In 2020 founder Jack Childs was seeing lots of noise in the hockey community about lack of opportunities for state school players. As ever with these things noise doesn’t equal action. As a person from a state school background Jack could resonate with the challenges state school players faced and he had also witnessed it first hand in the talent system as a coach. He wanted to do something tangible about it. At this point he had very little idea of the hockey landscape for state school and/or ethnic minority players but had a good connection having coached GB international Ollie Payne at the University of Exeter. Jack reached out to Ollie to help him put together a team of mentors- what started as a small idea quickly snowballed into a team of 24 mentors (including multiple GB Internationals) and a big launch on the England Hockey website in Apr 2021. In the first year of the programme around 100 state school and/or ethnic minority players completed an online programme, got 1-1 mentoring and joined 2×2 national in-person days. It was clear to Jack that what these players needed most was three key things: competition, coaching and connection. As a result he evolved the Hockey Mentors offering to focus on these three aspects, delivering them as a high-performance programme, competitions programme and junior international programme.

Lack of equal opportunities in hockey for junior performance hockey players

We exist to give talented players from state schools and/or ethnic minorities the opportunity to excel in a performance environment*

“Throughout my time at Hockey mentors I’ve met people from all over the country. This has allowed me to create many knew friends whilst in the process of being challenged and tested in every session/camp. In addition the standard of coaching and the variety of their skill sets has not only benefited me but everyone at hockey mentors helping to produce teams that have strength throughout. Additionally, hockey mentors has exposed me to the many opportunities out there through the school matches we take part in, and in these matches regardless of who is in the team, because of the community created by the hockey mentor coaches, there is a friendly and positive atmosphere when we play together, with new ones feeling comfortable and supported and older players developing their leadership skills. This has been reflected through the our match results. Additionally by having current internationals as our mentors it’s allowed us to ask questions and gain feedback from the highest level of players out there, which has helped me personally and gives me an insight of how high performance athletes think and feel.”

Lettie Hughes (England U16/U18 & National League)

“I have been part of Hockey Mentors for a year and a half now and have enjoyed playing with lots of different people from all over the country. The exposure to high-level, National League coaching has also been fantastic, such as during camps at Lee Valley and Birmingham University. I have also enjoyed playing against some of the country’s leading private schools such as Whitgift and Repton. The indoor matches and tournament in December were a great way to brush up on my skills and technique ready for the indoor season with my club and it was a great experience to be able to play alongside quality Premier League players as part of the adult team. As I do not play any hockey at my state school, it is all at club level, HM has provided me with other opportunities to play a good standard of hockey throughout the year which has been invaluable.”

Sam Carleton (England U18 & National League)