JOHN Graham, the young skipper of St Helens men's hockey side, has high hopes for the season ahead and his twin aims go hand in hand.

Firstly, he has set his sights set on the team securing promotion from Division Five of the North West Hockey League.

But almost equally as important is John's desire to raise the profile of his sport, which gets barely a look-in in rugby league mad St Helens, partly because of its image problem.

John said: "We do suffer from a poor image, and hockey is often depicted as a girl's game.

"But the injuries I have picked up over the years, like breaking fingers on three occasions, show hockey is no soft option."

The sport's profile and popularity has fluctuated over the past two decades. In 1988, when Britain won the Olympic hockey gold and captain Sean Kerly became a household name, there was an uptake in interest in the sport nationally.

That success helped boost clubs' fortunes across the country - but GB's dismal showing in the recent Athens Olympics means the task of clubs like St Helens, based at Ruskin Drive, have an uphill struggle in grabbing attention.

But John is confident there are more players out there - and he is especially keen on enlisting lads who have played the hockey at school.

The 20-year-old centre back, who first learned to play the game at school, is one of three ex-St Cuthbert's pupils in the St Helens first team and believes his side has the right blend of youth and experience to do the job.

He said: "I want us to win the league this year and that is quite possible with the quality of the players we have recruited.

"We now have a good combination with a few older heads blended in with our youth.

"We are still looking for new players of all ages and standards.

" We want to bolster our second team squad so they too can enter a league rather than simply play friendlies."

And they made a winning start to their league campaign beating Timperley in the opening game of the season, before drawing at Leyland last week.

l Training nights for the under 16s take place at Ruskin Drive between 7.15 and 8.15pm, followed immediately by the first team.

Contact John Graham on 0773 207 2993 for further details.

If you want more information about the club, log onto: www. sthelenshockeyclub.co.uk