England Hockey’s network of community clubs have been challenged to ‘buddy up’ with a state primary school, to help share the love of the game within their local community. The goal of the initiative is to inspire young children to lead a healthy lifestyle through the aspiration to ‘pick up a stick’ and lead a healthy lifestyle.
Want to get ahead of the game? why not put yourself forward as a potential ‘buddy’, and pick up some sticks this summer.
Here’s a bit more information to help you learn about the initiative:
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England Hockey want to show and give young people in diverse backgrounds the opportunity to experience and learn lifelong skills through hockey. As a gender equal sport, England Hockey are thrilled that both the men’s and women’s GB Hockey teams competed at the Olympics, and we want to share our celebrations with state primary schools to help inspire more young people to give hockey a try.
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'Buddying Up' with a local hockey club offers a wealth of advantages for your school and your pupils. Including:
- Enhanced PE Opportunities: Offer pupils exciting hockey opportunities in curriculum and extra-curricular time. Think PE, lunchtime clubs, after-school activities, or even Olympic assemblies.
- Improved Student Health & Well-being: Promote physical activity and teamwork through the sport of hockey.
- Developing Skills for Life: Instil discipline, sportsmanship, and a sense of belonging through hockey participation.
- Creating a Pathway: Provide a longer term relationship and clear pathway for all pupils to continue playing hockey outside of school at their local club.
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There are two ways for you to get involved:
- Wait for a local club to get in contact with you and take it from there.
Or, be proactive and tell us that you want to take part and follow these simple steps to get signed up:
- Sign Up - Complete the expression of interest form
- Finding Your Perfect Match: We’ll use England Hockey’s Club Development Managers to identify local clubs and make the appropriate introductions
- The Club Reaches Out: One or more of your local clubs will be in touch to discuss your specific needs and interests and work with you to plan engaging hockey activities for your pupils.
- Resources at Your Fingertips: To support your "Buddy Up" journey, we'll provide you with some resources to help you make the most of hockey, get your pupils excited and develop a long-lasting partnership between your school and your local hockey club:
- An activation pack
- Summer of Hockey Activity Booklet packed with fun and educational hockey resources to share with pupils.
- Digital creative assets to help promote and reward pupils for taking part in activities.
- School hockey delivery support and guidance.
- Let Us Know You've ‘Buddied Up’: Once you've agreed to ‘Buddy Up’ with your local club and planned in some activity, let us know so we can celebrate the new partnership! We will also enter you into a prize draw to win a hockey equipment bag for your school (T&C’s apply).
Win Hockey Equipment for your School!
We’d love to hear about what you get up to between now and the end of September. Please send videos, photos, updates to us at summerofhockey@englandhockey.co.uk or share through social media using #summerofhockey, and we can then share with other schools and clubs.
We’ll be awarding some prizes to lucky schools and individuals as part of our campaign – you could potentially win a brand new hockey equipment pack for your school*, simply by sharing your celebrations with us here.
*Terms & Conditions apply, entries close 23:59pm 30 September 2024
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