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Player Pathway
Lancashire Hockey
Player Pathway
As you may be aware, England Hockey have re-organised their player development activities and are now operating the Future Talent Strategy
This new system revolves around Talent Centres and Talent Academies and is no longer the remit of the Lancashire Hockey Association.
In Lancashire we want to continue to deliver great opportunities for young players to develop and we will carry on running County Hockey for U13-U17 players. We will continue to operate the AC Championship so there is an opportunity for all players to try out for a place in the Lancashire County Team(s) and represent their county, even if they don't have access to a Talent Centre or Talent Academy.
In order to make the preparation and selection process for the Lancashire County Teams as interesting and fair as possible, we will continue to run a similar programme as before with a county cycle for Development Centre and a county cycle for Academy Centre as well as our new development programme namely Lancashire Red Rose Raiders.
Development Centre
The DC is for committed and enthusiastic players who want to take their hockey to the next level. It is not for beginners. Players nominated by their club or school to the LDC, should have a better than average grasp of the core skills.
The training consists of 5 sessions (field players) followed by a match day where we'll play some inter-centre championship matches. GKs have 4 specialist GK sessions and then join the field players in their preferred centre for their last training session. At the match days, GKs will rotate between the various goals, supported by the GK coaches.
Following the DC, coaches will select those players who are ready, for the Lancashire AC (Academy Centre - Lancashire County) assessments.
We do not provide written feedback for players after DC. The best feedback is given on the pitch and in the moment, and players are encouraged to attend the DC with the right mindset and motivated to improve and develop.
Lancashire is proud to have a team of great coaches and we use the DC sessions to further develop existing and new coaching talent. Each DC centre is led by experienced coaches, min. qualified to Level 2, and our coach development programme and activities engaging with the Lancashire clubs, ensure we continue to deliver the best coaching experience for young Lancashire hockey players.
Academy Centre
Nominated DC players and returning PC players are invited to the AC Assessments. This is done over a period of 2 sessions and all players are assessed as part of the whole group on the pitch. Past performance and historic participation are not taken into consideration.
At the assessments, we always have multiple coaches looking at the players (especially in the younger age groups which tend to be larger) and the lead coach will take the input from all these coaches to select the final squad of field players. Goalkeepers are selected by our specialist GK coaching team.
During the assessments we will make certain allowances for injured players and these may be invited to later training sessions to be assessed.
Please note: there is NO direct path to the Lancashire AC (county) squad. Everyone has to attend the assessments regardless of their past involvement in AC.
In Lancashire we are happy to consider players who also want to do the TA as long as the clashes with our match dates as planned by England Hockey on their centralised calendar are not too severe.
Performance Centre
Players can only be selected for the PC if nominated by their AC lead coach. The PC will run at around the same time as the DC so these players don't do DC. After the PC, if a player still qualifies by age, he or she is automatically invited to the AC Assessments.