What are the different routes into the England Age Group Programme?

The Player Pathway has been replaced by the Talent System which has been designed to be less rigid and structured to allow for many more entry, exit and re-entry points during an individual’s development journey.

 We refer to the Talent System as Talentopia, which consists of different environments providing multiple routes that contribute to the unique development of an individual over time.

 The focus of these environments is to put the player at the centre of talent development, moving away from a pathway that has traditionally been viewed as a filtering process, for more players to thrive and enjoy playing hockey. 

Each environment has a role to play and implementing a system where each environment recognises their own role and that of others will better support and meet the needs of individuals to embark on their development journey, with more likely to discover their potential. Our collective job is to nurture, preserve and raise the standards within these environments to increase the breadth and depth of the talent pool. 

This diagram outlines the different environments across Talentopia. Although it appears linear, in fact they are very much connected, and progression is very much dependent on the needs of the individual. For example, players can access a TA following a coach nomination from either their school, club, or junior county hockey environment. Moreover, these same players can be openly nominated by a coach directly to an assessment for an EAG trial in the spring of each cycle. However, it is important to emphasise that EH believe for most high potential players that TA is the principal talent development environment for 15–18-year-olds and will significantly contribute to the progression and transition of future players into the EAG programme and the elite domestic game. With that said two additional assessment opportunities will be created for players within TA environments during each cycle. 

Within the TA environment players will be identified and put forward by their Head Coach and in conjunction with EAG coaches and scouts during the cycle as well as following the TA end of cycle competition. Moreover, TA players who are no longer age eligible for the EAG programme can be nominated by their TA and or EAG coaches and scouts into the GB EDP assessment process. (For note England Hockey scouts have a specific role to assess high potential players who possess the complete player qualities to make the transition into the EAG or GB EDP programme.)

Talentopia is a collection of different environments and therefore affords multiple routes and blends of environments that should work together in a systematic way to better meet the needs of young players. We know the reality of this will take time to embed where we all put the best interests of a player at the centre, but this is an aspiration we should all endeavour to meet, and TA can lead the way for others to follow.