Former Olympic hockey player Mel Clewlow has admitted even her Canterbury Ladies side have been surprised by their great start to the season.

Five wins and two draws in their first seven games has seen Canterbury top the Women’s Premier Division, three points clear of Leicester in second place.

It couldn’t have been a better start for the double Olympian who played in both the Sydney and Beijing games, won 179 caps for England and over 60 for Great Britain since making her international debut in 1996.

Aged just 36 now, she is still involved within sport and is the Sports Development Manager at the University of Kent in Canterbury, but it is at the weekend that Clewlow plays for Canterbury and told KSN how everyone was surprised how well the side were doing:

“I think it has been an unexpected start to the season for both sides (men’s and women’s), possibly more so for the men. We weren’t sure coming into pre-season what our squad would look like and who we would have available.”

“It sounds really strange, but initially our aim was not to be involved in a relegation play-off or scrap at the bottom end of the table. I don’t think we’re playing in fifth gear yet, we’re still stuttering along in third gear at the moment and have founf ourselves at the top.”

“I think there is room for improvement for us defensively, but the most pleasing thing for us is all of our forwards are scoring goals. Hopefully, they will continue in that vein of form in all our fixtures in the run up to Christmas.”

After such a great start to the season, it’s a case of trying to pinpoint why Canterbury have started so well, but for Clewlow it is a mixture of things:

“I think those players that were involved in the Olympics or the junior age groups over the summer have come into the season having played a lot of hockey and I think this year the likes of Eliza Brett, Lucy Hyams and Grace Balsdon who I always regarded as out junior players, they’re all now on the fringe of the England Under 21 squad and I think they are three people that have started the season exceptionally well.”

“They are no longer juniors and I think our coach has got the right players playing in the right positions at the moment and we’ve still got two or three players to come back from injury, so they are only going to strengthen our side.”

“At the moment, we’re a good side going forward, but we’re pretty naive defensively.”

Having played in two Olympics, three World Cups, two Champions Trophies, four European Cups, three Champions Challenges and three Commonwealth Games, Clewlow is clearly experienced enough to inspire the next generation of hockey players and sport stars.

This summer saw the world’s best players come to the UK for the London Olympics and Clewlow told KSN how they are seeing an increase in interest in the game at Canterbury Hockey Club:

“We’ve got our own back to hockey project that’s run on Sunday mornings starting at 10 o’clock and I think we have had twenty to twenty five people coming along to that.”

“I think the biggest gain has to be in the junior clubs and last Sunday I did a training session and we get over 200 youngsters between the ages of about five and twelve.”

“I think we are one of many, many clubs that have seen their membership grow and that’s grown because of the success of the Olympics.”

One player that has taken up hockey having played cricket for most of his life is Kent and England wicketkeeper Geraint Jones. Playing for the Canterbury Griffin side, Jones has found scoring goals is his speciality and Clewlow is pleased to see another successful sportsman wanting to be involved in hockey:

“Maybe he has missed his Olympics chance, but I think it is great that Kent Cricket are allowing the likes of Geraint to play different sports throughout the winter and for us it is great for someone like him to be taking up the sport, because he is clearly enjoying it.”

Despite swapping the hockey pitch for the commentary box this summer at the Olympics, Clewlow still harbours ambitions to keep playing for Canterbury as long as she can:

“I gave up the captaincy at the end of last season having done that pretty much for twelve years and I think this year I think I have enjoyed being able to step away from all the politics.”

“I can just concentrate on playing my game now. I’m still enjoying it and am probably fitter than I have been for a little while. I still enjoy the buzz of playing against the current international players just to see where I am at.”

“All the time I have still got that I’m not going to give up playing for the first team. Once you lose that edge, that’s the time to maybe look at playing for the second team.”

“The travelling isn’t so great, but the matches are!”

Clewlow and the Canterbury Ladies hockey team will be looking to extend their unbeaten start to the season when they travel to Olton and West Warwickshire on Saturday.