Important Workforce Timelines for Students
The most important piece of information is that there are relatively long lead times for
Courses/Workshops to be organised – please do not expect something in 2 weeks from asking for
it! The following lead times apply for our standard offer:
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Coaching Workshops – 10 weeks
Umpiring – 6 weeks
Hence, if you want something ready for delivery in September, then you MUST request it BEFORE
you break up for the Summer. See below:
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For delivery for September Courses / Workshops for coaching or Umpiring; place the request
with England Hockey in June (before you break up)
For delivery for mid/late January Courses/Workshops (mid-season break) for Coaching, place
the request with England Hockey in late October/early November; for Umpiring, places the
request in late November/early December.
Also, please remember that courses CLOSE for bookings at least 10 days before the delivery date, so
ALL attendees must be confirmed (either by booking online or by having provided a completed
register to England Hockey) by that date.
Other things to note around timescales:1. We do not approve of people simply “swapping” with others on the day – as we are trying to
maintain all of our data around who has attended what – though in extreme circumstances
(illness which can be evidenced etc.) then we can accept this
2. Payment for CLOSED workshops MUST be made BEFORE the event – so Athletic Unions
should be organised well in advance to make payments, otherwise there is a risk we will not
run the workshop
3. Extra attendees cannot simply turn up on the day – we manage our resources, and also the
delivery of the workshop around the numbers of people that we have been told are attending
– hence people cannot simply turn up and pay on the day; if we allow one University to do
this, then it would not be fair to then not allow every University to do it, and this would then
lead to chaos!
Hence, if you are looking to run a workshop early in the Student term, be very clear about how you
will have all your attendees signed up well before the workshop is going to take place – do not
assume you can simply let us know the day before the date things are due to be delivered. This MAY
involve correspondence with students during Freshers Week etc. for example.
Courses & Workshops on Offer
Workshops - On Demand
These can be requested from England Hockey with a 10 week lead time for the
Coaching workshops, and a 6 week lead time for the Umpiring ones; England
Hockey will then source the Tutor, and advertise the course online (if Open) or agree
to run solely for the University (if Closed) – numbers must be between 14 and 20.
Introduction to Hockey Coaching
6 hour workshop covering all the fundamentals to coaching within an organised (University /
Club / School) environment; dealing with what good coaching looks like, some basic rules of
the game, what to know about safeguarding etc.
Suitable for: parents, novice coaches, people looking to provide coaching to organised
groups as part of a wider programme (e.g. groups of players within squads)
Engaging Games for Children
3 hour workshop focussing specifically on the content and approach that should be used to
coach Children aged 12 and under. Workshop is delivered entirely on the pitch, and is very
practically focussed around upskilling coaches to enthuse and engage younger players.
Suitable for: parents and novice coaches to provide an insight into how to support coaching
sessions for juniors; but also experienced coaches who want to gain more knowledge about
delivering better sessions for U12s.
Coaching for Club Players
(Note that this workshop is due to move to On Demand from September and has not been
previously)
3 hour workshop targeting coaches that work with groups of non-elite adult players,
particularly where there may be quite wide-ranging abilities across the group.
Suitable for: coaches/players that provide “club” sessions for non-elite players within a club;
a practical workshop designed to support coaches to provide sessions which stretch all
players through a game-based approach.
Level 1 Umpiring
6 hour workshop to move people to being a Level 1 Unassessed umpire – you then achieve
your Level 1 qualification by being assessed on a separate occasion.
Suitable for: anyone looking to be involved in umpiring hockey – though more suitable for
those that are keen to go on to be assessed
Introduction to Umpiring
3 hour workshop providing practical opportunity to practice the real basics of umpiring. Works as a
very good starting point to provide a bit more confidence to umpires, and also to provide people with
an opportunity to try umpiring without having the time commitments of a Level 1 Course.
Suitable for: young people, novice hockey players, people curious about maybe wanting to get
involved with umpiring
Workshops - Open Programme
These are organised by England Hockey in line with conversations around demand /
need initiated via the local Relationship Managers (RM). You cannot request these
directly, but can speak to your RM about getting one organised – though this will
take a couple of months to organise.
Integrating Goalkeepers
3 hour practical workshop delivering knowledge around how to involve GKs in an effective way in
your coaching sessions, rather than putting them in a goal and whacking balls at them! This is
not about becoming specialist GK coaches, but more about how you can change your session
design so that it is worthwhile for GKs to be in attendance.
Suitable for: coaches who have sessions with GKs in (either one, or more than one)
Coaching for Talent
3 hour workshop mainly focussed around Session Design, and how to plan and deliver sessions
which will stretch and develop talented players, and squads of players.
Suitable for: coaches working in the Player Pathway; coaches working with performance squads.
Courses
Sessional Coach Course
2 days, which includes a Practical Assessment, to provide a Level 2 qualification and to develop
coaches into being able to deliver as Lead Coaches of sessions. This course is focussed on how
to be a good coach, and deliver engaging and enjoyable individual sessions, rather than looking
at developing teams over a longer period of time.
Suitable for: coaches who want the minimum level of qualification to coach independently in
Player Pathway, Schools etc. where you are working as a stand-alone individual with
responsibility for everyone on the pitch.
England Hockey Coach Course
3 days, and requiring a separate assessment, to provide a Level 2 qualification which also goes
into more depth about how to coach linked sessions and develop teams over a period of time.
