In previous years junior player development has been guided by the EH Single System, which comprised Junior Development Centre, Junior Academy Centre,, Junior Regional Performance Centre and National Age Group Squads. Together this linear line of development was the Single System. England Hockey (EH) has been reviewing the way that junior players are developed and taken forwards towards elite level playing. This resulted in changes to the system.
The Single System has been renamed the Player Pathway, partially to reflect the fact that it is no longer simply linear and partially because there is a recognition that this isn’t the single route by which a player can play international hockey. In the Pathway the word Junior has been dropped so that at the County level we will now have Development Centres and Academy Centres.
The Player Pathway is made up of the following tiers:
- Development Centres – provide a local entry point to the player pathway for U13s - U17s
- Academy Centres –provide a high quality talent programme for identified players in U13 – U17 age groups
- Performance Centres – are based for the East at Bury and Northwood providing frequent, high quality training with the best coaches for U14/15 and U16/17 players
- Futures Cup – supports player development within a high-intensity and pressurised best v best tournament environment
- Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) - programme provides additional training and sport-related education for U17 players selected from Performance Centres
- National Age Group Squads (NAGS) – are selected at U16 and U18 age groups for girls and boys. NAGS provides the first taste of international competition for our young players
Within the County, the Single System operates as:
- Development Centre from May to August; it takes the form of hockey camp with 2 hours training, 2 hours break, 2 hours training.
- Academy Centre from September to April; will consist of a combination of training and competition. This allows players to develop in a variety of situations and ensures that they are assessed over the whole programme in more than just the competition environment