Pembrokeshire’s talented teenage hockey player Ollie Wheeler has recently been to the Futures Cup and again caught the eye with his pace, high skill levels and total commitment.
 
This is a prestigious event is run by England Hockey and was created to simulate the atmosphere and set up of an international tournament and provide talented athletes to test themselves against the best of their age groups in the UK.  As a 15 year old playing in the Under 18's age group Ollie was pitching himself against 17 year olds as England set their standards at the highest level.
 
Wales went as the Celtic Jaguars (all Futures Cup teams are named after cats !) and below you will find the report on the England Hockey Website when The Celtic Jaguars played the Pennine Pumas.  If you notice the Pumas had all their goals from Penalty Corners and a Penalty Stoke whilst Ollie's two goals came from field goals which he created, really proud of him ! 
 
As a result, there were a few on the side lines who asked who was this youngster from Wales !!
 
This was a great experience for all who played in this the top level for GB youngsters and Ollie has come away knowing what he has to do to reach his goal.
 

Celtic Jaguars 2 
Ollie Wheeler 47, 49 (FG, FG)

Pennine Pumas 4 
Thomas Evans 12 (PC)
Dan West 25 (PS)
Tom Burton 44, 70 (PC, PC)

“With the Pennine Pumas needing to win by five clear goals in order to have a chance to progress to the finals this one was always going to be a pulsating encounter and it did not disappoint. Having raced into a 3-0 lead it looked like the Pumas were going to make the cut, but a stubborn Celtic Jaguars display and a second half brace from Ollie Wheeler put paid to those hopes. 

Both sides looked strong on the counter but some excellent defending kept the scores blank for the first ten minutes. Jaguars struck the woodwork but then at the other end Thomas Evans slotted home a penalty corner to make it 1-0. They went 2-0 up via a Dan West penalty stroke before the break. 

Tom Burton slotted in a penalty corner nine minutes after the restart and the crowd started to sense that the 5-0 score could be on.

However Wheeler had other ideas and on 47 minutes he found the net and then reduced the arrears to 3-2 just two minutes later.

The pressure picked up a notch with both sides searching for another goal. The second half yielded one green card and four yellows as the occasion started to get the better of the teams. Burton put the game out of reach of the jaguars with a fourth goal on 70 minutes but despite a thrilling game, both these sides missed out on the final.”