Mark Stuart-Thompson is beginning his fifth season as Lead Coach of the Sonning Ladies' higher teams.

During his time at the club, the first team has risen to its highest ever league position.

Mark has been club coaching for over thirty years, first in Sussex with Worthing and latterly at several clubs in Oxfordshire and Berkshire, including a spell coaching Oxford Brookes University.

He has coached extensively in the England Hockey single system, leading Development Centre and Academy Centre programmes as well as coaching at Performance Centres in Oxford and being involved in the High Performance Centres and Future Cup.

As well as coaching at Sonning, Mark works as a Sports Coach at The Abbey School in Reading, leading the Hockey programme and coaching teams from Under 11 through to Under 18.

In the summer, Mark graduated from the GB Hockey programme and is looking forward to using the skills and knowledge from the three-year syllabus to continue to support the development of the women's section at Sonning.