The College warmly congratulates graduate student Fred Newbold who has been selected to play for the Wales Senior Men’s team in the Hockey World Cup 2023. We caught up with Fred on his flight to India to find out more.
What does it mean to you to be heading to India to play in the Hockey World Cup?
I am incredibly honoured and excited to be selected for the Wales Senior Men’s team for the Hockey World Cup in January 2023 (in the state of Odisha, in India).
What has your training schedule been like over Christmas?
Over Christmas, I took part in a two-week pre-World Cup tournament in Cadiz, Spain which acted as a selection camp for the squad. From the original 24-man squad for this trip, 18 were chosen to represent Wales at the World Cup and fortunately, I was included in this squad.
How will you balance your academic work with this commitment?
This year I am studying for my integrated Masters in Biological Sciences. Fortunately, given that my project is computational, I am still able to work whilst in India which makes balancing my academic and sporting commitments possible. This balance will be a slight challenge to maintain throughout the tournament given the time required to put into both training, gym work and team meetings over the three weeks I am in India, but I will work with my supervisor to overcome this effectively.
Where/when can members of the College watch you play?
Our first pool game is on 13Â January at 11:30am UK time versus England. This game will be shown live on BT Sport. Also in our pool are Spain, and the hosts India, who we play later in January.Â
