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First Clubs Achieve Talent Centre Accreditation

England Hockey is delighted to announce that 20 clubs have achieved Talent Centre (TC) accreditation recognising the high-quality environments they provide for young players at early talent development level (Talent Foundations).  

 The aim of Talent Centre accreditation is to recognise and develop clubs that provide safe, enjoyable and exciting environments for young people, safe challenge and support for talented players and pro-actively prioritises its junior system to optimise the opportunities for further development. 

 All the clubs that have been awarded TC status have undertaken an in-depth talent development programme over the last 12 months and met criteria across a wide range of areas including coaching, talent development provision, athlete wellbeing and governance. 

They can now display the TC logo if they wish and will soon be identifiable by the TC logo on the England Hockey ‘find a club’ section. 

The 20 clubs are:

  1.  Alderley Edge  
  2.  Alton  
  3.  Bowdon  
  4.  Clifton Robinsons  
  5.  Deeside Ramblers 
  6.  East Grinstead  
  7.  Guildford  
  8.  Hampstead and Westminster  
  9.  Holcombe  
  10.  ISCA  
  11.  Kingston Upon Hull 
  12.  Marlow  
  13.  Repton  
  14.  Sevenoaks  
  15.  Sheffield  
  16.  Spencer  
  17.  Stourport 
  18.  Trojans  
  19.  Beeston  
  20.  Wimbledon 

Heather Williams, Great Britain Head of Elite Talent Development writes, “My congratulations to everyone who has contributed to their club gaining Talent Centre status.  The accreditation process is a big commitment, and I appreciate the hard work that has gone in over the last 12 months to get to this point.     

 From my perspective, Talent Centre Accreditation is as much about the development and learning it stimulates as the outcome.  So, it’s been really pleasing to see clubs coming together to share their experiences and to discuss really important issues such as integrating juniors into senior hockey and creating a healthy talent development culture. 

 This is just the start of what I hope will be many more clubs working towards and achieving Talent Centre accreditation and in doing so providing more and better opportunities for young people from all over the country to progress in hockey.   

 More information about Talent Centres and the England Hockey Talent Strategy can be found here. 

Have a question? Contact our talent team - talent@englandhockey.co.uk