Talent Academy
Wimbledon Hockey Club is proud to be one of 21 accredited Talent Academies across England. Launching in August 2022, the first year of our programme has seen great success and we look forward to this continuing in the coming season.
Talent academies provide a high-performance training environment for the highest potential 15-18 year old boys and girls as part of the England Hockey Player Pathway. Throughout the season, players train as a group midweek and Sundays every 2-3 weeks with contact time increasing towards the summer. After Christmas, there is also a programme of regular match play against other Talent Academies. In addition to hockey training sessions, players also participate in off-pitch sessions including video analysis, goal-setting and talks from WHC Ambassadors as well as being allocated a WHC Ambassador to help them on their journey.
At the end of the season, in July, there is the Talent Academy competition where talent academies compete against each other with England selectors present. Following this tournament, players may be invited to England Age Group trials and further assessment.
Trials process
Trials take place at the beginning of the season in September. Players can be nominated for a Talent Academy trial by their school, club or county, who will all be informed of the relevant date by which to nominate players for trials.
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We will have a series of trials in order to best assess all players capabilities, following which players will be informed of the outcome via email. Feedback will be able to be requested following the trials process.
Talent Futures
Talent Futures is in association with Wimbledon Talent Academy and is a 10-week summer programme to prepare the next wave of players for Talent Academy trials and selection.
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The programme was designed to introduce players to a high-performance training environment to prepare them for England Hockey Age Group programmes, and to recognise talent to progress to Talent Academy.
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Trials were held and the group selected in April for the 2023 summer programme.
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Please see below a post from March 2023 describing the Talent Futures programme and inviting players to register for trials.
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