The England Hockey Talent Academy Festival bought together over 800 hockey players helping make up 48 teams (24 boys and 24 girls) from across England, Wales, and Ulster to play against each other over the 3-day festival. The competition was the largest outdoor junior hockey event in the country, showcasing some of the best junior hockey players in the country.
The festival was an immersive 3-day experience for all teams and players with them having access to elements which make up a high-performance environment, including performance analysis, medical and physiotherapy support, player welfare and catered accommodation.
A key part of the Talent Academy festival performance support was provided by nine Sport and Health Science students from the University of Exeter, who made up the performance analysis team for the festival. Back in September, the University of Exeter was named as one of 21 accredited Talent Academies for 2022-2023, enhancing the England Hockey relationship with the university. A total of 72 games occurred over the 3 day festival, all of which would need to be filmed, coded live and uploaded to a shared platform for coaches and players to review post matches.
First Year Sport and Health Science student spoke about her experience of the Talent Academy Festival to us:
“A weekend of 72 matches, young talent, enthralling competition and a passion for all things hockey. It was a privilege working as part of the performance analysis team to help provide essential analysis and match coverage to coaching staff and players, to enable them to focus on team and player improvement. As a sports science undergraduate, this was the perfect opportunity to expose myself to the benefits key analysis can contribute to better performing teams. I captured some great emerging talent which shows that the coming years for England Hockey look very exciting.”
Tom Elliott, Head of Performance Analysis (University of Exeter) and Performance Analysis Festival Lead commented:
“When asked to lead the TA Festival performance analysis several months ago it was a no-brainer, as I already knew we had the talent and commitment working within our performance sports as performance analysis interns here at Exeter. After a competitive interview process, nine students were selected and began training in the build-up to the TA festival using the University of Exeter Talent Academy as live match practice.
72 games filmed and coded live across 3-days in some adverse weather conditions is certainly no mean feat. Throughout all students operated at the highest possible level with great levels of accuracy, meaning footage and coded games were made immediately available to player’s and coaches post-match.
I would like to thank the nine students involved in performance analysis at the event for all their hard work and high-quality analysis over the 3 days allowing the TA festival to really provide that high performance environment and support to those players and coaches attending.”
For more information about our sports placements at the University and to see how you can get involved, please email Tom Elliot: t.elliott@exeter.ac.uk