B2H: Pathway to the Leagues

Any club’s success should not only be seen by the performance of its top teams but by the performance of all its members right down the levels of the Foundation Starters, which is where B2H members come in. Our club has seen a Junior member rise to become GB Men’s Captain, and there are budding players around who could do the same. They just need a good start on their hockey career and that is where Back-to-Hockey plays its part.

With an average age of forty-four, we realise that a rise to such heights, as described, is certainly not going to happen from our position in the club, but there is no reason why B2H members cannot achieve their greatest possible personal achievement from starting with us. Whether coming Back-to-Hockey or New-to-Hockey we have the Pathway to success to whatever target each individual member has their sights set on. If you are one of those players read on to find out how...

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Starting to play from the New-to-Hockey (NTH), position, there are many hurdles to overcome during a development path and here at B2H we have identified how to make this as smooth as possible. It starts with the club’s decision to employ a Coaching Director, who has great experience as an M1 player and a coach, and is a long-standing club member who has directed the club’s coaching to where it has become today, as the best club in the country. B2H benefits greatly from what he has to offer our Pathway Scheme.

From this starting point, we have devised a series of coaching levels, or tiers as NTH – BTL - ADV, to cater for the wide variety of playing skills that we now have in our group. Our ‘Pathway to the Leagues’ encompasses each of these levels and provides the support for those players who wish to travel through the pathway and out into the big wide world of league play. Any B2H member may remain with the group and does not have to travel any further than they wish to.

Remembering that we are mixed group, we start our journey along the Pathway by providing a Monday training and gameplay session which not only develops players understanding of the sport but provides an opportunity for the coaches and management to identify the more talented players who show the potential to become league players. Encouragement is given to help them decide to take on the future challenges of the leagues, should their availability allow. Monday training is based around individual skills development, whereas the next stage on the pathway is to encourage the understanding of how the game itself should be played by having a Saturday morning Game Play session on P3 taken by a professional coach, when available, where coaching is provided on such areas as:

Positional movement
Blocking techniques
Spatial awareness
Support runs
Passing speed and quality
Overlapping support
Leading runs
Verbal support
Shooting techniques

We use this Saturday session to gather and prepare our potential men’s and women’s Summer League teams and it is usually from these teams that the best players take the opportunity to move to the leagues. They play together in their teams as much as possible, depending upon family commitments, where they form playing and social bonds, and learn what to expect from each other’s skills set.

To further the ability to play with better or lower skilled players (as will be found when playing league), we hold a monthly mixed four team 7s tournament with three of our own teams named Griffins, Dragons and Sirins together with another local club’s visiting team. This provides a more competitive atmosphere, and enables the unknown element of visiting opposition skills, again as will be found in league play.

Although B2H is primarily a 7s group, this season we are introducing more 11s training sessions and matches, both internal and against external opposition, to further prepare players for the bigger game. We call this our 11s Winter Series.

We have strong links with the Men’s and Women’s Chairs of Selection and are regularly supplying players on a temporary basis to supplement the lower league teams when their squads are short of players. The Chairs, coupled with the lower league captains, can attend our sessions to scout for players who are ready to move up. We also propose those players interested in playing league, for the Play Day at the start of a new season and a player can move up permanently to a league team at any time during the season.

Although we use the term ‘Pathway’, this really means a varied collection of specific training and gameplay events throughout the season, organised to provide substantial opportunities for development and enjoyment of the game, which we hope will provide encouragement to take on the challenges of playing in a competitive league environment.

It does work, so come and join us and see what you can achieve in our sport!

Next week we delve into our Après Hockey events to see what exciting things our Social Secretary, Emma, has in store for us starting with ‘Emma’s Halloween Hat Party’.