England Hockey introduce new tournaments for state schools

England Hockey are delighted to announce the launch of a National State School Festival for 2023, with girls’ and boys’ events taking place at Nottingham Hockey Center on Friday 5 May.

The event accommodates 32 teams of each gender and the schedules maximize pitch time for each school. England Hockey is committed to making positive change in the sport and hosting this event is an important step in expanding access to players from all backgrounds.

In addition, the Midlands and Yorkshire North East Areas have introduced new state school competitions for early 2023 as part of a pilot scheme for the new areas.

Chief Executive Nick Pink said: “We as sport know that more needs to be done to promote opportunities for all children and young people to enjoy sport and school sports.

“Earlier this summer our women’s and men’s teams wrote to the country’s prime ministerial candidates to ask them to prioritize school sport and I fully support that view. It starts with better qualified teachers in every state school as a minimum.

“To recognize the significant number of state schools that offer hockey, we instituted the National State School Festival. It aims to expand access to players from different backgrounds. This is just the start of the kind of event we want to see a part of England Hockey’s future and we look forward to supporting the growth of state school hockey.

“We are also grateful to the Midlands and Yorkshire North East for staging state school competitions in their areas; It’s important that the broader sport support us on this journey for the betterment of football across the country.”

The Nottingham event is open to Under-14 players and matches are played in sevens including the goalkeeper on a half pitch, using In2Hockey rules. Public schools from all over the country can participate and play in the competitions. The girls’ competition takes place in the morning and the boys’ competition in the afternoon.

There is an application fee of £20 per team and schools have to find their own way to Nottingham but we organize the rest – pitches, timetables, referees, officials, presenter and sound system, trophies and medals, risk assessment, health insurance and coverage on the England Hockey website / on social media.

This is an opportunity for schools to compete with others from across the country at a festival to highlight what’s great about school physical education.

To register your interest, please fill out this form by January 20, 2023 – places will be allocated based on your registration, so please act quickly.

The Midlands competition takes place on 17th March 2023 at Rugby School, Warwickshire – please contact Mindy at [email protected]

The Yorkshire North East event will be held at Queen Elizabeth School, Hexham on 7th March 2023 – please contact Maggie or Claire-Jane on [email protected]