Six England youngsters have been preparing for the Euro Mini Championships under the watchful eye of coaches at the Elite Training Centre in Sheffield.

The squad includes three who competed at last year’s edition of the event – Amber Lemmon, Bethany Yang and Lusio Wen – while it will be a debut for Luke Winton, Mindy Gao and Malek Shamakh.

They have been working with coaches Natalie Green, Ben Barlow and Charlotte Carey, aided by Connor Whitehead and Ben Piggott.

“It’s a good chance to get together as a team to create that team atmosphere before we fly out to France,” said Green. “Euro Minis is a hugely prestigious tournament where there’s lots and lots of matches.

“For the players who are going, that’s a real good opportunity for them to test themselves against some of the best players in Europe – but, equally, knowing that if they don’t quite perform or they don’t always win matches, they’re still going to be playing. I think at this stage in their development, that’s really important for them.

“That exposure to international competition, it’s a whole different ball game, really. The venues are much bigger, there are players coming from all over the world, it gives them an opportunity to play against different styles – and it’s normally quite loud and sometimes like a hostile atmosphere. So, for them to get used to that and what it’s like is really important.”

Bethany, who will compete in the Under-12 Girls category alongside Mindy, said: “Last year, that was my first international competition, so I wasn’t as confident and I came 25th.

“But this year I’m more confident as I have been training much more and I feel like I can get higher placing.”

Lucio, who will be in the Under-12 Boys with Luke, said about the camp: “I’ve done some multiball with Connor, ‘Pigs’ (Piggott) and Charlotte and I’ve really enjoyed it.

“I’m hoping to do a bit better than last year and it feels good to play for England.”

Malek will have his first experience of the competition in the Under-13 age group, the same age at which Amber is competing.

Malek said: “I’ve been looking forward to it, playing different players that I haven’t played before, from all different countries.

“I’m expecting to play better players, more experienced players and just try my best. It means a lot to play for England because some people don’t have this opportunity.”

Charlotte Carey said the training camp has prepared the squad well for the challenge ahead.

“I think they’ve had a little bit of a break beforehand and come in to do a lot of intense training,” she said. “We’ve done a lot around serve-return, a lot of high intensity training intervals to make sure that they are fit enough for the tournament.

“Euro Minis is such a long event. Constant matches – you win, you lose, you’re back on the table. So, really important that they’ve got their fitness levels up so they can maintain good strength throughout the competition.

“I think for everyone (we’re) looking for a top-16 finish. The ones who went last year obviously would like to see positions improve from last year.”

The three-day competition in Schiltigheim, France, begins on Friday.