Information ahead of the AC Assessments - 28 August 2026
Hampshire AC Assessments 2026/27 – Important Information
Hello Players & Parents/Guardians
I wanted to share with you some important information in advance of the 2026/27 Hampshire Academy Centre Assessments.
First of all, well done on being selected for the AC Assessments.
Over the next few weeks, you will be assessed alongside your peers for the next stage of the Hampshire Player Pathway – our Hampshire Academy Centre (AC), or County, squads.
Typically, we select around 20–24 field players and 2–3 goalkeepers for each of our ten squads, from U13 Boys and Girls through to U17 Boys and Girls.
Please have a read through the information below, as the arrangements are slightly different for
field players and goalkeepers.
Field Players
Our field player AC Assessments will take place on:
- Sunday 13 September 2026
- Sunday 20 September 2026
Your Hampshire Lead Coach will be in touch with you shortly with the specific arrangements for your age group.
We have now appointed our AC coaching teams, but we're still updating the squad pages on the website with the new coaches and their contact details. This should be completed over the next few days, so please check the website again after the weekend if you need to contact your coach.
Our assessment process is deliberately thorough. We assess several age groups alongside one another at the same venue, which allows coaches to support each other and gives us additional experienced eyes on the players.
Where appropriate, players can be observed by multiple coaches, coaches can compare their observations, and we can take another look at players where a decision is particularly close. All of that information is then fed back to the relevant Lead Coach, who is responsible for the final squad selection.
We believe this gives every player the fairest possible opportunity to show us what they can do and reduces the chance of somebody being overlooked simply because one coach didn't happen to see them at their best.
Goalkeepers – your assessment is different
Our goalkeepers have a slightly different assessment process.
You should already have received an email from our Goalkeeper Lead, Dean (Hems) Davis, explaining your arrangements.
If you haven't seen that email, please log in to your parent profile at www.hampshireplayers.net and check the copies of emails stored within the system – it may be that your email provider has sent the original to spam or junk.
Goalkeepers will initially attend a dedicated goalkeeper assessment session on either 1 or 2 September, depending on age group.
Full details of the goalkeeper assessments can be found here:
https://www.hampshirehockey.net/ac-goalkeepers
Following the dedicated GK assessment, all goalkeepers are invited to attend the assessment on Sunday 13 September, where they will be further assessed within the field-player environment. Goalkeeper coaches will also be in attendance.
After the 13 September assessment, the successful goalkeepers will be expected to return on Sunday 20 September. As well as giving our coaches another opportunity to work with you, having our selected goalkeepers there is an important part of allowing us to complete the final field-player assessments properly.
If you are a goalkeeper attending
Talent Academy trials on 13 September, please don't worry – but
please let Hems know so that he can make the appropriate arrangements with you.
Consent Form & Assessment Fee
Everyone attending an AC Assessment must have completed the appropriate consent form.
- Field players: please bring your signed consent form and £5 cash to your assessment. You will then need to bring a further £5 cash on 20 September
- Goalkeepers: please bring your signed consent form and £5 cash to your dedicated goalkeeper assessment on 1 or 2 September. You will then need to bring a further £5 cash on 13 September for the field-player assessment session.
No cheques please.
PLEASE DO NOT FORGET THE CONSENT FORM. You will not be able to participate without it.
The form can be downloaded from the player panel on your parent profile at: www.hampshireplayers.net
If you can't find it, there are instructions here:
What should I wear?
Please wear neutral hockey kit, or your DC shirt if you prefer.
If you were part of a Hampshire AC or PC squad last season,
please DO NOT wear your Hampshire AC or PC kit to the assessments.
Talent Academy Trials
There is once again some overlap between September Talent Academy trials and our Hampshire AC assessment programme.
However, if you are attending a TA trial on 13 September, you do not have to choose between your Talent Academy opportunity and retaining your opportunity to be selected for Hampshire.
The good news is that 20 September has no TA clash, so field players attending TA trials on the 13th can attend their Hampshire assessment on the 20th instead.
We also appreciate that some players may still be waiting for the outcome of their TA selection at that point. That's absolutely fine. You can still be assessed for Hampshire and keep your Hampshire option open while you await the TA decision.
Nobody will lose their opportunity to be considered for Hampshire simply because they are attending a TA trial.
If you are a field player affected by a TA trial on the 13th, you DO NOT need to complete the form on our TA/AC webpage, as you have already been invited to the AC Assessments. When your Hampshire coach contacts you, simply reply and explain that you are attending a TA trial on 13 September and will therefore attend the Hampshire assessment on the 20th.
If you are a goalkeeper, please contact Hems and let him know.
There is more information about the TA/AC arrangements here:
https://www.hampshirehockey.net/ac-assessments-ta-and-u17
AC dates and squad information
The dates currently available for the 2026/27 AC cycle can be found on this website:
https://www.hampshirehockey.net/academy-centre
Follow the links from there to the individual squad pages.
Please remember that some session times and venues are still being finalised and may therefore be subject to change.
Emails and contacting your coach
Goalkeepers should already have heard from Hems. Field players will hear from their Hampshire coach shortly.
As mentioned above, our new coaching appointments are currently being added to the website, so please don't worry if your squad page doesn't yet show your coach or their contact details. Check again after the weekend and the information should be available.
Once your coach has contacted you, please direct any attendance issues or questions about your assessment session to them rather than emailing me. Your coach is best placed to manage numbers and individual arrangements for their squad.
If you think you've missed an email, copies of all emails sent through the Hampshire Player Pathway system are stored on your parent profile – even if your email provider has helpfully decided our original belongs in your spam or junk folder!
Log in at:
For instructions on finding your Hampshire emails, see:
https://www.hampshirehockey.net/email
Once the website has been updated, you'll also be able to contact your coach using the form on your AC squad page.
Finally – good luck!
Most importantly, don't be nervous and don't feel that you need to do something extraordinary to impress the coaches.
Play your hockey. Work hard. Show us what you can do both with and without the ball, and enjoy the opportunity.
One mistake won't determine whether you're selected, just as one spectacular goal or save won't guarantee you a place. We're looking at the whole player across the assessment process.
I'll try to get along to as many of the assessments as I can, so if you see me wandering around and want to say hello or have a chat, please do!
Kind regards,
Koo Janzen
Hampshire Hockey Player Pathway
koo.janzen@hampshirehockey.net
by