Woking Hockey Club’s push for national league status has been given a boost ahead of the start of the new season with two major sponsorship deals.

The club, based in Goldsworth Park, have received backing from Kia dealership West End Garages and flat-pack office and storage company ExtraSpace.

The men’s first XI are launching a major promotion push to the national league this season after narrowly missing out in the last campaign when they finished second.

Meanwhile the ladies’ first XI are also hoping to push on from their third place finish last season.

The financial boost of the two sponsorship deals has come amid a major recruitment drive at Woking and a push to develop more players from their successful youth sides.

In decades past Woking has lost top youngsters to local rivals but is now focused on developing and securing their talents for the future as the club expands.

Last season was regarded as one of the club’s best, with four sides securing titles and two others winning promotion, a number of players being selected for their national sides across a range of age groups, and the under-12 boys being crowned national champions.

The club is looking to build on this and new funds mean it can keep investing in coaching and technology to improve.

The ladies’ first XI have had an encouraging series of fixtures pre-season as they have tried to rebuild the fast and aggressive style of play that secured them so many good results last season.

The aim of the pre-season was to play a variety of teams outside of the south-east England area in order to give themselves the best challenge possible against a number of national league sides.

Ladies coach Kristian Browne said: ““It is an exciting time at the club at the moment, with fierce competition for places which can only add to the quality of the entire club.

“And I’m still focused on recruiting more players as well as developing the wider squad so that we are capable of taking on anything that is thrown at us.”

The men’s first XI has been averaging four goals for and less than one against in pre-season fixtures and there is an expanded coaching team with an assistant coach and also new use of video analysis.

Having recruited heavily they are widely considered favourites for national league promotion.

Men’s first team coach Sam Naismith said: “Competition in the squad means that training is very intense, with a demand for quality all the time in all actions. The ethos of enjoyment and fun while working very hard is galvanising the squad.

“We are establishing a squad and ethos that has a focus on quality and building of teamwork, resilience, depth and flexibility, and establishing an environment in which continual learning is valued and quality training is a core expectation.”