England Hockey Partner With New Youth Charity Podium Analytics

England Hockey are delighted to be partners of Podium Analytics, a new registered charity that aims to address the issues of sports-related injury in young people.

The charity was founded by Ron Dennis CBE and officially launched at 10 Downing Street this week, with international hockey player Sam Ward represengting England Hockey alongside its Chairman Royston Hoggarth and Chief Executive Nick Pink. The subject of injury prevention is of course close to Sam’s heart, having overcome a traumatic eye injury to play in a second Olympic Games this summer. Also in attendance as guests of England Hockey were the parents of Luke Hobson, a 14-year-old hockey player who tragically lost his life in 2019.

England Hockey is one of the first governing bodies to partner with Podium – alongside the likes of the RFU – and will offer its platform to clubs across the country and also schools that play the sport.

England Hockey Chief Executive Nick Pink said: “Making our sport as safe as possible is absolutely paramount to everyone at England Hockey. Partnering with Podium is an important step on two fronts – first of all in collating the best possible data and then secondly in analysing and understanding its significance. These two factors combined enable us to act accordingly for the good of the sport and its participants, giving them the best possible hockey experience in the safest environment.” 

With a clear mission to reduce the incidence and impact of sports injury in young people, Podium has secured a series of high-profile partnerships to help create a safer world of sport.  These include a research partnership with the University of Oxford and support from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education.

Ron Dennis CBE, Founder and Chairman of Podium Analytics, commented: “Safety in sport is paramount and it’s essential that the focus shifts to young people. These early years are where habits are formed and injuries are first sustained, and this tracks from youth to adulthood, shaping the overall health and wellbeing of an individual throughout their life.

“Having spent over 40 years in motorsport, safety is an issue that I have lived and breathed. Countless improvements were made over the decades, but only due to the successful development of technology to capture real-time data to drive research and technology innovation. I have seen how mindsets can change from injury being an accepted norm to a focus on protection permeating a sport’s culture. It always comes back to the overarching philosophy – you need data to effect change, and it is this philosophy that we have built into Podium Analytics and that we are committed to bringing to wider sport.”

In addition to fuelling research through on-the-ground data, Podium has developed an injury insight platform which is being provided to schools across the UK at no cost and is designed to help teachers, coaches and sports medics log and monitor injury data. The platform, which is already being implemented at secondary schools in England, is easy to use and provides an important interface for recording incidents and communicating between schools, staff and parents. Podium aims to be present in over 200 schools by the end of the current academic year, prior to a national rollout.

England Hockey will roll this platform out to clubs in due course and will communicate further details as appropriate.

England Hockey Participation Programmes Manager Jo Duff added: “When partnering with Podium, it was hugely important to us that we shared the system not only with clubs, but also with schools and universities. In doing so, we are reaching all aspects of the game and all ages of participants, which is an essential step to best understanding injuries and protecting our players.”