Welcome to the England Hockey Talent Academy for the South-Central region of the South East of England, operated by East Grinstead Hockey Club.

The EG Talent Academy provides high-performance coaching and competition for those looking to significantly develop their progress via England Hockey’s Performance Pathway and who have successfully progressed through trials and assessment phases.

East Grinstead Hockey Club is proud to have been selected by England Hockey as a licensed Talent Academy in the South East. East Grinstead is one of only two clubs in the whole country with teams in both the Womens and Mens England Hockey League Outdoors AND Indoors all at Premier League status. As such we are experienced at working with performance players both emerging and established.

The EG Talent Academy serves a wide catchment area and is supported by performance coaches from multiple organisations, not just East Grinstead Hockey Club. Players nominated and who successfully navigate trials and assessment phases benefit from our own facilities as well as those of our partners and coaching from our own performance coaches and players as well as those of our partners.

Talent Academy Players

Emerging players who will benefit the most from the EG Talent Academy will exhibit a passion for the sport, a mindset of focus on achieving the highest level of performance in the game and be prepared to work hard to succeed.

They will already show indications of high potential as regards “Complete Player Capabilities” outlined in the GB Hockey Talent System Framework and will be showing steady progress.

They, their parents, and their existing coaches will recognise their trajectory, passion and focus and will feel that they have the ability to progress further given access to the acapbilities and resources of a Talent Academy.

Performance Hockey Players are dedicated. The EG Talent Academy programme does require commitment; a player accessing the EG Talent Academy programme will be adding approximately 100hrs of hockey contact time to their commitments throughout the year in addition to their existing school and / or club commitments. Progression requires good teamworking between our TA staff, families, club and school coaches to ensure a strong partnership that places the player at the center. A good partnership will assist in achieving balance in the player’s commitments and priorities.

Talent Academy Programme

The EGTA programme is divided into phases and runs throughout the year as described below and in the info-graphic:

• Phase 1.1. A short "trials" phase in which nominated players attend one to three trials camps each involving around 4 hours of pitch time, coupled with activities to assess analytical capabilities. Boys and girls who were included in the previous year's Talent Academy Cup squad are waived the requirement to attend this short trial phase.
• Phase 1.2. A three week assessment in which the prior year's remaining Talent Academy Cup squad join those who progressed from the trials period. During the three weeks of assessment, carried out in successive Monday nights during two hour training sessions, the coaches will will identify those players ready to participate in the subsequent training blocks.
• Phase 1.3. A block of training sessions for each TA Training Squad leading up to the Christmas break and including one Indoor training camp. This period will develop the foundations for the group as they head towards the summer's TA Cup competition.
• Phase 2.0. From January to April, the training squads participate in an extended training period including both training sessions and day camps.
• Phase 3.0. From April to July the training squads continue to develop together, again with training sessions and day camps.
• Phase 4.0. July sees the culmination of the Talent Academy Programme with 20 players selected from each gender to participate in England Hockey's Talent Academy Cup, hosted at Nottingham Hockey Center across three days.

As the year progresses EG Talent Academy players have opportunities to represent the squad in friendly and training matches against other Talent Academies. These matches can be at home, at East Grinstead or away at other venues.

East Grinstead Talent Academy partners with Hurst in order to take advantage of our respective facilities. Training nights typically take place at Hurst. Training camps typically take place at East Grinstead Hockey Club.

The facility at East Grinstead is being upgraded to provide video analysis technology for both Camps / Training sessions as well as matches. The ability to livestream matches in addition to capturing video for performance analysis is considered an important benefit for TA players and coaches.

TA Camps – TA camps take place throughout the programme and incorporate focus on many aspects of the game as well as continual refinement of fundamentals / basics. The camps offer extended contact time, and therefore the potential to utilise EGHC's leading edge video analysis capabilities. This includes a video analysis room in the club house with giant screen and provision for teams to study and review their analysis along with their coaches and external experts such as internationals and seasoned premier league players.

Talent Academy Squad Training – Squad training takes place on Monday evenings during term time (Friday evenings as we approach Summer) and develops players on individual skills and techniques to give each player the best opportunity to progress into the Talent Academy Cup competition itself.

TA Matches - EG Talent Academy squads will play matches against other Talent Academies throughout the season. All home matches, played at East Grinstead, are digitally recorded and available for players, parents and coaches to review and download. All home matches will also be live-streamed.

Talent Academy Cup – The Talent Academy Cup is a multi-day competition hosted at Nottingham Hockey Center. In past years it has run for three days and four days, and is likely to be a three day event in July 2025. Players play one match per day, and attend the competition with their Head Coach, Assistant Coach and a Manager. This level of staffing ensures the players have appropriate supervision, but also allows for individual development as well as team development. It also allows capacity to make further use of video analysis during the competition as Premier League and International teams do.

