Rising Hartlepool ice hockey star gears up for action-packed season

Archie Dowson, 11, caught the eye of England’s top coaches in a draft showcase in Sheffield when he was eight, and has not looked back.

The St Theresa’s Primary School pupil plays for Billingham’s under 12s junior team, and is currently training for a number of competitions.

Archie will be competing with the elite British selects team in the Riga cup this month and the world hockey championships in May, and with the England’s power of 11 team in Scotland at the end of May.

His mum Rebecca said: "He started playing three years ago. He was considered one of the older ones when he went into it. A lot of kids are on the ice not long after they’re born.

"It’s not something we ever did before. He went to a friend’s birthday party one day and he was like ‘what is this’.

"He fell and fell and fell but he liked it, and that was it.”

Archie trains four times a week at Billingham Forum’s ice rink and attends Elite British Select training camps throughout the year.

Rebecca said: “He takes it in his stride. He is so chill about it.

"He does not know how good he actually is. He just does it because he likes it.”

Archie has had a lot of support from family and his school over the past year: "St Teresa’s have been so supportive of him.

"They even have the newspaper clipping of the first time he was in the paper on the wall in the entrance to the school.”