Hockey in England: UK government not doing enough to teach team sports in schools, says boss Nick Pink

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Nick Pink, chief executive of Hockey England, said the sport’s governing bodies have to teach basic skills to young players who are not taught in school. He added that this was one of the factors that prompted the women’s and men’s teams in England to write a letter to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak last month asking for government support to support the provision of physical education and team sports in schools.

Pink also said that with England and Wales vying to host the men’s World Cup in 2026, with the final being played at Tottenham Hotspur. I The commission would have considered trying to host a joint event for men and women if it believed that such an option was available.

Last month, two of England’s top hockey teams, who recently won gold and bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games, wrote to then-conservative leadership candidates, Truss and Sunak, asking them to increase support for team sports in schools.

Pink said the lack of a nationwide strategy in school sports since the election of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in 2010 was the main reason for changing the strategy.

“The strategy has faded because there is a change in government,” Pink said. “My first job in sports was with the Youth Sports Fund 20 years ago and I saw the value of good strategy and good physical education/school sports programming and its impact on primary and secondary schools. We had a structure that was the envy of the world.

“What we’ve seen in the last 10 to 12 years is a decrease in the number of hours schools have been able to offer, a lower level of priority in physical education and school sports, and what that means for government bodies like ours and others is that without a quality offering for children and young people of all ages, so It becomes difficult for our sport to be able to catch up with these young people and provide them with a quality experience in our space. Because you almost come back to developing the basic skills required – even just the general movement and developmental skills that young people have.”

As for hosting the World Cup, England is vying to host the men’s event, but a group of Belgium/Netherlands and South Africa have applied for the men’s and women’s event at the same time.

“In the FIH bidding process, they made it clear to us that it was one or the other, not both,” Pink said.

Regarding the joint requests for men and women, Pink added: “My first question to the IHF was, ‘How? It’s clear in the bid documents. There are two funds, there are men and women, and there is no third fund. This is something I took up with FIH separately.

“We still think we’ve had a great offer, so I’m pretty confident that whatever we’re up against, we’ve got a great offer for FIH to consider.”

Was England hockey going to be shown to both of them?

“It’s a different measure of event when you bring the two together,” Pink said. “I don’t have a crystal ball to answer the question. We would have looked into it well, no doubt about it.

“There is a real sense of obligation in terms of women’s sport at the moment. It is a very positive agenda, and we are very much behind it. It is time, no doubt, to take a look at the profile that female cricketers are currently getting into the hundreds, for example, to see clearly what It happened in women’s football and names that suddenly became familiar names and personalities.”

Pink said the inclusion of sports among men and women is one of the main reasons people are getting involved in it.

“When you go to most schools or clubs that play hockey, you see boys and girls or men and women and you get that breadth and you see all this change and it’s not something out of the ordinary, it’s not forced,” he said.

Pink is confident that both English teams are on the right track – the women won their first Commonwealth gold in Birmingham, while the men took the bronze – and there’s good reason to watch the new domestic season, which kicks off on September 24.

“We have a good mix of real experience and a lot of new faces coming in and doing really well,” Pink said of the women’s team. “And you may have seen it with players like Fiona Crackles, Lily Walker and even Tess Howard. Just seeing how she came back from injury and missed Tokyo last year at a young age will be with us for many years to come.

“If you get something like gold and bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games – let’s not forget what the players have accomplished either – both of which are involved in local action in the next few weeks, we must definitely promote these opportunities for people to see these great athletes. And their peers and amazing players who will be playing with them. next season.”

England hockey and hockey Wales are bidding to host the 2026 Men’s World Cup. To find out more and support you, search for ‘Back the Bid’

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