Leicestershire and Rutland Schools and Youth Hockey is about to embark on a new season with six new Junior Development Centres. There have already been two ‘taster’ JDCs in August at St Margaret’s Pastures and these were well attended.

Last season’s Development Centres were a great success and it is hoped this year that success will be repeated.

The success of last year’s Development Centres and the subsequent Junior Academy Centres can be measured by the fact that 64 of the youngsters have been selected for the Regional Performance Centre. This is an increase of ten  in the previous year. David Condon, Lauren Turner and Jessica Hickman  now in National Squads are all  products of Leicestershire Junior Hockey; hopefully there will be more to come.

We had 8 teams in the Regional Competitions and out of all the age groups we finished no lower than 4^th and our U-15 Girls and U-13 Boys won their section.

This success does not come easily and is the result of hard work by our volunteer Administrators and the ability of our Coaches. Parents also make a massive contribution and this is a valuable part of the success of the teams.

As President I am extremely proud of our achievements and am looking for even greater things from the coming season. I am very grateful for the contributions made by everyone involved

Of our forthcoming Centres we are pleased that we have new Centres at John Cleveland College and at Fleckney Sports Centre.

From these JDCs the Coaches select youngsters to go on to the Junior Academies, which start in January, details of which will be on our website

Additionally we are pleased to announce that we have just arranged a Sponsorship agreement with Notts Sport, a local Company, who are designers and suppliers of artificial surfaces for hockey, multi-use sports grounds, tennis, cricket and soccer.

David Cawthorn S & Y President.