Women’s EuroHockey U21 Championship preview – Wales
Appearances: 4
Best performance: 7th (2000, 2006, 2022)
Wales have been building nicely over the past number of years with Under-21 championship II-A gold in Rakovnik bringing promotion to this competition and a place in last December’s Junior World Cup.
And there is a healthy overlap with the senior women’s panel who also earned a place in EuroChamps27 in London next year with a run to the Championship II final a month after winning Nations Cup 2 bronze. They ended in 14th place in the Junior World Cup with highlights being wins over South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Captain Freya Diamond leads by example, bringing 16 senior Wales caps and three international goals while Caitlin Witham (21 caps), Holly Done and Matilda Edwards are among others to play a recent role in the World Cup qualifiers.
Goalkeeping duties are shared by Amy Partridge and Grace Diamond. Partridge is one of the most experienced members of the group, having already earned 34 Wales age-group caps after making her national debut at just 13 years old. She also featured at the Junior World Cup as a 17-year-old.
** 24 EuroHockey U21 Championship matches from Pitch 1 in Valencia will be broadcast live on www.eurohockeytv.org with an €8.99 event pass (Click the graphic for more information)
Several players return from Wales’ qualification campaign for the 2025 FIH Women’s Junior World Cup, including Amber Millard-Smith, Elenya Beard, Matilda Edwards, Nancy Whittlestone, Olivia Forey, Eloise Moat, Poppy Done, Iona Roderick and Seren Bean.
There are also a number of notable family connections with two sets of sisters – Poppy and Holly Done and Kenzy and Leni Beard.
In their four previous appearances, they have finished seventh three times with the other being an eighth place finish.
| # | Name | Caps | Goals | Goals |
| 4 | Caitlin Witham | 10 | 1 | University of Birmingham |
| 14 | Amy Partridge (GK) | 3 | 0 | Cardiff & Met |
| 32 | Holly Done | 10 | 0 | University of Exeter |
| 51 | Amber Millard-Smith | 6 | 0 | Repton HC |
| 52 | Grace Diamond (GK) | 0 | 0 | Penarth |
| 55 | Elenya Beard | 6 | 0 | Whapping HC |
| 59 | Matilda Edwards | 10 | 1 | University of Exeter |
| 68 | Nancy Whittlestone | 6 | 0 | Gloucester City |
| 74 | Makenzy Beard | 10 | 0 | Cardiff & Met |
| 78 | Olivia Forey | 6 | 1 | University of Exeter |
| 82 | Eloise Moat | 6 | 1 | Clifton Robinsons |
| 83 | Laila Howse | 0 | 0 | Universtiy of Birmingham |
| 86 | Poppy Done | 6 | 0 | Gloucester City |
| 87 | Samantha Digby-Duell | 0 | 0 | University of Nottingham |
| 91 | Matilda Matthews | 0 | 0 | Firebrands |
| 96 | Freya Diamond (C) | 10 | 3 | University of Nottingham |
| 97 | Iona Roderick | 2 | 0 | Ohio University Bobcats |
| 98 | Seren Bean | 6 | 0 | Gloucester City |
| Heather Elder | Team Manager | |||
| Chris Davis | Head Coach | |||
| Matt Way | Assistant Coach | |||
| Aimee Jones | Physiotherapist | |||
