E.H. SINGLE SYSTEM in Kent

Maidstone Hockey Club is proud to be the base for one of the 6 sub-county centres for Junior Development (JDC) and for the Kent Junior Academy (JAC)for Girls. The other 5 JDCs are based at Canterbury, Sittingbourne, Chatham, Sevenoaks, and Bexley.

These Centres are part of England Hockey’s “Single System” plan to ensure a clear and consistent pathway for juniors (girls and boys) aged between 13 and 17 to progress from their Club or school through to (potentially) national level. The first step for talented youngsters is selection for one of the 6 JDCs - the best will progress to the Kent Junior Academy - the best again will move on to a Junior Regional Performance Centre (JRPC) - the best again will progress to a High Performance Assessment Camp (HPAC) - and then potentially the national squad. Youngsters will receive quality coaching and development opportunities.

 The JDCs and the JACs will increase in size each year by taking additional age groups. In 2009/10 we are hanling U13s & U14s; in 2010/11 we add U15s , and so on.

MID KENT JDC

The programme was run between September and December 2009. Monday evenings (5.50pm to 7pm) at Maidstone Hockey Club pitch for U13s & U14s. These coaching sessions ran for 9 weeks. Then action switched to Sunday afternoons for two tournaments, both at Tonbridge School at 12.30pm. U13s = 29th November; & U14s = 6th December.

KENT JUNIOR ACADEMY - GIRLS

In Spring 2010 about 30 girls U13s and 30 girls U14s were accommodated. These were selected initially by the coaching teams running the JDCs. A final JAC Assessment took place in January 2010, when the programme commenced.

The programme runs on Sunday afternoons for 3 weeks (2pm until 4pm); then for a further 4 weeks each age group on the full pitch (U13 = 2-3.30; & U14 = 3.30-5); concluding with matches against other counties in the south-east. Other matches are being sought for early May.

On Sunday 25th April, the top teams (only) from each age group are participating in two inter-County Tournaments (one away & one in Kent), so the 18th is likely to be a training preparation session.

All activity is on the all-weather pitch, at Maidstone Hockey Club.

QUERIES

JDC & JAC Centre Manager

MIKE EVANS mikeandjudith@mac.com  07766 447985

County Junior Co-ordinator

JAMES DANIELS kenthockey@hotmail.com   07772 913119