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4 September 2023

Declan Kohl

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England Korfball Performance Pathway: Regional U15 Academy 2023/2024

England Korfball are delighted to announce the launch of the U15 Regional Academy for 2023/24. Regional Academies are the start of the journey for any athlete following the England Performance Pathway. Regions wishing to establish an Academy 204/25 need to contact Stephanie.Watson@englandkorfball.co.uk for further information and support for this process.

 

Key Information

Four regions will be delivering an U15 Regional Academy in 23/24 season:

  • East
  • South East
  • North West
  • London (Inner & Greater)

Each region has assigned a Lead Coach and supporting coaching team to deliver monthly training sessions for athletes at U15.

For more information about the training sessions, venues, cost and locations, please see each Regional link/contact information:

Competitions & Eligibility:

  • Athletes need to be aged 12 by September 2023 and no older than 15. An agreement has been reached by regions that for this season only, 23-24, we would agree that regions could include 11 year olds (Year 7s) to the regional programme. If an athlete falls outside the upper limit age range, then they should apply for a place within the Academy (U17) by contacting Steph Watson Academy Lead Coach
  • The Academy will seek to develop approximately 100-120 athletes across the regions.
  • For 23/24 Regional Academies will be Open Access.
  • The focus of this part of the pathway is to develop athletes’ fundamental skills in korfball techniques and athletic development. The Academies will be supported by the EK Player Development Framework.

To support the recruitment and retention of athletes in this age group, the training will be supported by 4 quarterly Inter Region Competitions on the following dates:

  • Sat 21st Oct – Round 1
  • Sat 13th Jan – Round 2
  • Sat 9th March – Round 3
  • Sat 18th May – Round 4

The overall competitive offering has been evaluated to maximise opportunities for both developmental competition exposure and performance competition. As such Regional Academy athletes are eligible for the following competitions this year:

  • *4 x Inter Region Competitions (as named above)
  • *Friday 3rd-Sun 5th November: 1 X U15 International Flanders Tournament, Ghent Belgium.
  • *August (Date TBC) IKF international U15 World Cup

Further Information

The Regional Academy Programme will continue to deliver the following aspects of Youth Athlete Development:

  • Coaching focussed on age appropriate and athlete centred korfball development by qualified coaches.
  • Access to an introductory level Athlete Development Training Programme focussed on building physiological resilience at Knees, Hips, Ankles in our athletes.
  • Competition opportunities (National and International) based on pillars of Development and Performance which are matched to the developmental needs of the athletes
  • The programme strongly welcomes the attendance of youth coaches and teachers of those in attendance at our Inter region Competitons.

Steph Watson, Academy Lead Coach will be delivering an open access Webinar on Thursday September 14th to go through the offering for 23/24 and answer any questions coaches or parents may have. To sign up to this webinar, please register your interest here.