Suitable for: team and squad coaches, heads of hockey programmes, performance level
coaches
Coach and Umpire Development – Myth Busting
Myth: You need to have a Coaching Qualification in order to be insurable to Coach
Answer: FALSE
Insurance companies will have different requirements for what they will insure, and what
they will not; but the underlying principle is that if you can evidence that you have put steps
in place to ensure that a session is safe, then most insurers will insure that session. This
would include being able to evidence:
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what you have done to check for, and then manage / reduce risk
what you have done to ensure that your coaches are only delivering what they are
competent at delivering (and no more)
what processes and procedures you have in place to report on and handle incidents
where relevant, that you have suitable safeguarding and welfare policies in place and
adhered to (e.g. DBS checks in place, a welfare officer in place etc.)
Myth: There are never any courses near us to access
Answer: Potentially true – but that is because a lot of the content is “on demand” meaning
they are organised when people / clubs request them, so if they are not requested, they
often are not on within a particular patch.
Sessional and England Hockey Coach Courses are run between late April and August most
years, with a small number run during the October and February ½ term periods - so they
will not be organised at other times of the year as part of our standard programme.
The more specific workshops e.g. Integrating Goalkeepers and Coaching for Talent, are
organised by England Hockey in conjunction with Relationship Managers, and are usually
held between January and April each year.
Myth: The current course / workshop structure does not support University students
Answer: FALSE
The coach development offer we have is specifically focussed on being quicker, cheaper
and more accessible for our coaches. Hence, we are keen to support one of our largest
hockey playing audiences where we can, and therefore there should be discussion that can
be had about determining options for supporting coaches.
One of the main things for people to understand though is that coach proficiency should not
be measured based upon qualifications – hence there are no requirements to have particular
qualifications to be considered as competent. In the vast majority of cases, coaches will not
need to do Sessional or England Hockey Coach Courses as part of their development, and
the workshops are the most suitable option – for example, Level 1 Courses are no longer
run, so an Introduction to Hockey Coaching Course is just as good (if not better).
Myth: Courses are only run in certain parts of the Country
Answer: FALSE
There is a slight limitation in that England Hockey can only deliver our courses and
workshops in venues that have a classroom and a pitch onsite, but that should not be an
issue for Universities. We have tutors based around the Country, so we can theoretically
deliver in any location, there just needs to be some planning (usually a
couple of months is the most we need – but that means if you want something in
September/October, you MUST ask for it before you break up for the Summer)
Nonetheless, there are plenty of coaching development opportunities at “qualification” level –
in 2016, more coaches qualified with a “Level 2” than at any point in the previous 7 years.
Myth: In order to umpire at University, you need to have attended a Level 1 Umpiring Course
Answer: IT DEPENDS!
There are BUCS rules dependent upon the level that your teams play at, but they do not all
require Level 1 Umpires (Unassessed or Assessed).
In addition to this, there are ways in which students can gain some umpiring knowledge, or
be supported in their development, through many other ways than attending a Level 1
Umpiring Course (which can be time consuming and expensive). A really good starting point
is the HockeyHub - https://hockeyhub.englandhockey.co.uk/
This online resource is free, and provides a whole range of things, including a Rules Test,
modules on particular interpretations of rules, how to manage certain situations etc. There
will also be new content added over time, and the most recent module was that of a Club
Umpire Developer – this provides a simple piece of training for those that want to support the
development of their own umpires, to allow for development “in house”.
Myth: Courses / Workshops are very expensive
Answer: IF ORGANISED INEFFICIENTLY, THEN MAYBE – BUT DON’T NEED TO BE
Evidence shows that over 80% of students attending a Level 1 Umpiring Course never gone
on to be assessed – so would an Introduction to Umpiring course (at £15 / head) not be a
much better option for the large majority of students?
Coaching workshops have places offered for £48 per person if you book a place
independently; however, if a University wishes to work within the local community alongside
clubs and in agreement with the local Relationship Manager, to help grow the sport, there
are opportunities to run bespoke delivery for Universities. If you can provide your own
facilities at no charge, there are options that could be discussed with your Relationship
Manager that could work out much cheaper per head.
REMEMBER, you can get 2 FREE places for any course or workshop if the University can
provide facilities at no cost.
Myth: It does not matter who turns up to Courses/Workshops as long as someone takes the
places we have paid for
Answer: FALSE (unfortunately)
A critical part to helping England Hockey govern, control and support the sport is ensuring
that we have efficient ways of managing our data; if people attending our development
opportunities change outside of our processes, this can lead to things becoming very
inefficient or even worse, the data being held about our deliverers being wrong.
University “Workforce” Statistics
Umpiring Attendance for last 3 Years
Umpiring Courses Hosted by Universities
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Courses cancelled when not enough attendees are booked on
Open Courses mean Students can book on, but so can the general public; Closed
Courses are when only students can book onto the course (but University must
provide minimum of 14 attendees)
Coaching Workshops / Courses Organised at University Venues
Course / Workshop
Engaging Games for Children
Engaging Games for Children
Sessional Coach
Engaging Games for Children
Coaching Club Players
Sessional Coach
Sessional Coach
Intro to Hockey Coaching
Engaging Games for Children
Intro to Hockey Coaching
Intro to Hockey Coaching
Sessional Coach
Sessional Coach
Location
University of St Mark and St John
University of Gloucestershire
Uni of St Mark & St John, Plymouth
Manchester University
University of Gloucestershire
University of Liverpool
Loughborough University
Lancaster University
Lancaster University (Closed)
Southampton Solent University
University of Essex
Durham University
Worcester University
Date
15/11/2015
23/11/2015
15/02/2016
10/04/2016
24/04/2016
08/05/2016
15/08/2016
27/09/2016
16/10/2016
21/02/2017
07/05/2017
14/05/2017
04/07/2017
2 dates highlighted are outside of University term times - not necessarily Student focussed.
Current University Workforce (based on data we know)
Use of HockeyHub – Number of Registered Users and
Reasons for Registering