Guide for Parents & Guardians

We’re passionate about providing a safe, supportive, and fun environment where Junior players of all ages can enjoy hockey, grow their skills, and feel free to be themselves—without pressure or negativity. Come and give it a go—your first session is free!

Our approach to Juniors

At Evesham & Badsey, we’re proud to be a super-friendly and welcoming club where children and young people aged 6–16 can enjoy hockey, build confidence, and make new friends. Whether your child is completely new to hockey or already loves the game, we make sure everyone settles in quickly and gets straight to what matters most—having fun!

Our juniors are grouped by age (Cubs 6+, Juniors 8-11, and Badgers 12+), with a 50/50 mix of boys and girls of all abilities. We focus on fun, encouragement, and individual progress—because when children enjoy their sessions, they learn faster and stay engaged.

Led by experienced coaches, our sessions help young players develop not just hockey skills, but also teamwork, communication, and resilience skills that will stay with them for life.

We’d love to welcome your child to our club—come and see what we’re all about!

What can you expect?

If you’d like to try a session…

Before you come along let us know so that we know to expect you. Message Mark Watts-Jones on mwjmail@gmail.com or 07973 963539Your first session is free. You’ll need your own gumshield and you can borrow shinpads and a stick if you need one. 

 
Arriving at your first session

At your first session you’ll be met at the gate to the pitch and introduced to Beverley and our coaches. All new players have someone designated to look after them. In Cubs and Juniors it’s our coaches; in Badgers they’re allocated a buddy. 

New players join straight in. We allocate them to their Cubs (6+), Juniors (8-11) or Badgers (12+) and get them joining in with everyone else. This way no-one feels out of place. 

What happens at training?
Our training sessions place great emphasis on having fun and include a mix of hockey skills, hockey-related games and small-sided matches so everyone gets lots of touches of the ball.
 

We start with a physical warmup of stretching and movement. 

We then practice our hockey skills and we may do some drills that develop our skills and match play. After that we usually play some small-sided matches before finishing with warm-down stretches.

Several times a season we invite parents, guardians and siblings onto the pitch to do the same drills and to play some games together.

FAQs

Location  

We train and play at The De Montfort School, Four Pools Road, Evesham, WR11 1DQ. Details are on the Find Us page.
 
Training dates & times

Sunday mornings

Cubs (6+) and Juniors (8-11) train on Sunday mornings from 9am to 10am; Badgers (12+) from 9.45am to 11am.

2025
14/9/25 to 19/10/25
26/10/25 – Half term, no training
2/11/25 to 7/12/25

2026
11/1/26 to 8/2/26
15/2/26 – Half term, no training
22/2/26 to 29/3/26  

Cost
Your first session is free. After that Junior training is £5 per session or our Junior Club Membership costs £67 per season which entitles you to 23 training sessions, amazing value at less than £3 per session. 
 
Equipment & clothing
To play hockey you need a gumshield, shinpads and a hockey stick. All Juniors must wear a gumshield at all times for safety reasons.
 
You’ll need your own gumshield/mouthguard. We have a small selection that you can buy at £6.50 or you can buy them from AmazonSports Direct or most online sports shops, where they typically cost less than £10. Many players use Sisu mouthguards, although they cost a bit more.
 
You’re welcome to borrow shinpads and hockey sticks. Clothing is sports gear and trainers to allow you to run around without slipping over.
 
Health, medication & additional needs
Please let us know in confidence if you or your child has any health issues, requires medication, has any additional needs or if there is anything that we should know that will help us to help you.   
 
Welfare & Safeguarding
If parents, guardians or players have any safeguarding concerns they can contact our Club’s Welfare Officers, in confidence, at any time:
 

You can also read our Safeguarding and Protecting Young People in Hockey policy. 

Club app
If you’d like to come back after your first session we’ll ask you to set up our club mobile app, SpondWe use Spond to communicate dates for training and matches, manage attendance, collect payments and share contact information. 
 
Any questions?

If you’d like to know anything else please don’t hesitate to message Mark on 07973 963539 or mwjmail@gmail.com.

Our Club culture

We play the right way

We ask all of our players, Junior and Senior, to play in the ‘right’ way – to be positive, friendly & to support each other.

Our aim is a positive environment in which players of all ages can enjoy hockey, develop their skills, and play competitively to the best of their ability, free from negativity and pressure.

We do want to be competitive but not at all costs. We ask our players to play fairly and to always treat umpires, opponents, coaches and teammates with respect.

Welfare & Safeguarding

The safety, well-being and happiness of our Junior players is our primary concern.  

If any players, parents or guardians have any safeguarding concerns they can contact one of our Club’s Welfare Officers, in confidence, at any time:
 

Our commitments to each other

From the Club to Parents & Guardians

Parents & Guardians can expect of us: 

  • To place the well-being, safety and enjoyment of each Junior player above everything. 
  • Create a fun, safe, and inclusive environment for all players.
  • Coaches to have recognised coaching qualifications and all coaches/adult volunteers to be DBS checked. 
  • Trained first-aiders at every session.
  • Effective communication 

From Parents & Guardians to the Club

What the Club asks of Parents & Guardians: 

  • Enjoy the game and celebrate the effort and good play from both sides. 
  • Always, be positive and encouraging. When players make mistakes, offer them encouragement, not criticism.
  • Respect the Umpire and their decisions and encourage players to do the same. 
  • Never engage in, or tolerate offensive, insulting or abusive language or behaviour.
  • Allow the coaches to coach and avoid touchline coaching.
Off the field I will:
  • Turn up on time to training and matches.
  • Collect Juniors from training and/or matches on time. 
  • Pay the training, match or membership fees on time.