With one week to go until Great Britain’s opening European Championships Group B game with Poland, Head Coach Paul Shaw is optimistic that his side can go to Koblenz and defend their spot as Europe’s top ranked side.
“It is our number one priority to go there and win. We have brought in new players so we haven’t quite got the experience right the way through the squad like we had last time but we have a very exciting team. It is going to be tough but we have a very good chance of winning.” Said Shaw.
GB play Poland in their opening game on June 27th before facing Ireland (June 28th) and Denmark (June 29th) before the knockout rounds and Paul Shaw is looking forward to the challenge: “I am excited definitely, it gives us a chance to see where we are at following on from Rio 2016 as it is our first big competition since coming back from Brazil.
“We have learnt a lot from Rio. I think technically and tactically we are a better team from Rio and we have a confidence about ourselves now. We know we are up there with the top teams and we need to consolidate that against the European teams.”
After winning gold in Finland two years ago, Shaw has a mixture of old and new faces in his squad, with captain and vice captain Chris Ryan (pictured above, blue) and Gavin Walker (pictured below, left) leading the side along with Jonathan Coggan, Jamie Stead, Ayaz Bhuta and Jim Roberts (pictured above, white) all looking to add another gold medal to their personal collections.
There will be European debuts for Ryan Cowling, Nicholas Cummins, Danny Dawoud, Ollie Mangion and Stuart Robinson, whilst Myles Pearson returns to the national team, having represented GB at the 2011 and 2013 European Championships, winning silver and bronze.
“There is always a freshness when you bring in new players.” Continued Shaw.
“It is exciting to see new players developing and we have great depth within the 12 selected and I feel that they will be up to the required standard when we head to Germany at the end of the month.”
The event will be streamed live from Koblenz with the opening games taking place on June 27th with four matches, starting with Sweden v France, Ireland v Denmark, GB v Poland and Germany v Finland.
