In recent years England Hockey introduced a number of significant changes to the way hockey operates in England, the most fundamental of which was replacing the old five Regions (East, Midlands, North, South and West) with eight new Areas (East, London, Midlands, North West, South Central, South East and Yorkshire & North East) and effectively restructuring the hockey pyramid from grass roots to the Premier Division of the National League.

In addition, England Hockey introduced changes to the talent development pathway, first by a new accreditation system for youth hockey by appointing qualifying clubs as Talent Centres and, secondly, by replacing the old Performance Centre system with appointed Talent Academies based at a number of selected clubs.

Talent Centres (ages 12-15)

Talent Centres are identifiable by their accredited status and are able to use England Hockey’s Talent Centre logo to promote their centre. Talent Centres were intended to set high standards of delivery and accredited clubs such as Old Loughts are expected to provide exceptional early talent development environments. Talent Centres are primarily aimed at players between the ages of 14 and 18 years.

In August 2021 EH announced its assessment of the 120 applicants and Old Loughtonians was included amongst the first cohort of 37 clubs nationwide who were offered the opportunity to work towards accreditation. The Club had already been awarded Clubmark status for another three years which covers half of the requirements. Details of our Clubmark accreditation (now awarded for the third time in 2025) can be found on our website. Old Loughtonians has a long history of developing youth talent and success in national junior and youth competitions and we believe that Talent Centre accreditation is not only a recognition of the past, but will also continue to underpin our junior and youth development programme for the future.

Talent Academies (ages 15-18)

In addition to Talent Centres, England Hockey introduced fundamental changes to the way that high quality coaching is delivered to our most talented older youth players. Up to and including the 2021/22 season, the most talented players between the ages of 15 to 18 years had been selected for Performance Centre training in various locations throughout the country. The PC programme was since discontinued and replaced by a Talent Academy programme.

Talent Academies (TA’s) are intended to be exceptional environments for approximately 500 high potential players per gender (across England and Wales) aged 15 to 18 years. TA’s are designed as centres of excellence in their locality. They are hubs to train and develop selected talented players with high quality coaches and as a source of expertise and support to their catchment area. This has been a very significant development, not only for the clubs that host TA’s, but also for the development of aspiring talented players. The Club was one of only 17 clubs across England to have been offered a three year licence to run a Talent Academy in 2022. A successful first three years has culminated in the Old Loughts TA being reaccredited as a Talent Academy with effect from 1st September 2025.