WEST Malling hockey starlet Ashley Jackson jetted out to China this week to begin the serious preparations for the Beijing Olympics which begin in two weeks.

The 20-year-old from King’s Hill is the youngest member of the 16-man Great Britain squad for the Games.

After training camps at Bisham Abbey and in Belgium, on the squad flew out to the Chinese coastal city of Macau on Wednesday to begin acclimatising and preparing for the start of the competition.

Ashley - who describes himself as a midfield playmaker but who can also play at centre half or up-front - will then join his British teammates for the opening ceremony in the capital and will be based in the Olympic Village throughout the tournament.

He will use email and occasional phone calls to keep in touch with his family and long-term girlfriend who will be watching the team’s progress from the UK.

His fan-club will be led by dad Steven and mum Barbara and his 19-year-old brother, Wesley, who is at university and plays hockey for Gloucester City.

Ashley credits his dad for driving him on to success in sport, but it was his grandfather and uncle who provided the early influence as they played ice-hockey - a sport which Ashley played in Medway until the age of 10.

He only took up hockey when he was enrolled to Sutton Valence and was taken to his local club in Tunbridge Wells to prepare himself for the school lessons, a move which sparked a meteoric rise.

Jackson quickly made an impact at Wells and after reaching the club’s first team by the age of 14 he moved on to East Grinstead where he has spent a successful five years in the National League Premier Division.

He made his England debut against Holland in November 2006, before going on to play in his first senior international tournament at the EuroHockey Nations Championships in Manchester a year ago.

He made his GB bow as part of the youth side which won silver at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival, and then making a second senior debut against the Netherlands.

Jackson was also a member of the GB squad that qualified for the Olympics by beating India in Chile earlier this year.

After taking up the sport full-time, Ashley has returned to his former school as a part-time coach around his club and country commitments.

Since his call-up at the end of June, the level-headed youngster’s profile has increased even further.

His only previous involvement in off-field activities was to be pictured drinking Yazoo milkshake as part of an endorsement deal between the drinks firm and his club.

However after his call-up at the end of June he appeared alongside some of his GB hockey colleagues in a photoshoot for Esquire magazine where he was dubbed the David Beckham of the sport.

He has since cropped his long-ish hair to a tight grade three all over, but said he enjoyed the experience, despite the outfits not being too comfortable.

He said: “I had to dress up in all this Paul Smith stuff and these Doc Martens boots. They were so big and uncomfortable that I could hardly walk for two days afterwards.”

While he appreciated that media work and endorsements are part of professional sport, Ashley said he would prefer to do his talking on the field.

He said: “If I had to choose, I would like my profile to be raised by being the best player at the Olympics or being the top goalscorer, but it is important to raise your profile, and the profile of the sport, if you can. You don’t get rich playing hockey.”

Further comparisons with Beckham can be drawn after Ashley revealed Adidas - Beckham’s brand of choice - are pursuing him to endorse their products as they try to break into the hockey business.

Ashley said: “I am sponsored by Grays at the moment and I have a lot of their sticks and I get free kit. Adidas have been trying to get me to switch to them. They sent me a stick with my name on it. It is all a bit strange when you stop to think about it.”

Adidas are also sponsors of one of Ashley’s biggest heroes and the person he says he would most like to bump into in the Olympic village, tennis ace Roger Federer.

The German firm also back another of his idols, Jonny Wilkinson, with whom Ashley shares more than a sponsor.

The England rugby star famously has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) when it comes to practicing his goal-kicking and Ashley said he is similar about his training at short corner routines and finishing.

He said: “I don’t think I have actually got OCD but I do get obsessed with practice and I won’t stop until I get it right.”

His obsession doesn’t stretch quite as far as some of the superstitions which other famous sportsman adhere to, such as dressing for matches with clothes in a certain order or putting their match shirt on in the tunnel.

He said: “I don’t really have any superstitions, I am not like that, but I will use the same kit in the next game if I have performed well in it in the last game. Washed of course.

“If I have not performed well then I might change everything, stick and all.”.

One of the things he will be wary of during the tournament is the lure of the infamous Olympic village canteen.

He said: “You hear stories that the food is really good and in the past people have eaten so much in there that they are not fit for their event.”He however said the British Olympic Association would be taking precautions against any tummy bugs during the event by flying out food, water, fruit and salad to give the Brits a taste of home.

Jackson, however, is not the kind of person you’d expect to succumb to the temptation of the feasts on offer - he is a 20-year-old lad who doesn’t drink (“You have to make some sacrifices if you want to be a professional sportman”).

He also isn’t too bothered about looking back on his career at the moment, only forward. He revealed he did have the foresight to save the shirt from his international debut, but admitted: “It is just screwed up in the bottom of a draw somewhere.”

The Olympic hockey competition starts on August 10 and Jackson’s 21st birthday falls the week after the gold medal match.

However he is not looking at medals and podiums, he is simply concentrating on performing well infront of the global audience.

He said: “Going into the tournament we are ranked seventh or eighth so a finish of fifth or sixth would be seen as successful.

“I like to think positively so if we are fifth or sixth then we are not going to be far away from making the semi-finals.

“We were ninth in Athens so whatever happens it would be good to improve upon that.”

He added: “Austraila are big and physical and nobody wants to play against them and the Germans, Holland, Spain, they are all good sides. It is not going to be easy.”

The hockey competition begins on Monday, August 11 with games played every other day.

Ashley said he had made some preparations for the long hours of resting between matches.

He said: “We will be taking a load of DVD box sets with us. Prison Break, 24, Heroes, that kind of thing. For the last month if I been asked if I want to watch something I have said ‘No, I’ll take it with me.’”

The Olympics will mark the end of one period in Jackson’s career and the start of a new one as he is moving to Holland two weeks after the tournament to play professionally for Dutch side HGC based near The Hague.

He said: “I am looking forward to it. There are a couple of other Brits playing out there which will help and it is not so far away so I will be able to come back from time to time and people will be able to come out and see me.”