Email sent on 21/01/23 to schools

Dear All,

I am writing with regards to trying to develop indoor hockey in schools at ages below U16.  If this is of no interest to you then please either delete or forward to anyone you know who is interested in the provision and development of indoor hockey.  However if, like me, you feel there is potential to develop indoor hockey further please do read on.  .

I believe strongly that there is great value to Indoor hockey both due to the way it develops all round hockey skills supporting the outdoor version and also as a sport to be enjoyed in its own right and I would like to explore possible ways to improve the provision of indoor hockey in schools with like minded people. The copper box indoor hockey festival in December is very popular in clubs and prior to relocating to the UK, I was involved in PSI Hockey in South Africa for a few years and as a result have seen the possibilities and potential that indoor hockey offers.

Having spoken recently with Stephen Barlow at England Hockey it is clear that EH don’t have the resources to offer more junior indoor hockey than currently exists and so if the provision is to increase it will fall upon Schools to set something up; similar to how the Independent Schools League was developed outdoors.

I am aware that there will be many obstacles to developing this that come from the many demands that exist within schools; logistics, time, facilities, cost and so on, but  I do believe that, in order to protect and develop indoor hockey so that our students get the benefits from the sport, we need to try and see what we can get to work. I am optimistic that there are enough similarly minded people around schools to give this a real chance of succeeding.  I wonder if we could reach a point where there are competitions across the other school age groups and I have a number of ideas about how this might work which I would love to discuss further with equally motivated people.

In order to gauge the strength of support for indoor hockey and to give me some idea as to whether there is a desire to pursue this further I ask only that you complete the Indoor Hockey In Schools Survey I have put together which should only take a couple of minutes.  The survey will be open till Friday 3rd February 2023.

I really do feel that there is a fantastic opportunity to introduce indoor hockey to the younger year groups and if England Hockey can’t do it then we should see if we can. Please do complete the survey on the link provided and if you wish to discuss further I would be very happy to get in touch informally.

Yours Sincerely

Calum Crichton