England Hockey's New Talent System
England Hockey's aspiration is to create:
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A phenomenal generation of players which the hockey community in England and Great Britain are proud of.
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Exceptional talent development environments which breed competition for places at every level and lead to a vibrant elite game in England.
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English clubs excelling in European club hockey and role models inspiring through consistent international success.
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A player identification and development system which attracts and excites young people and inspires them to be the best they can be and which values both current performance and future potential.
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Safe, enjoyable and inclusive talent development environments with a duty of care for everyone's wellbeing.
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What Are The Pillars?
Put the player at the heart of everything England Hockey does. This will require building shared performance and talent ambitions with clubs and schools, simplifying the support system to reduce the number of stakeholders around a player and enabling players to move more freely into the right environment.
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There is no one size fits all approach. The talent system needs to embrace many routes and opportunities for players to shine, and to be robustly observed and assessed by multiple eyes on multiple occasions.
Find and develop more talented players from many ethnic and socio-economic groups. Targeted work is required to remove barriers which restrict inclusivity and progression.
Support and develop coaches at clubs and schools to be expert in identifying and developing talent, with the ability to build great relationships with players.
Place greater emphasis on hockey fundamentals and skill development.
Develop a collective understanding of talent culture; both what it takes to progress and develop and how we need to behave based on shared values, purpose, goals, and expectations.
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Structure of the Talent System
Above is an illustration of a map showing the many different routes to progress to national programmes. Each catchment area will consist of accredited and non-accredited clubs, schools, and County Hockey programmes.
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The new talent system puts clubs at the heart of talent delivery, creating more frequent, high-quality opportunities for young players. It strives to put the right athlete in the right environment as often as possible and is designed to be more inclusive and accessible to children from different educational and socio-economic backgrounds.
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Talent Centres
A Talent Centre club is a club that provides high quality provision for players at early talent development level (Talent Foundations). This provision will be embedded within the club’s junior programme. Talent Centre accreditation recognises the quality of a club’s talent development environment and provision, not individual players.
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England Hockey will recognise, through accreditation, environments within the Talent System that provide high quality talent development. Every child should have reasonable access to one or more of these opportunities if they wish to and if it is right for them.
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Talent Academies
Talent Academies are intended for the highest potential 15 – 18-year-old players. There will be multiple opportunities most weeks for high-quality coaching and training through a combination of dedicated sessions and integration with other activity delivered by the host. Every Talent Academy will have a squad of players selected through a robust process based on the England Hockey Player Profile.
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Key Documents:
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England Hockey Talent System Framework
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England Hockey Right Athlete, Right Environment (RARE)
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Knole Park’s Talent Centre Criteria – Where are we?
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England Hockey Player Profile – Editable
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For more information head to: https://www.englandhockey.co.uk/play/talent-system