Northampton Hockey Club Young Leaders scheme provides young people with the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and confidence in a hockey environment. The programme focuses on committing to tasks within the day-to-day life of the club  where 13–18-year-olds can develop their: –

• Personal confidence
• Communication
• Initiative
• Preparation

These skills can be developed and improved through coaching and umpiring. Leaders can opt to become a junior umpire or a junior coach or both if they wish.We aim that all our young leaders develop their personal skills to allow them to put back into their sporting community and acquire skills to support them in later life. Both the umpiring and coaching roles can lead into paid roles at the club.



To sign up for season 25/26 please add your details here –https://forms.gle/PmZetoqWosPSzve79

What activities should Junior Umpires undertake and how often?

*These can be a total of all three levels      ** These are paid roles

* it is expected that leaders prioritise their own games over volunteering                            

Duke of Edinburgh Awards

for those undertaking Duke of Edinburgh Award Volunteer section we recommend that the student use the above personal development objectives and these can then be reviewed by their age group lead coach.

Matt Walker student at Chichester Uni

I have been a part of Northampton HC since I was ten, the club has given me the opportunity to play, coach and umpire competitively throughout my time at the club. I started learning and developing my coaching at the club when I was sixteen by assisting and following the guidance of highly qualified and experienced coaches such as Anthony czaicki, Owen Davies, Lisa Letchford and countless others. The club invested in my coaching, providing many different environments for me to grow my confidence as a coach, these ranged from introductory primary schools sessions to senior men’s and women’s performance squad sessions. My time spent coaching heavily impacted my choice of career and university degree in Outdoor education. In an industry where the environment can deal varying challenges on a day to day basis, the tools which this coaching provided me with has helped me beyond measure. From scuba diving in Lanzarote to battling Scottish winter climbing I have found the lessons I learned from coaching to be the backbone of my instructing and teaching.

Jack Zoers-Benstead Head of Hockey Bradford Grammar School.

As a Junior Leader, I started by Assisting the U12s Mixed Group on Saturday Mornings before playing my own fixtures for the Men’s section during the day. After a year of assisting I took on the role of U12 Girls Head Coach and then Assistant Coach to the U14 Girls on a Thursday Evening prior to Ladies Club & Performance Sessions. After a further year, I took on the role of Head Coach for the U14 Girls section.

Further to the Coaching roles within the Junior Section, I also began running Outreach Programmes with Primary and Secondary Schools in the County in collaboration with the Hockey Club. Running taster sessions, to curriculum sessions during PE, plus Lunchtime and After-School sessions.

Once I started my Junior Roles at Northampton Saints, It was hard to stop as it was so incredibly rewarding to give back to the Club that had given me so much since the age of 16. The experience and enabling of my early career that occurred at Northampton Saints Hockey Club has been invaluable to where I am today as a person on and off the field

My work with Northampton Saints laid solid foundations within me as an individual and also professional to go on and achieve the things I have done and continue to do today. Examples of this being now being a Technical Director and Field Coordinator at Hockey Camps in the Netherlands for SportWays in Amsterdam; my earlier career coaching work giving me the confidence to go out and experience new environments overseas. My time of working in different school environments for outreach giving me the confidence and experience to aim for and achieve the role of Head of Hockey at an independent school in Yorkshire.