Changes to the Club for the 2021-2022 Season

Posted by Andy Dale on 20 August 2021

What is new for this year?

We have submitted an Expression of Interest to be a Talent Centre and been accepted and are now undergoing the process to be one -  why does the club want to be a Talent Centre?
•    Number of juniors playing in the adult sides means we need a transparent and planned way of integrating juniors into senior sides
•    We want to be more self-sufficient in developing players in general and those that play in our higher sides to create more competition for places
•    There is no intention of encouraging juniors to move from other clubs, but by having Talent Centre status, we remain at the forefront of junior development, and the Executive Committee feel that if we were not, then parents and players may consider moving to other clubs.
•    We just want to get better

Northampton Hockey Club – Talent Centre Introduction

What is a Talent Centre and why are they being created?
England Hockey Future-Talent-Strategy   This covers the reasons why England Hockey is putting these changes into place, but the England Hockey definition is :-
A Talent Centre club is a club which provides high quality provision for players at early talent development level (Talent Foundations). This provision will be embedded within the club’s junior programme. Talent Centre accreditation recognises the quality of a club’s talent development environment and provision, not individual players. However, we expect a Talent Centre club to have the capacity to support a minimum of 100 players (50 per gender) who are at early talent development level and be able to compete in England Hockey tier 1 U14 and U16 competitions in both genders.

England Hockey Introduction for parents on the changes to the Talent Pathway
Changes to the Player Pathway


What changes does that mean to the club?


•    Academy sessions - These would be for an invited group of players aged 13-17 to accelerate their development and inclusion into the higher sides
•    More team training sessions: To improve the quality of training for the lower club members, providing an improvement to player development for all senior players
•    Review of junior pathway to identify improvements and implement them over the year
•    Entry of Junior teams at U12/U14/U16 into Midlands Sunday leagues and cups to increase game experience against stronger opponents

Academy – what is this and how it works?


•    How much does it cost? – it will be £6 per session,  the blocks will 6, 7 or 8 weeks. Bookings will be via the booking website we use for camps, a booking link will be sent to those invited
•    How long does it last – sessions will be 1.5 hours
•    There will be 4 blocks
•    Block 1 – (7 weeks) - 1st September to 20th October – Block 2 – (7) weeks – 3rd November to 15th December  - Block 3 – (6 weeks) – 5th January to 9th February – Block 4 – (6 weeks) – 23rd February to 13th April
•    What time and day is it? 7.00 to 8.30 on Wednesdays
•    How do I fit this in with my team and age group training? If you are selected to train in the academy you are advised to train in the adult training group, you are selected for in addition to the academy. If you are U14 then you are not required to train with the u14s whilst in an academy block and hence training for three sessions a week. (We will not stop you from doing so but we don’t want to overload you).
•    Do I need to give up other sports? – definitely not!
•    How do I register? Please go to the Academy page on the website
•    Who is making the decision on academy players? The lead coaches Jonno and Paddy with feedback from club coaches and U14 (Jack , Ant, Chris) and U12 coaches (Ant, James and Kathryn and Max). Nigel Down chairs the process and is your first point of call for queries.
•    I haven’t been asked to join the academy, who do I discuss this with? Nigel Down
•    What are the selection criteria? We are looking at the players with the most ability, this is a very difficult assessment

Northampton Hockey Club Training Plan season 2021 – 2021

All the changes to club training can be seen on the following page:-
Training Page

Training Plan

Which training sessions should I go to?

Men's Performance (1st & 2nd XI)

  • Invitation Only
  • Tuesdays 20:00 - 22:00 @ Moulton College Gate 4 Water Base
  • The Men's Performance group will have a full pitch and split into their teams as and when decided by the coaching staff

Men's Club (3rd XI and below)

  • Open to All
  • Tuesdays 18:30 - 20:00 @ Moulton College Gate 4 Water Base
  • Men's 3rd & 4th XI will train on a 1/2 pitch with a coach
  • Men's 5th, 6th & 7th XI will train on 1/2 pitch with a coach

Ladies Performance (1st & 2nd XI)

  • Invitation Only
  • Thursdays 20:00 - 22:00 @ Moulton College Gate 4 Water Base
  • The Ladies Performance group will have a full pitch and split into their teams as and when decided by the coaching staff

Ladies Club (3rd XI and below) 

  • Open to All
  • Thursdays 18:30 - 20:00 @ Moulton College Gate 4 Water Base
  • Ladies 3rd XI will train on a 1/2 pitch with a coach
  • Ladies 4th, 5th & 6th XI will train on 1/2 pitch with a coach

Academy
•    If you are an over 13 years old and invited to the academy (this is by invite only) and playing in an adult team you must attend the Wednesday academy and your adult team session designated by your academy coach. This takes priority over U14 training. No player will be asked to train three times a week and prioritising your adult team session over U14 is expected of academy players.
•    If you are under 14 years old and eligible to play in the ladies league you should train with U14 and your adult team. U14 players will be given the opportunity to train and play for adult teams with the agreement of both coaches/captains and parents. It is the club’s aspiration that we progress 100% of junior players into adult teams 
•    Wednesday pay and play is a good environment for 13 year old players to gain experience of adult play. Players  younger than that will need the agreement of the coaches to attend

Match Fees and Annual subs

There has been a thorough review of finances following two unusual seasons due to COVID, it has been  agreed that a reduction in annual subs would provide some payback to account for the amount of hockey that was missed last season. This is on top of a period of free games offered to members in both juniors and senior sections and additional weeks training.

Match fees have been equalised between mens and ladies teams - all teams are now playing in the new midlands leagues that have a consistent mens and ladies structure. Adult match fees will be £11 and junior will be £8. Annual subs will be £100 with a one year discount to £75 for adults and £114 for juniors with a one year discount to £100 for juniors.

New Junior Sessions

The junior club will be using Moulton School as well as Moulton College to increase capacity, more news will go to junior parents to explain which age group trains where.

Age Group Squads

Thanks to the reorganisation of the sport and its regions Midlands Hockey will be running age group leagues - we will be entering U12/14/16 in both genders which will give ten competition dates on Sundays with clubs outside of Northamptonshire - these dates will be published in September.

Enquiries and Registration

Click 'Apply now' if you are interested in finding out more about our club or registering as a player, official, coach or volunteer

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