PUBLISHED 20 February 2024
AKS has a tradition as a great hockey school and testimony to this is the bulging trophy cabinet and team representation at National Finals for the last few years but, as well as team development the school prides itself on the promotion of individual player development and their progression through the Talent Pathway ranks to England selection. This year the school are celebrating with their highest number of players, 8 , starting this journey by being selected for the North West Talent Academy.
Many of the AKS young hockey players aspire to follow in the footsteps of former AKS players Mollie Mason who progressed up from England U16, U18 and then on to winning a World Cup bronze medal with the England U21 squad, and Anya Jackson who was selected to play at England U16 and now has progressed into the U18 and U21 ranks.
Leading the way this year is Year 11 pupil Lisa P who, after the Talent Academy Festival last year, was selected to attend the England U16 Trails in September/October. Lisa played with the best young hockey players in the country and made it through the first two sets of trials but just missed out on selection into the final squad at the end of the year. She will now be working hard to go one step further next season.
Another young player to catch the eye was Year 10 Amelia H who, despite being a year young for the squad, was invited to an Observation Day led by the current England U16 coaches. Despite not been taken further Amelia will no doubt have caught the eye with her powerful running but will also have gained a great deal from attending and now has her sights firmly set on progressing further next year.
Both Amelia and Lisa are part of the North West Talent Academy this year and they are joined by Year 12 pupils Jessica A and Carly W, both of whom have returned to the Talent Pathway after a year away and Danni H, Year 11 pupil Lucy W and Year 10 Sophia M and Sophie S. Danni and Sophie have earnt their places as 2 of only 3 GK’s in the Talent Academy after many hours of training at the AKS GK Club working with England Hockey GK Coach, Kay Hanham.
All the girls have been training hard every week since September and all their efforts paid off as they helped the NW TA record a win 5 – 2 in their first match of the season against Ben Rhydding Development Squad with Carly scoring 2 goals.
The girls will now be working hard on and off the pitch throughout the summer to continue to develop and gain selection for the Talent Academy Festival in July.