Sevenoaks Talent Academy

Sevenoaks Talent Academy is part of the England Hockey Talent System, supporting juniors with the potential and commitment to make it to the highest level. Talent Academies aim to develop selected players through high quality coaching and holistic athlete development. The Talent Academy provides an additional environment for talented young hockey players to join together and experience high level coaching and competition, in addition to their existing hockey diet at club and school. The TA coaches work with the catchment area clubs/schools/county centres to ensure the most appropriate decisions are made about where and how selected players develop and play their hockey based on the RARE (Right Athlete, Right Environment) principle.

Each year the TA each year selects and develops squads of around 25 girls and 25 boys aged 15-18 (in school years 10, 11, 12 and 13) from schools, clubs and counties in their catchment area. It is also recognised that in exceptional circumstances there may be one or two players each cycle in year 9 who would benefit from accessing Talent Academy provision to support their development. New Talent Academy players are identified via Open Nominations from our catchment area clubs, schools, and counties. Nominated players will be invited to the open trial assessment and observations sessions throughout the cycle.

The squads train every Monday evening from October through to July with breaks at Christmas and Easter. These sessions are a blend of on-pitch, indoor and classroom sessions. There are competition days on Sundays throughout the cycle when matches are played against squads from other TAs. Two squads are then selected to participate in the Talent Academy Festival at the end of July. All the Talent Academies in the country participate in this event along with squads from Ulster and Wales.

The TA coaching team is led by Martin Schouten, the Director of Hockey at Sevenoaks HC and Assistant Coach to the Wales Senior Men. The team is comprised of some of the area's most experienced performance coaches, including a specialist GK coach. All the coaches have extensive experience with the historical England Hockey pathway system, as well as coaching and playing in high-performance environments, including the EH National League.

For more information please contact enquiries@sevenoakstalentacademy.org