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The next stop is the junior world championships for Norton ball hockey player, Michael.

Years of dedicated training and hard work have paid off for the 16-year-old who has secured a place in the Team GB under 18 squad.

Excited for the challenge, he said: “I am looking forward to it but also feel a bit nervous. This is what I have been working towards for such a long time.”

Michael will now compete in the International Street and Ball Hockey Federation (ISBHF) Junior World Championships, due to take place in Slovakia on June 27.

Introduced to ball hockey as a young ice hockey player, Michael found he had a flair for both sports.

“I first tried ball hockey as a way of keeping my fitness levels up but found that I really enjoyed it, I was quite good and so it just stuck.”

A variation of ice hockey, but without the ice, he explained the game is played with a ball instead of a puck and with less protective gear.

Michael currently plays ice hockey for Billingham Stars, part of the former under 13s squad crowned national champions in 2018, and ball hockey for Twisters Ball Hockey Club in Ferryhill.

When not training, or in the gym, he studies electrical engineering at Stockton’s NETA Training and helps at his family’s butchers in Norton.

With his heart set on a place in the GB team, a knock back first-time round for the under 16 squad wasn’t enough to put him off.  His ambitions were then hindered for another year due to the restrictions of covid.

“During lockdowns I had to find ways of working on my fitness and training as best as I could at home,” he said. If anything, it made him more determined.

Finally able to reach the trials in Sheffield starting from October last year, he got the news that he had made the GB team this month.

Receiving that all-important email, he said: “It was quite overwhelming and surprising as well, after all, trialling for the under 18 team, I was competing against people a year or so older than me.”

Hoping to bring home a medal from Slovakia, Michael said: “I have competed up and down the country, but this will be my first time competing in another country.

“I am excited, but it is a lot of responsibility. You have to be ready, not just to play the best you can for yourself but also for your team, and you are representing Great Britain!”

Michael Plant 2 JH Pic Michael Plant 3A
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