HBU Youth Academy:

Herne Bay Youth Academy is the section of HBU that is about the development of HBU players. This begins from as young as 4 or 5 years old all the way up to the Under 17’s . The aim is to begin the formation of squads from a very young age that will continue through the club together all the way until they become a senior. This is important to us as our young members not only have a passion and loyalty to play for HBU, which all our home grown players have but along with this they have strong friendships that will develop over years. This helps as a player as your reason to play is not to only be part of the club and for yourself but to play for your team mates, your friends and this support and commitment and bond is what HBU is all about. Below are some pictures of Youth Academy players and teams over more recent years.

  

  

  

  

  

From our youngest age 4 – 9 years groups we begin the preparations of just having fun on skates and playing Hockey learning the basics of skating whilst controlling a ball and the first team mate friendships begin. As squads begin to form some of the older members of this group and more experienced will take part in local and National friendly games and the occasional short trip abroad to gather valuable experience with training and playing with other European friends.
There is One current running League in Under 9’s under SECHRA where games are played on scheduled Sunday Mornings. Managers will select players at the point they are ready to play competitive matches.
Also some of the older more experienced players will be asked as the season progresses to begin training with the next age group the Under 11’s to be begin to prepare for the next level and even possibly being selected to play matches.

Next is the Under 11’s now competition becomes a little bit more serious at this point with competitions being Official NRHA National Cup and Club Championship.
They will also take part in International Tournaments in Europe and regional league SECHRA as well as Eastern Counties if accepted. At this point players will begin to be expected to play in formations and follow instructions and roles to play as players in a team which they will have been preparing for in the earlier years. Again in this age group the Hockey is fun but the club will be aiming for the players to reach their full potential and enjoy challenging to win the National Cup and Club Championship with HBU. The more developed and experienced Under 11’s will be invited and asked to attend trainings with the Under 13’s as with younger age group to begin to prepare these payers for Under 13’s competitions and possible selection if deemed ready.

Under 13’s again will be competing Nationally in Cup and Club Championships and more Tournaments Internationally as well as SECHRA and possibly Eastern Counties when entry is accepted. Under 13’s again is another step up from Under 11’s and again taken more seriously, they are expected to know the basics in defensive and attacking plays without to much guidance and follow the drills at training. Behaviour is expected to be focused on the training in hand and to be attentive to what the Manager and coach is trying to achieve from the training session in the preparation for up and coming matches.
It is the clubs aim to have developed the players in this age category to enjoy playing with team mates and be challenging for the titles in their age categories Nationally and internationally.

Under 15’s they are all playing seriously at this point and will have personal expectations and team expectations, they will be competing in NRHA National Cups and Club Championships as well as other Leagues such as SECHRA and Eastern Counties when accepted. They will also be taking part in occasional International Tournaments as with the other age groups now along with this they will some of them be cutting their teeth with senior hockey and teams, they could be from the age of 14 be playing in any National Senior League and it is expected they will begin to play in some Senior Kent League Matches and attend the occasional training session when invited. Under 15’s will be being pushed to enjoy competing and challenging for the leagues, Cup and Championship they enter.

Under 17’s/ Under 20’s Now at this stage the majority of players if not all will now be training full-time with the senior squads, this will either be the 1st team or the Veterans in the aim to filter them into the 1st team when they are ready and of a standard to do so. So as an age group they do not get a pacific training dedicated to them but many of them will be playing in Senior Hockey some in the First team and all will be playing the Senior Kent League. HBU will select and Under 17’s squad or Under 20’s squad to enter solely in the NRHA National Cup or Club Championship with some players undoubtedly making the step up from the Under 15’s.
At this point the players can reach a hard point in Hockey and will have dominated teams in their own age groups however when making the step up to senior hockey this is quite often not be the case and they will have experienced and quality players that they will need to be learning from but they will need to be committed and work hard to fight for that place in the team and this will undoubtedly come but can take time whilst being respectful. HBU’s aim is to create and develop players that reach Senior Level and continue to Challenge at the top Level of the Amateur Sport in the UK.

HBU has a long history of players being selected and taking part in International Matches for the National England Selection, this comes from players that are committed to developing within their clubs and HBU fully supports any of it’s players playing for the National Team however as with all Club sports Club commitments come first and though no Club commitments will clash with Official National Selected competitions at times Club Tournaments and Matches can. HBU will support all players but will expect their commitment to the Club as a priority.

Please look on the Training Schedule to see when the trainings for the relevant age categories takes Place.

HBU will be 90 years old in 2014 and over these years has become one of the largest if not the largest Roller Hockey and Skating Club in the UK, one of the most successful and we work hard to ensure that this continues by keeping training sessions to limited numbers to ensure our members get the necessary input they need to develop. Below are some images of some teams developing over the last 30 years you may recognise some of them.

      

    

HBU Youth Academy 2010/2011

HBU at U11 Tournament in St Omer, France 23/24 April 2011
Several young HBU players and their parents spent the Easter weekend in St Omer, France. They were competing in their first International Roller Hockey Tournament along with teams from France, Germany and Holland.
Due to injuries the U11 team were without some of the more experienced players and St Omer loaned a goalkeeper and one out-player, both of whom were very young and inexperienced.
All the young players performed with great enthusiasm and after a slow start gained more confidence and got closer to the opposition with each passing game and winning their last game of the tournament. The icing on the cake was for the team to collect the ‘Fair Play’ trophy as voted by all the other team players and coaches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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