ABOUT EAST GRINSTEAD HOCKEY CLUB JUNIORS

East Grinstead Hockey Club has a thriving Junior Section.  Part of a growing and progressive club and certified as an England Hockey Talent Centre, the club provides fun, introductory, development and performance hockey to children from 5 – 18 years old.  EGHC also holds a license as an England Hockey Talent Academy, meaning it provides a central part of the England Hockey Performance Pathway.

EG Talent Academy Secured the England Hockey TA Cup in the 2024 / 2025 Season.  Click through for the news article

Based at East Grinstead Sports Club we are blessed with incredible facilities.  From here we deliver our comprehensive hockey programme through a coaching staff numbering in excess of 20.  We also deliver community outreach hockey to schools in the area and prize our close relationships with schools, businesses and local authorities in the area.  During 2024 and 2025 we have enhanced our infrastructure with video.  This means all our outdoor matches (for age groups U14 and above through adult hockey) are recorded digitally and live streamed.

For our Age Group teams (U14, U16, U18) this is further enhanced by use of our video room where we frequently hold video analysis workshops for teams prior to matches.  Our Indoor hall (on site),  is also rigged for video and this means we can digitally record training and matches for further analysis.  Each age group team has access to their own videos.

What is a Talent Centre ?

A Talent Center label means that England Hockey has certified our programmes and setup as meeting or exceeding the requirements and expectations of the sport's governing body.  This is in terms of introductory, development and Talent Foundation phases of coaching and competition.

To support our hockey activity, EGHC has a Healthy Talent Culture, which provides a Safe Hockey Environment for Young People which is governed by a volunteer management committee and organised Welfare Process.

As part of player progress, we also integrate closely with our adult teams to maximise those progression opportunities.  We focus on the England Hockey "Right Athlete, Right Environment" framework.  The player pathway and its tight integration with both Talent Academy (England Hockey Player Pathway) and Adult Hockey is illustrated further below.

If you would like to know more about our commitments to Young Players, or have a comment, question, concern or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact one of our club officers or email info@eghockey.co.uk

Year Round Hockey

Our core hockey membership runs from September through to April. Annual membership to EGHC includes training and matches within this period and also unlocks several other benefits:

• Member pricing on "bolt ons, programmes, clinics and camps".  These offerings are available to non-members but members pay 2% less.  These offerings are derived by EGHC Academy and are designed as "accelerators" for the most ambitious, enthusiastic youngsters who want to develop their game at a faster rate.
• The opportunity to secure a 20% discount on Grays products when consenting to share email addresses with Grays (to enable their systems to recognise you)
• The opportunity to earn "EG Points" on every £ spent, which can be redeemed for vouchers on our EGHC Academy products and services

To enable our systems to offer member pricing, and to spread membership cost, our membership is paid monthly through the year and remains ever-green.  While the core membership season runs from September through to April, we run Summer programmes which are available for purchase by those who like to continue their hockey all year round.

EGHC also offers bookable 1:1 coaching with several of our Junior coaches, to enable players to focus on specific aspects of their game with maximum attention to detail.

Junior Age Groups & Teams

Junior club hockey is split into age groups linked to English school years and gender. EGHC has age group training and associated teams in the following groups:

Under 6 – Mixed gender, school year 1

Under 8 – Mixed gender, school years 2 & 3

Under 10 – Separate Boys & Girls squads, school years 4 & 5.  At U10 level we open up the possibility for players to apply to join our MiniStars setup - a Bolt On offering that provides additional coaching in training blocks through the season.

Under 12 - Separate Boys and Girls squads, school years 6 & 7.  U12s may also apply to join the MiniStats setup.

Under 14 – Separate Boys & Girls squads, school years 8 & 9.  U14s are one age group away from Talent Academy level and those with ambitions should consider applying for the EG Talent Development Academy to accelerate their development and maximise their chances of selection for the EG Talent Academy at U16 level.

Under 16 - Separate Boys & Girls squads, school years 10 & 11.  As players reach U16 level they are often increasingly involved in adult hockey

Under 18 - Separate Boys & Girls squads, school years 12 & 13.  At U18 level most players are now involved in Adult hockey and some will be firmly entrenched in our Performance Pathway, meaning they may be included in training with our Mens or Womens 1st Team or 2nd Team.

Very occasionally players may be be invited to train or play in teams in an older age group. Generally speaking the talent pathway provides excellent opportunities for players to gain "stretch hockey" via MiniStars, Talent Development Academy or our Player Pathway.  We generally favour players playing within their age group when playing junior hockey to develop rounded skills including leadership skills and traits.  We discuss individual player circumstances with the players and their parent.

Draft Competitions Entry Overview

Note on U18's Hockey:  Our experience is that U18s are generally already playing Adult Hockey and so should train with their adult team.  As a result, we have entered U18s in a T1 Cup and a T2 League.  We plan to run a short training block ahead of league matches by way of preparation in recognition that U18s will train throughout the season with their adult team.

 Junior Membership

We warmly welcome new junior members. We are an inclusive hockey club.  If your child has never played hockey before or has previous experience at all levels, our junior section would love to welcome them as a member of the club.  To aid in understanding our player pathway and membership structure, we offer the below info-graphics.

Important Resources and Links

Many resources are available to help you find out about our club.  We are always monitoring our enquiries email address (see below) and are always happy to help.  Check out some of the links below for answers to common questions.

Enquiries:  info@eghockey.co.uk

Weekly Training Schedule:  https://eghockey.co.uk/teams/training-schedule

Club Calendar: https://eghockey.co.uk/teams/club-calendar

Express Interest: https://eghockey.co.uk/membership

Membership Form: https://eghockey.co.uk/membership/membership-form

Membership Products: https://eghockey.org.uk/collections/junior-membership

EGHockey News: https://eghockey.co.uk/club-news

East Grinstead Hockey on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EastGrinsteadHockeyTV

"Bolt On" Programmes and Offerings: https://eghockey.org.uk/collections/academy

EG Talent Academy Overview: https://eghockey.co.uk/our-club/talent-academy

EG "MiniStars" and "Talent Development Academy: https://eghockey.org.uk/collections/mini-tda

Follow Us: https://eghockey.co.uk/our-club/club-social

Kit Information: https://eghockey.co.uk/kit