Playing School Hockey in the UK

The Thriving School Hockey Scene in England

There is an enormous focus on school hockey in England and most independent schools have a packed set of matches against other schools, sometimes with mid-week as well as Saturday matches. Whilst this is the main element of hockey provision there are other strands to the offering. There is an England Hockey Schools’ Competition and this has three levels with Tier 1,2 and 3 so that schools can compete against schools of similar ability. In addition, there is the Independent Schools Cup fixtures and there may be the opportunity to play for a club outside of the school as well.

Weekly Hockey Training and Match Schedule

The way sport in schools is often run is that there will be coaching sessions run typically on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays with matches against other schools on Tuesdays and Saturdays. There may be some regional variations on this but the volume of coaching will be similar. There will be a mixture of specialist coaching staff (sometimes former Internationals) alongside enthusiastic and experienced teachers who will also manage and coach teams, which will be run on year group lines. Often there will be more than one team per year group so the pupils can play at the appropriate standard for their ability.

Rivalries and National School Competitions

As well as playing matches against other schools, and there are keenly fought rivalries in this regard, many schools will enter into National Schools Competitions. These will start out by playing other schools in the region and as the team progresses so it will encounter the best teams from other regions until reaching a national final of the top 4 teams.

Indoor Hockey Opportunities

In addition to the outdoor game there are also regional and national finals for Indoor hockey and although maybe there is less overall emphasis on this than in Germany the top teams do produce a very good standard of play.

Club Hockey and School Partnerships

As well as playing indoor and outdoor hockey for your school many schools will have close links with local clubs and for the passionate hockey player this is a great opportunity to play for club at U16 or U18 level as well as playing Adult hockey for the Men or Women’s teams as well.

Top Schools in National Hockey Finals

There are a number of schools who will regularly have teams at National finals such as Repton, Oakham, Cranleigh, Whitgift, Wellington and Epsom College however you do not need to feel restricted to these as the National Schools Competition runs Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 levels of the competition so you can enjoy the excitement of competition and a knock-out cup run and this extends the list so much further including Ardingly, Bedford, Haileybury, Gresham’s, King’s Bruton, St Lawrence, Sedbergh, Kent and Scarborough to name a few.

Sample Weekly Hockey Programme for Students

So a hockey programme could look something like: Monday : School Team Training Tuesday : Match against another School / Indoor Training Tuesday Evening : Local Club training Thursday : School Team Training Friday : School Team Training Saturday: Match against another School Sunday :Club Match

Season Structure: Girls' and Boys' Hockey

You will not always have 2 school fixtures a week but when the competitions get going then this is more likely. Girls Hockey is the main sport in the Autumn Term and for the Boys it is the winter term and a good question to ask if there is a structured programme over two terms or if club hockey is available if the school does not do both terms.

Some Rules to be Aware of that may have an impact on German Students

The England Schools Hockey Competition states that eligible pupils must be enrolled for a full academic year so when applying to some schools they may not offer a 1 or 2 term place. In addition, there has been a new rule introduced this year for future years which is that any team may only have a maximum of 3 players who joined the school in Years 12 or 13. This will refer to British and overseas players who join the Sixth Form but is not a rule for the Independent Schools Cup. There is still a massive amount of hockey to be played outside of the England School Hockey competition but it may be something to discuss with the individual school.

Hockey Scholarships

For the talented hockey player it may also be good idea to ask if there are any Scholarships available. Often these will be small discounts of the school fees, maybe 5 -10%, however there are occasional exceptions to 20% or even 30%, although these will be rare. Different schools will have slightly differing rules and conditions for scholarship awards and they may be limited in number so do not feel offended if you do not get one- they will still value you! You will need to be playing at a high level to be eligible and the school will want you to attend an assessment, which is also a good excuse to have another visit to the school. As a consequence of achieving a scholarship it is very likely that you will not only be expected to undertake additional training but you may also have access to additional coaching and Strength and Conditioning training as well.

Conclusion

Whether you are ambitious to take your hockey as far as possible or are just an enthusiastic player who enjoys the sport you can have a tremendous time playing hockey in a British school and make excellent progress. Stanford & Ackel has a long history placing German hockey players at English boarding schools. We maintain close relationships with the schools and pride ourselves supporting families with their applications and to make the right choice. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.