Talent Academies take place annually, with final selection taking place in September. Read more about the new Talent System. Through this model England Hockey want to move talent development to a higher level by providing frequent, high quality contact time for a targeted group of players with appropriate competition to support player development, in order to develop an oversupply of high calibre players for National Age Group Squads.
What happens?
Players attend evening training sessions and take part in weekend training and competition, meeting approximately twice a month. There are 22 Talent Academies across the Country, and players will attend the centre closest to them.
As part of the Talent programme, centres will compete against each other. There are two types of competition:
Cluster Competitions are held between four or five TAs at a central location. Each squad plays two matches per competition. There will be three Cluster Competitions per season.
Training Competitions are held between two or three TAs and will usually be held at a current centre location. Squads will take part in training followed by a match or triangular fixture with the other squad/s attending the competition day.
