Kuper calls for total commitment

Ireland coach Riet Kuper had her first meeting of what should prove to be an exhausting season with the senior panel at the weekend and, by her own admission, presented them with a fitness, training and match programme that would cause even a professional athlete to wince. Between now and next August's European Nations' Cup finals in Germany, the players will have to combine work or study commitments with club hockey, their fitness programmes, training weekends and up to 15 international matches.

"In a way it is very unfair to ask these players for this level of commitment," said Kuper. "We demand so much of them but we cannot ask for anything less because if we do, we might as well forget about trying to compete at international level. Hockey is moving so fast in the world now and if we are to have any chance of keeping up with the major nations we have to try and give that degree of commitment.

"We have a long programme set out for the players with some new elements this year, like a weights, conditioning and endurance programme. It's very hard and very tough on them. I said to them, `we are all amateurs, we cannot compare ourselves money-wise to a lot of other countries but your commitment is not going to be any different to theirs. You have to commit yourself as a professional, certainly time-wise, even if you are very, very much an amateur'. "The players will be expected to do a lot of individual work too, which means they are responsible for themselves. It is not easy, but if they do it then we know we have the right people. And they WILL do it because I have no doubts about their commitment." Kuper will take the squad to Spain for a training week after Christmas, where she hopes they will get to play unofficial games against the hosts and Germany Also pencilled in for the build-up to the European finals are five and four-nations' tournaments in Dublin and Wales, respectively, and a training weekend in Holland or Germany, a fortnight before the finals begin. Kuper also hopes to fit in friendlies against either England or Scotland and says there is the possibility of a trip to Canada, as their hockey association invited Ireland to a tournament there next year.

Despite being drawn in the same European Cup pool as Germany, Spain, England, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine, the Irish coach remains upbeat about the team's prospects. "Well, we're not in the easy pool, that's for sure but I've spoken to the girls about it and just told them we have to go all out in every single match. They're all hard games but I think we can do well - that's what I hope and what I expect. "Whatever happens in the group some team will cause surprises and I want us to be the surprising team! We certainly won't be considered as one of the top teams but I want my players to believe that they have more quality than they realise they have. We have turned out to be a very good team with some good individual players and with a lot of hard work in the coming months we can be even better."

First-half goals from Siobhan Keogh and Vivienne Doran gave Genesis a 2-0 Leinster League victory over Glenanne in Tallaght on Saturday but in the only other scheduled Senior A game Clontarf, who were unable to field a team, conceded a walk-over to Old Alexandra. Clontarf will be deducted three points at the end of the season while Alexandra have been awarded maximum points.