Our objective is to maximise the opportunities for passionate, committed, high-potential young players by providing high quality coaching from qualified coaches, seasoned Premier League players and Internationals. We recognise that players develop at different speeds and can sometimes slow down and speed up. If a player does not "make" the EGTA at the initial trials or assessment phase, the door remains open for inclusion at a later date. This can be through continued partnership with club and school coaches. Similarly, those within the programme can transition out temporarily or permanently. We recognise that the age groups addressed by the England Hockey TA programme are exactly the age groups under pressure ramping up for key exams, and making difficult prioritisation decisions. A close partnership between EGTA, families, club and school coaches helps navigate and balance these pressures.

Accessing the EG Talent Academy

Ambitious young players should make it known to their school or club coaches that they are keen to participate. Involvement in a Talent Academy typically comes from nomination by a coach and is followed by invitation from EGTA. The first invitation is to attend the Talent Academy Trials (Phase 1.1) which are typically held in September each year. Players who participated in the prior season's Talent Academy Cup at Nottingham Hockey Center are waived the requirement to attend the trials. The next phase is a short "assessment period" (Phase 1.2) in with the successful trialists from Phase 1.1 are joined by the prior season's TA Cup players who remain within the age group. Successfully progression through this short assessment phase (typically 2 to 4 weeks of Monday night training sessions) means that players are invited to join the longer term EGTA Training Squad. Numbers are limited to something in the region of 25 players for each gender in order to maximise quality of coaching as well as intensity and continuity.

During the summer, EGTA hosts "taster camps" for those with an interest in trialing in teh following September. This allows some weeks for players to focus on self development and to prepare well for the subsequent trials and assessment period in that following season.

Funding

The Talent Academy Programme is part of England Hockey's pathway to becoming an international player. While it is not the only pathway, it is recognised that a large proportion of "age group" England Players are progressing from Talent Academies although there are a small number of exceptions. A license to operate a Talent Academy, awarded by England Hockey comes with expectations of high standards as regards coaching and player experience.

The EG Talent Acedemy has been setup as a not for profit business and as per England Hockey's requirements is governed separately from East Grinstead Hockey Club. It benefits from EGHC's infrastructure, resources and partnerships and is inclusive in that talented and experienced coaches from other organisations are also contracted.

The Talent Academy represents a premium experience and enables us to engage the most suitable coaches and to fund the key innovations and resources that create a compelling experience for players.

England Hockey expects each Talent Academy to deliver in the region of 100 hours of hockey coaching incremental to club and school. To spread the costs, EG Talent Academy charges in Phases throughout the programme.

In addition, EG Talent Academy has budgeted for a small number of "bursary" players each season. If you are hesitant about entering the programme due to financial constraints, please contact us because we may be able to assist via the bursary programme. We can be reached by email at talentacademy@eghockey.co.uk and will reach out to help find a solution.

Welfare, safeguarding and dispute procedures

The safety and wellbeing of every young person who interacts with the Talent Academy program is essential. Our Safeguarding processes are designed to ensure staff and volunteers are vetted appropriately to be suitable to work with young people and our processes are consistent with those recommended by England Hockey.

If at any time you feel that something is wrong, please follow the EGHC Welfare Process found on this link or report to one of the coaches or Talent Academy staff.

Every adult is responsible for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of young people in hockey. We commit to addressing concerns or issues sensitively and thoroughly.

Partnerships

The Talent Academy is operated by East Grinstead Hockey Club under license from England Hockey. However our coaches are sourced from multiple organisations in order to provide a balanced, strong and inclusive environment.

As above, the route for young players into the Talent Academy is via your nomination. Please work with us to ensure those who want to and can play hockey to this standard get their chance.

We also encourage area hockey clubs to come and get involved. Volunteering at TA Squad Sessions will allow you to see the current standard of player, bring familiarity to players nominated by your club and get a chance to speak with the TA coaches. We have strict Safeguarding rules but please contact talentacademy@eghockey.co.uk if you can come and be part of this program or have other questions.

We look forward to building strong partnerships with parents in order to maximise the players' experiences. To support this our Talent Academy Director is in regular contact with parents, we document the individual development plans of the players and we provide wider updates via email. During the coming season we also plan to host two or three video calls either via Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex. This will provide a forum for parents to learn about the programme. Players' squad coaches can also be reached for individual discussions about their development.

Our experience from working with Performance Teams, is that culture is key. We are therefore very focused on growing a supportive and inclusive culture where the squads can develop as individuals and together. We would welcome your help in growing that culture as you become involved in your player's development !

Useful information

The following links take you to useful information:

England Hockey’s Talent System resources: https://www.englandhockey.co.uk/play/talent-system/about-the-talent-system

Use the above link to access important information (as PDF, downloadable on the right of the page):

RARE (Right Athlete, Right Environment) Principles – Every parent should read and understand this

Talent Development FAQs for Parents

Talent System Framework – Parents and Players to understand this, especially Section 3 and Section 4

EHGC Policy Documents, all of which will be relevant for anyone attending the TA - https://eghockey.co.uk/our-club/policies