This could be the most intriguing year of my competitive life. After a long, hard, cold winter of training, we can see our first major international competition on the horizon - the Champions Trophy in Amsterdam in late June.

We have serious intent to go even better than we did last year when the England women's hockey team won two bronze medals at world level events and a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Now we're looking forward to the challenge of turning those medals into silver or even gold at the Champions Trophy and then at the European Championships in Germany in August. Both countries take their hockey very seriously. The atmosphere will be amazing. All the better for us.

Both competitions carry world ranking points, so both are very important. But more than that, it's about raising our game, building our confidence and momentum with just a year to go to London 2012. Not to mention the fact that the GB men are reigning European Champions and it would be a great thing for us to match their achievement.

You can feel the tension. And that is not a bad thing. In every tournament we will be putting pressure on ourselves to perform, to try and replicate - if you can - what we will experience in London. Every time we step on the pitch we need to make sure we come up with the goods.

It is my 26th birthday at the Europeans in Germany. Obviously, I would like it to be celebrations all round and what better way to do it, than with a gold medal!

GB Hockey's centralised programme has made a massive difference to all those lucky enough to be involved. Instead of training separately all over the country we have come together at Bisham Abbey, to train together, play together and develop together as a squad.

Being a collective unit day-in-day-out can only make us understand each other better both on and off the pitch. We'll need to draw on that as we play the toughest teams in the world. We're thankful for the UK Sport and lottery funding that's made it possible. Fingers crossed it continues beyond 2012.

I've been around a while in the sport. I made my senior debut in 2003, but I have never played Germany in Germany before. They were gold medalists at the Athens Olympics in 2004, so that makes them formidable opposition - we already know our pool group: Ireland, Belgium and Germany.

But we've been in this situation before. Last year at the World Cup we played Argentina in Argentina - the noise made the stadium shake - and we took them very close. It wasn't so much 11 v 11, as 11 vs an entire country. The balance definitely swings to the home team's favour when you have screaming fans like that. Home crowds always help give teams an extra edge, which is why we are looking forward to London 2012 so much.

In the low, hard, exhausting points you inevitably have during the long training stints, the one thought that makes you better, stronger and mentally prepared is the end-game. The Olympics. You dream. You wouldn't be human if you didn't dream about the London Olympics and the 630,000 spectators that will watch the whole tournament on its now-famous blue pitch.

If we play well and rise to the momentous occasion, it could change the way our sport is perceived for all time.

Crista Cullen, Britain's full-back, made her international debut in 2003 and has since been capped 43 times by GB

Great Britain Hockey is represented by www.davidwelchmanagement.com