What is Junior County Hockey?
- Junior County (Sub Area) Hockey is the new name for junior county hockey programmes previously known as Development Centres (DC) and Academy Centres (AC)
- Junior County (Sub Area) Hockey will continue to provide an exciting and aspirational representative opportunity for the U12-U17 age groups that provides a different experience to regular club or school hockey.
- It is a standalone development experience, focused on preparing for and competing in representative teams.
- It is one route to progress to the next stage of the talent system and counties can nominate players for Talent Academy and/or England Age Group trials.
- For some players County (Sub Area) Hockey will be one of several talent development opportunities they take up and it is regarded as steppingstone towards both elite domestic and international performance hockey. For others it will be the pinnacle of their representative hockey and hopefully a steppingstone to life-long enjoyment and involvement in the sport. Both these outcomes are worthy aims and valuable to the long-term development of hockey.
- There is a huge opportunity for counties to access a wider group of young people by targeting more players who are unable to access regular high- quality hockey elsewhere and contribute to developing a more diverse talent pool.
- Junior County (Sub Area) Hockey also has an important role in providing development opportunities for players, coaches, administrators and umpires from different backgrounds.
You can find more information on the England Hockey website about the Talent System and County Hockey
Derbyshire Junior County Hockey
Derbyshire is one of the 8 Counties in the Midlands (Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire being the others).
The County supports its junior athletes by providing Development Centre coaching, during June and July, which then also feed into County squads at U13, U14, U15 and U16/17 levels. These County squads (Academies) run from September-March/April each year.
We provide regular game based training sessions through the season, along with competitive tournaments to allow players to challenge themselves against the best players from other counties in the Midlands.
Have a look at our Player Pathway Handbook HERE
If you would like to take part, please register on this site. If you need help with your registration or managing your account you can find some guidance HERE
Derbyshire Hockey Academy details can be found HERE
You can order Derbyshire Academy hoodies and rain jackets HERE
Other County Activity
County Junior Festivals:
County Volunteers assist clubs with junior sections in Derbyshire to co-ordinate U8, U10 and U12 activity.
County In2Hockey Tournaments (U10 & U12):
These are run every year in Feb/March, and are single gender competitions which feed through into the Midlands Finals (with the Midlands U12 winners then feeding into the National Finals)
Midlands Clubs Junior Competitions Entries 2024-2025 Season:
Clubs can find out more about Midlands Junior Competitions HERE, and sign up to take part HERE
Senior Men’s County Squad:
The Derbyshire Senior Men’s team takes part in the Men’s County Championships. The selection and training for this squad takes place in April/May.