If school coaches are allowed to prioritise long-term goals, hockey in the Britain will strengthen
There is without doubt some incredibly high-quality hockey coaching at school level, but are the primary goals of the school allowing the coaches to maximise the student’s development?
Schools often employ former international players and high-level coaches to run their hockey programmes. It is fantastic that our young players are exposed to knowledgeable and highly skilled trainers from an early age. However, are the directives given to our school coaches enabling them to develop players to their maximum?
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Rupert – that article is spot on.If only the England Hockey hierarchy would realise the same problem. But they are wedded to a fixed talent centre driven to performance development programme which does not recognise the skill development you have highlighted
Maybe if there was more grass roots hockey and support through local ‘state’ schools and clubs instead of just the focus on private schools.
There’s a lot of talent that could be found and worked with in local ordinary clubs and schools.
Totally question this article – who exactly in schools is demanding results only, as the article suggests?? If a school does want to win at all costs, that will be the coaches themselves, not some other ‘force’ – correct me if wrong, but please give actual examples, since that is how ‘proof’ works. Interestingly, Zak Jones started out at St Edward’s School, Oxford as a coach, while Kwan Browne has St Lawrence College and now Mill Hill School as his employers – meanwhile the likes of Karl Stagno, Andy Watts and Tom Carson develop outstanding thinking hockey players at the schools they work at……
Bonjour
Your articles and exchanges are most interesting but is there a list of the British schools offering hockey for boys ?
Many thanks,
Alain Douet,
Normandy, France