The Stone & Stafford Academy is a partnership between Stone HC & Stafford HC and was established in 2022 to provide increased training and matchplay opportunities for junior members in the U14, U16 & U18 age groups at both clubs. The pooling of players and resources between the two clubs allows the Academy to deliver better tailored training and matchplay opportunities, and on a more regular basis.

Transitioning up from our Foundation Phase will see all players who are entering Year 8 at school move into the joint Academy Section. The transition into the Academy will give more opportunities to play whilst also increasing the level of stretch placed on players to develop both as a player and a young person. We still aim to provide a fun and enjoyable environment alongside the heavier development focus and offering more weekly opportunities for gameplay with the introduction to extra training sessions and entry in both the EH League and Cup Competitions. Our Academy Programme is led by our Head of Academy, Leon Coope who works alongside our Director of Hockey and Junior Committee to ensure we are providing the best development, competition and social opportunities for our Academy players.

Academy Training
Academy Phase coached training sessions take place on a Thursday evening at our Enson Lane venue from 7:00pm - 8:30pm, with the frequency depending on the age group of the junior player. U14, U16 & U18 Boys and Girls from both Stone HC & Stafford HC will have the opportunity to train every week.

Players will be placed into training groups that best suit their development needs and this allows us to provide the best training environment for players of all ability levels. This setup may see variations in age within the groups. Each group takes part in sessions delivered by one of our Academy Coaches and overseen by our Head of Academy. All sessions form part of a periodised season long training programme designed by our Head of Academy in line with our SHC Player Development Framework.

New Members
All that we hope for from our new Junior Members is the enthusiasm to want to get active, make friends and find out about hockey. We offer up to 4 weeks of taster sessions to players to help them consider whether hockey at Stone HC is right for them. We can provide hockey sticks for trial sessions, disinfected within hygiene guidance. Mouth guards and shin pads are required, and we are looking at having an onsite shop in the near future to be able to purchase these from.

Saturday Club Hockey
All our Academy members (Years 7 - 13) have the opportunity to take part in regular weekly matchplay through Badgers or Adult League Hockey on a Saturday with their respective clubs. Badgers Hockey provides an introduction to 11aside format hockey with the range of abilities and mixed gender providing an unpressurised developmental matchplay environment. Badgers hockey comprises of weekly friendly matches against other local clubs on Saturdays and is also seen as a preparation for the step up to more challenging Adult Hockey once juniors reach the age of 13. We currently run two Badgers teams each Saturday between September and April, known as the Eagles and Falcons. Once players reach the age of 13 they are now eligible to play in Adult League Hockey. However, players will only move up from the Badgers in to Adult Hockey when it is deemed suitable to do so, is the right thing for the player's development and after consultation with Parents and Coaches in line with SHC Selection Policies.

Age Group Competitions (Sundays)
In the U14, U16 & U18 age groups, we enter Boys and Girls teams in both the England Hockey Junior Club Championships and Midlands Tier 2 Leagues with fixtures taking place on Sundays from September through to May. As well as this, each year we enter the Midlands Indoor Qualifiers at U16 & U18 age groups in December and the IndoorHockey UK Championships at various times throughout the year.