North Norfolk HC

"Our aim is to provide young people in the area, with the opportunity to play hockey at a standard appropriate to them. For the players to develop a life-long love of sport, and share in the positive aspects that come from being part of a club environment."

Like all good goals, that mission statement is one that's not necessarily easy to achieve. Not least because the success associated with following that ethos has meant that NNHC Juniors membership has doubled year-on-year over the last three seasons.

About us
The Juniors section now has more than 100 members and caters to players from 4 - 14 yrs of age.

NNHC now field teams in every cohort in Norfolk County Championships and county-wide club based Festivals. We're also proud to have players taking part in the Norfolk Academy program and representing the county in regional fixtures.

Then
The photograph to the right is from 2017 and of the first NNHC Juniors team to play a fixture. The mixed age team, wearing Holt RFC shirts inside out epitomises the spirit of the club. They wanted to play, and the coaches simply supported them towards meeting their target.

The good news is they still want to play. Despite being 'the goal difference team' that day they are all still playing hockey, some of the older ones now playing senior hockey.

Now
We do now have our own kit but continue to encourage a multi-sport approach. Thanks to support and guidance from other Norfolk hockey clubs, we now have teams which the President of Norfolk Hockey describes as 'a force to be reckoned with'.

Player development
NNHC is a grass-roots club founded in 2014, and based in Sheringham on the North Norfolk coast. This means we sometimes face challenges relating to our limited facilities and remote location.

Being the new kids on the block also brings opportunities. Most of them based around the ability to focus on what we think is important, being on the pitch, applying modern coaching principles, to facilitate player development.

If you build it …
In recent years the club has invested in excess of 10% of annual turnover in coach development. As a result, all our coaches have a shared understanding which draws on the latest England Hockey principles.

In conjunction with Beeston Hall School, NNHC in 2019 hosted the first Introduction to Hockey Coaching course to be held in the area, with 12 of the 20 attendees coming from the club.

Members of the coaching team have also achieved England Hockey Sessional Coach accreditation and attended the Norfolk Hockey Bespoke Coach Development programme.

As coaching is our main focus, we are continuously adjusting our approach. One recent initiative is the setting up of an in-house Coach Development program. This will support new volunteers such as the first team players from Gresham's School who have recently joined us to help coach Junior sessions.

Player led learning
A lot of our training is game-based. Sessions are based on the ethos that the main role of coaches is to facilitate players as they individually, and as a group, manage their own development. If you want leaders on the pitch on match-day, you need leaders on the pitch during training.

We run technique ‘workshops’ across all age-groups. This means that from U6’s up, our players develop an understanding of the core elements of play. These skills are then reinforced via game-based learning.

As well as having dedicated goal-keeping, attacking and defending coaches our coaching team also includes two Strength & Conditioning coaches. The club lucky enough to draw on the skills of a REPs Level 3 accredited personal trainer who focuses on player S&C.

Pitch time
Juniors training takes place between 6pm – 7.15pm on Tuesday evenings at Sheringham High School, NR26 8ND.

Having trialled one-hour sessions, our coaches strongly believe in the benefits of running training over 75 minutes.

In 2020, in response to the relaxation of Covid restrictions, we also ran Juniors coaching in June, July and August. This was a reaction to having the regular season cut short and the physical and social benefits of returning to play.

Being one of the first clubs nationally to return to play being picked up by the Eastern Daily Press which reported on 'Youngsters joy as hockey club returns to pitch'.

Having a large pool of accredited coaches meant we could support sessions which operated in ‘bubbles’ of six. After seeing the benefits of those sessions, we are considering making summer training a permanent feature.

We welcome new members but please do contact us beforehand so that we can ensure we make your visit as good as it can be and that we comply with government Covid-19 guidelines.

Removing barriers to entry
We strongly advise that all players wear shin-guards, a mouth guard and gloves.

We are though, a ‘grass-roots’ club which relies on the support from all members of the community. To help challenge the impression that hockey requires purchasing a lot of expensive equipment, we provide all new members with a free mouth guard, the option of a season long loan of a stick, and competitive pricing on membership.

The joining fee for U8s for example, is £50

• U8’s membership £50 - covers team shorts/skorts and socks and all regular season training and match fees.
• U12’s membership £70 - covers team shorts/skorts and socks and all regular season training and match fees.

Thanks to funding from Sport England the club has four high quality sets of OBO goalkeeping kit which players can try if they want to.

After several years of fundraising and thanks to support from North Norfolk District Council Big Society Fund, we in 2020 took delivery of two new Olympic standard goals. It was a great day, when we finally had our first proper goals to train in.

Other Norfolk clubs have kindly invited us to play them for many years and having new goals means the Juniors can now hold home fixtures.

Outreach
Club coaches and volunteers have engaged in various ‘outreach’ programs with local schools. We’re currently focussing on supporting the new players who have recently joined us, but if you work in a local school and would like to know more, please do get in touch.