RISING Swindon hockey star Nat O’Dwyer has continued his family’s sporting success by reaching the English Hockey Championships with Bath Buccaneers.

The O’Dwyer family is not short of sporting success.

Father Mark is a qualified hockey coach, while eldest daughter Shona has represented England at national level in netball and won the Sportswoman of the Year accolade at the 2017 Wiltshire Sports Awards.

The family’s youngest member Libby also competes at county level in netball.

But the sporting baton will be passed to 15-year-old Nat next month as he prepares to represent the Buccaneers at the U16s National Finals in Beeston on April 7 and 8.

The tournament will include hockey giants Bowdon, Surbiton and Norwich as eight of the country’s top clubs battle to be crowned national champions.

The 15-year-old took inspiration to first start hockey from sister Shona – who last year scooped the Wiltshire Sportswoman of the Year award.

And it’s a decision which is now paying dividends.

With the ultimate goal set as playing for Team GB at the Olympic Games, Nat’s proud father Mark touched on the dedication shown by the Lydiard Park Academy pupil on the pitch.

He said: “He trains three times a week with Bath Buccaneers at the university and with the Swindon first team too.

“Most weeks he’ll train in Wales too.

“He’s shown great dedication to training. Now he needs to make sure he looks after himself.

“At 15 things like nutrition and strength and conditioning become important.”

Bath qualified from their South-West group with a 100 per cent winning record after beating Winchester, Bournemouth and Taunton.

It means hopes of success in the Bath camp are at an all time high.

But competing on the national stage is something the Swindon youngster has become familiar with after finishing seventh at this year’s Indoor Finals following a fourth placed finish at the U14s Outdoor Finals two years ago.

Mark said: “The Olympics is his ultimate long-term goal.

“He’ll face tough opposition in Beeston.

“But he has experience behind him having played in this competition at under 14s level before.”

But it seems the key to Nat’s success has been ‘keeping it local’ after he helped Swindon Men earn promotion to the Championship this season.

Now just one division away from the National League, Mark revealed Nat’s local team has played a huge part in his success.

He added: “Swindon have been excellent.

“The experienced gained by Nat from playing first team hockey has been invaluable.

“We’re delighted with the support they’ve shown him.”