AS Team GB’s hockey women were striking gold at Rio 2016 last week, a whole new generation of stars were taking their first steps in Ruislip.

Eastcote Hockey Club ran a week-long free hockey coaching programme for 53 children as part of FreeSport’s Play an Olympic Sport campaign – which aims to offer at least six hours of free coaching and encourage people to participate in sport and physical activity.

In what he dubbed his “Feet off the street” camp, former England hockey player Paul Loudon welcomed the children who left inspired by the Olympic success of Team GB.

He said: “The camp was timed perfectly with the Olympics being on – everybody was particularly excited as the women were doing so well.”

And he believes the gold medal effort in Rio will motivate more youngsters to take up hockey over other mainstream sports.

“If we have more resources in schools to focus on a particular sport, we will see more children wanting to play hockey,” he added.

“If more kids focused on a single sport such as hockey, they would be more likely to be successful in it.”

Several senior colts players at Eastcote dedicated their time to assisting in coaching, including Joe Snell, who begun his hockey career eight years ago at a free programme at the club.

FreeSport funds sports clubs, youth groups and community organisations to provide free sports activities for Londoners and is part of the Mayor of London’s Sports Legacy Programme.