As the final stages of the current FIH Hockey Pro League season approach (starting from 13 June), let us hear from the participating teams. Today, David Ralph, head coach of the England women’s side, shares his thoughts.

Can you tell us how the first two stages of the FIH Hockey Pro League have gone for the squad?

From a results point of view, it’s been a mixed first two stages of the Pro League so far, we would have liked to pick up a few more wins along the way. However, from a performance point of view we are quite happy with how we have played against some top-quality teams, being involved in some very close games. We have also had to compete in a World Cup qualifier, so it’s been a busy start to the year for us already.

What does the FIH Hockey Pro League London mean to the squad?

We always look forward to playing Pro League games at London, in front of our home support. We are very lucky that we get to play so many games at home against the best teams in the world in front a great crowd, and that is something that we always relish and get excited for. To see so many people come out to support us, and the sport of hockey, in our own country is exciting and hugely motivation for us, it’s not something we take for granted and we look forward to playing some many games in front of them this summer.

What are your expectations for the performances in London?

From a performance point of view, we expect to continue building on the good performances we had in China and the World Cup Qualifier. We are continuing to develop our style of play, looking at ways, we can continue to improve our performances as we face some high-quality opponents, who will all offer slightly different styles of challenges for us.

We want to continue being involved in high quality, tight games and we want to come out on the right side of those a bit more often this summer.

How important will the London leg be for World Cup preparations?