We're sharing the latest information from England Hockey on what Talent Development will look like in the coming season for our Junior players and how Bromsgrove Hockey Club (BHC) supports player progression.

We'd like to start by saying well done to all of our County and Performance Centre players for the 2021/2022 season:

-County-
U13 - George Hall, Matt Howard, Tristan Shaylor, Beau Langford, Eve Hetherington, Isla Moore, Amelia Fox
U14 - Lauren Bennison, Imogen Bridge, Holly Potter
U15 - Ross Dyson, Josh Bevins, George Brindley, Max Shaylor, Theo Reeves, Lauren Baker, Emily Collett
U17 - Ben Bryant, Aidan Moore, Fin Shaylor, Jack Ellis, Jess Potter, Sophie Evans

-PC-
U15 - Matt Bevins, Josh Collett, Ollie Dieppe, Beau Vaughan-Hawkins, Katie Harris, Scarlett Preston
U17 - Archie Greaves-Hall, Ben Pons, Owen Dyson, Teah Petrova

Coming out of lockdown, it has been a reflection on your determination to continue your hockey development that you have been reabsorbed back into the Hockey Framework so quickly.

For the 2022/2023 season, the structure of the pathway has changed;

-Entry level U13-U17-

County/Club/Talent Centre/School are the first stage of looking to enter the England Hockey Player Pathway.

By playing in any of the aforementioned areas, a player can be nominated for a Talent Academy place.

BHC have applied to be a Talent Centre next season and will continue to focus on being a strong and dynamic Club, offering as many playing opportunities and as much talent development that we can.
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-Performance Centre (PC) equivalent U15-U18-

Talent Academies are replacing Performance Centres. It is proposed that each age group will take c. 25 players per gender.

Historically PC players from BHC went to either West (Lilleshall) or South Midlands (Warwick/Rugby). These are being replaced by Talent Academies at Stourport HC and a North Birmingham Academy run by England Hockey (possibly located at Lilleshall). Potentially training sessions will be weekly but this is tbc.

Currently we are not sure which centre BHC players would be allocated - we believe a player is allocated a centre rather than requesting a particular location. This is a new initiative by England Hockey which is why we are not clear on the detail but no doubt this will be forthcoming.

Historically, attending PC was the only way to be selected for the National Age Group programme (NAGs) in England. Under the proposed system crucially, YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE ATTENDED A TALENT ACADEMY to be recommended for a NAGS trial.

We are in the process of finalising the list of players that we will be recommending for a Talent Academy place.
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-Bromsgrove Academy-

There have been issues with the former PC system i.e. too much travelling/ lack of enjoyment which culminated last year in some of our players choosing not to participate.

BHC have set up our own Academy to develop the fundamental skills and mindset that is required to play at the higher level. This was successfully trialled last year with players seeing a genuine improvement in their game. It offers personalised skill development under the direction of Andrew Langlands (Director of Hockey, Ex-England A/European Cup finalist).

We are in the process of finalising the list of players for the new BHC Academy 2022/2023 intake.
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'Structure of the Talent System' infographic shared by England Hockey.

For a more broad overview on the Player Pathway, please refer to latest guidance available on the England Hockey website here: https://www.englandhockey.co.uk/play/talent-system

For any direct enquiries with Bromsgrove Hockey Club regarding development and support for your child(ren) please contact Junior Development Officer Dee Martin.