioning them on the capital cities of Europe. We encourage them. Being competitive we love winning at anything and everything, including pub quizzes.

Full-time training is extremely hard work but we love playing hockey so much. For us, it isn’t a sacrifice but a choice. A number of players in the squad still juggle work and hockey training. We currently have a few teachers, a doctor, a sports scientist, a recruiter and quite a number of students. Although it's really difficult for them to manage, they feel they need this balance in their lives. Can you imagine completing 20 hours of training on top of your job?

For sheer exertion, one of the most ferocious exercises I’ve ever experienced was definitely training with the Royal Marines at their  base in Lympstone, Devon. That, without doubt, was one of the hardest things I have ever done of my life. Perhaps one of the most valuable too, but I wasn’t thinking that at the time as we ran across a gorse moor holding a stretcher piled high with heavy logs and ammunition boxes, knowing we couldn’t put them down for even a moment if we didn’t want to fail the test. I think most of us just fell down  when it was over.

So, we're extremely busy women, and it’s about to get a whole lot busier. This year is an important year with the Champion’s Trophy on home soil in Nottingham; the World Cup in Rosario, Argentina, and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The Champion’s Trophy will see the best six nations in the world compete for that top spot.

England take on Argentina, Netherlands, Germany, China and New Zealand.

It’s going to be fantastic to be playing at home with a noisy, supportive crowd behind us; hopefully, it’ll give us that added edge.

From Nottingham we’ll have three weeks of final preparations before heading out to Rosario for the World Cup. If selected, this will be my third World Cup. It'll definitely be one to remember, as the huge fanatical crowds in Argentina will provide an inspirational backdrop for some excellent hockey. England will be looking to improve on our last two finishes of fifth and seventh.

Finally in October, England, Scotland and Wales will head out to Delhi to take part in the Commonwealth Games. The British players will have a rare opportunity to face each other on opposing teams.

We're all looking forward to some big challenges ahead of us this summer and have just sharpened our teeth with a four-match series against the Aussies. We drew three of the games 1-1 and lost one 4-0. Not bad against a team ranked two places above us in the world rankings. As you'd expect, the games were all hard fought and provided an excellent tester for the squad before going into the exciting summer ahead.

So, now we’re into the final week of training. That ends in selection, and then we’re ready for the challenges that await us in Nottingham at the Champion’s Trophy. Wish us luck!

Kate Walsh, the current of England and Britain, played in the 2000 and 2008 Olympics and won a silver medal in the 2002 Commonwealth Games

British Hockey is represented by davidwelchmanagement.com