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*

“My daughter Siobhan started with Hockey Mentors in summer 2021. Since then she has participated in camps, met GB players and made friends with a lot of the Hockey Mentors players around the country. She has loved being mentored by current GB players Millie Giglio and Darcy Bourne, as well as being taught how to drag flick by Nick Bandurak. It was great the support she received when she missed out on England U16s selection at the final stage this year, receiving encouragement via a 1-1 mentoring chat from Darcy Bourne who gave her advice regarding setbacks and how to overcome them” (Alison Daley, Mum of Siobhan Daley)

Siobhan Daley (England U18 Development Squad & 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)