Wales’ Hockey Under 21s crowdfund their way to Junior World Cup representation
Wales' U21s team celebrating qualification
“We are asking anyone who feels they can support us to do so – we want to do Wales proud!”
The Under 21s women’s squad are absolutely thrilled to have qualified for the U21 World Cup in Chile this December after a spectacular win in Czechia at the U21 EuroHockey Championship. The qualification was hard fought, with a draw against Italy, while a match against the home side remained 0-0 until a short corner resulted in a penalty stroke with 10 seconds left on the clock. The final game was a huge 5-0 win over Lithuania, before needing to play a rematch with Czechia for the gold medal match.
Wales’ U21 women won the match 3-2, qualifying for the Junior World cup. This is the 11th Junior World Cup, and following Wales’ first appearance in 2022 where the tournament was heavily affected by the end of the covid pandemic, the team is excited to have the opportunity to play on the world stage in a group against Argentina, Belgium and Zimbabwe.
Amy Cradden, co-captain of the U21 team says “this qualification is huge achievement for our team as we have limited training time together. This is a huge opportunity for us to compete in a world tournament at age group level. Some of the squad were part of the team this summer to help the Wales Senior women’s team win a Silver medal at our European’s II and qualify for the A-division Euros in London in 2027.”
“This qualification is huge achievement for our team as we have limited training time together.”
The team will be taking a 20 player squad, and are thrilled to have this opportunity. They see it as an opportunity to represent Wales on the World Stage, but it is also a chance to compete against nations who already have well-established hockey programmes. Unlike many of these nations, Wales’ U21s are having to embark on a huge fundraising drive.
Amy told Cymru Women’s Sport: “We are currently crowdfunding for our trip to cover the player contribution costs. For context, the target is £40k, but we would need £80k+ to cover our fees fully.
“We want to show the young girls of Wales that there are opportunities to progress in Hockey, and that following your dream is possible. We will be heading out to Chile in just under a month and we are so keen to ensure that our hard work and passion won’t be curtailed because we can’t afford to take up this opportunity.”
The U21 team is made up of a real mixture, many are University students, but there are four talented Under 18s in the squad (Nancy Whittlestone, Poppy Done, Amber Millard-Smith, & Amy Partridge).
Top Welsh team Swansea Hockey Club claims 6 ex-players (Leni & Makenzy Beard, Betsan Thomas, Liv Forey, Seren Bean, and Iona Roderick), and family ties are strong with two sets of sisters in the squad – Holly and Poppy Done, and Leni and Makenzy Beard.
And the team are far more than just talented sportswomen, with busy and multi-talented women and girls across the team. One of the sisters, Makenzy Beard, is a particularly high achiever, having appeared on the BBC as an artist, and she was named “Child of Wales” Young Leader 2025, and was Head Girl at Millfield School last year.
Makenzy Beard
Betsan Thomas, Caitlin Witham and Amy Cradden, co-captains, are all in the GB Elite Development Programme as well as the Welsh U21 and Senior teams. Amy’s proud achievement from the Euros in June 2024 included a top goal scorer award, having scored 5 goals in 4 games. Other senior squad members attending the Junior World Cup include Freya Diamond and Holly Done.
The Junior World Cup is being held in Santiago, Chile from the 1st-13th December 2025. The team need to cover the costs of the trip and in order to help them perform at this high level, the team raising awareness of their journey, their passion and their opportunity.
Amy tells us, “we are so keen to take up the opportunity which our performance in the Euros gives us, and we want to make sure we can play at our best. We need to concentrate on training together and we don’t get a lot of time to practice, but we also need to fund the biggest competition many of us have ever attended.
“We are asking anyone who feels they can support us to do so – we want to do Wales proud!”
The crowdfunder will be open until 26 November and the team will receive all pledges made. The competition will be streamed online from 2 December.