The hard work of our volunteers has been recognised through the club receiving England Hockey Talent Centre accreditation. We are now one of only 33 clubs in the country to have received the accreditation. Thanks to everyone who was involved. It has been 12 months of a focused team effort and we are a better club for it!

Earlier last year we received Clubmark accreditation. This is the ‘gold standard’ mark for clubs who provide a good, safe environment for children and young people, Talent Centre accreditation is this with added talent development requirements.

What is a talent centre?
A Talent Centre accreditation recognises clubs which offer high quality early talent development environments. It is focused on developing and recognising what a club can provide for youth and junior players, with a particular focus on those aged 12-15 years, who are showing potential and aspiration to progress their hockey. It isn’t about a defined squad or players.

As a Talent Centre we will provide a safe place to challenge and support talented players and pro-actively prioritise our youth system to optimise the opportunities for further development.

How did we receive accreditation?
As a club we had to provide evidence of what we do, or are working towards, with regards to 7 key areas. This included Leadership, Coaching, Development environment, Player development & wellbeing, Culture, Equality, diversity & inclusion and Stakeholders.

Each of these categories had specific requirements which we had to evidence. Our volunteers attended workshops, internal club meetings and discussed what we currently do and how we can improve in order to best support young players in the club get what they want from their hockey. These improvements have either been implemented or are currently being developed.

Harry Reidy (Club Development manager) collated the evidence and he and Adele (Club Chair) liaised with EH to ensure that we formulated an ongoing action plan. The work doesn't stop here!

The future

The exercise has been a brilliant way for us to hold a mirror up to the club. We are doing many things very well, and this process has allowed us to reflect on this and what we can do better. We have incorporated our learns into our club action plan and will focus on specific areas to provide even more opportunities for our youth players.

If you have any questions regarding the accreditation, please contact Harry or Adele, who will be happy to discuss it in further detail.

For more information on Talent Centres please visit England Hockey - HERE