Chelmsford Hockey club signs up to develop training & coaching sessions for adults
Chelmsford’s adults education establishments are working together to give their local sports clubs some stick - and in some cases a bit of a runabout, as it sets up a series of formal links to improve the active lifestyles of students in Essex.
On 6 October Chelmsford Hockey Club will be the first club to engage formally in developing training and coaching sessions with students from both Anglia Ruskin University and Writtle College.
The initiative has come at the right time; Chelmsford Borough Council and retail giant Marks and Spencers are adding their support while sportessex and its "Get Back Into" programme is funding the initial course of hockey sessions that is allowing all local adults to come and try the activity for free. The new partnership between Anglia Ruskin University and Writtle College will ensure continued encouragement for more students to play hockey for fitness, socially, and to help Chelmsford Hockey Club to raise the profile of the sport in the region.
Stephen Dupree, Head of Sport & Active Lifestyles at Anglia Ruskin University, believes the benefits will be felt by everyone. ‘So many of our top quality sports clubs need a constant throughput of emerging talent to keep them at the top of their game. This initiative will give them just that; a new and enthusiastic audience from the demographic that will most likely give them the results they need. Chelmsford Hockey Club is one of the leading clubs in the country and has regularly supplied home grown talent to the national squads, including World Cup bronze medal winner Chloe Rogers. For them to now offer the opportunity to engage with our students, be they social players or those aspiring to further their hockey involvement with quality coaching, is nothing short of fantastic. ‘
Dr Kirsten Spencer, Head of the Sport & Exercise Performance Course at Writtle College said ‘I recognise that Chelmsford Hockey Club is one of the dominant clubs in the region, and we are delighted support the development of hockey players and other sports athletes through our new Sport Science testing facility here at Writtle College.’
Kathryn Macdonald, who will be leading the coaching and training programme on behalf of Chelmsford Hockey Club said ‘As a club we have realised that by the age of 18 people are playing less sport; this initiative is very exciting as it offers the opportunity for local students and the wider public to take up and continue playing hockey with quality coaching. We are grateful to sportessex, Chelmsford Borough Council and Marks and Spencers for their support and we recognise the importance the exceptional local educational institutions have both to the town and to us as a hockey club. Naturally we want to attract student talent and by closely associating ourselves with Anglia Ruskin University and Writtle College we hope to do just this.’