World Youth Festival
More Than Hockey: What the World Youth Festival Taught The U16 Girls About Success
As coaches, parents and supporters, it's easy to measure success through results. However, some of the most important lessons young people learn through sport have little to do with the final score writes Hockey Mentors parent manager Natalie S. The Hockey Mentors U16 girls recently travelled to Holland to compete in the World Youth Festival, an elite international hockey tournament that brings together talented young players from around the world. While the tournament offered an opportunity to compete against high quality opposition, its greatest value lay in the personal development of the players and the life skills they were able [...]
Stepping Up To International Level: Katherine L
This summer, I had the opportunity to travel to Houten in Holland to compete in the World Youth Festival writes Hockey Mentors player Katherine L. It was an amazing experience and one that has given me a lot more confidence and experience going into my upcoming England Hockey U16 trials. The Hockey Mentors team was made up of some of the best individual players already involved in the programme. Being selected for the team was a great opportunity. We were going to be competing against teams from different countries, meaning that the style and speed of hockey could be very [...]
From Cambridge to World Youth Hockey Festival Winners: Rudi B
From Cambridge to World Youth Hockey Festival Winners Just over a year ago, I travelled to Cambridge for a three-day Hockey Mentors trial to join their High-Performance Programme (HPP) writes Hockey Mentors player Rudi B Last week, I was in Amsterdam playing right wing for the Hockey Mentors Boys U16 squad at the World Youth Hockey Festival. It's still sinking in but, we came home as Elite BU16 winners. How I found Hockey Mentors I first heard about Hockey Mentors through other strong hockey players in the South West. They had played against Hockey Mentors in a national cup and had [...]
Leadership Skills: Annie P
I’ve now been doing Hockey Mentors for four years, writes Hockey Mentors player Annie P. In that time I’ve done four tours and have yet to participate in one I haven't enjoyed. Because of these last four years, I have seen familiar faces at every hockey event I have gone to, whether that be the TA tournament or league matches or DiSE, I feel as if I’m never alone because of all the friendships I have made at Hockey Mentors In 2022 I joined Mentors as a shy and inexperienced hockey player, who hadn’t been exposed to high level hockey. [...]
The World Youth Festival: Preparing teams that don’t train together for high-level international competition
A lot of Hockey Mentors (HM) results don’t make sense writes founder Jack Childs. It defies belief for most people that a team of state school and/or ethnic minority players that don’t train together have been able to beat all the top private schools in England, win 60+ medals in national Indoor Hockey UK events, beat all the top clubs and even win high-level international tournaments. I believe there are three critical factors to this: culture, high-quality players and quality coaching. To bring it more to life and help the hockey stick spin around I will take a look at [...]
The World Youth Festival: defying the odds to take 4 teams to the official junior event of the Hockey World Cup
I am up at 1am for our 3am airport meet and the adrenaline is pumping as I write this blog, writes Hockey Mentors Founder Jack Childs. I have set myself 1 hour aside to write and I’m hoping for some flow. After months of planning and years of hard work it is time to take our place on the World Stage at the official junior event linked to the Hockey World Cup. Very exciting. Our 4 teams (U16 girls, U16 boys, U18 girls, U18 boys) will compete against top Dutch clubs, top South African schools, the USA girls national teams [...]
