AD – I think if you are a sporty, active person you want the same for your child. You want them to keep fit, get outdoors and ultimately enjoy being active and be as healthy as they can be. I spend a lot of time at the gym and my girls are aware of this and why I go. For me it’s all about my health, mental health and having some time to switch off. I believe my love of exercise came from my younger years and the influence of my family who were keen gym goers and played sport. At school I got involved with a lot of sports; netball, badminton, athletics, swimming and hockey. Currently my eldest swims and does gymnastics but was recently given the opportunity to try Hockey Heroes, a course which introduces children from the ages 5-8 years to hockey. Hockey is a sport for both girls and boys, of all shapes and sizes and abilities; so anyone can try it!!
My eldest was keen to try it and so she did!
We attended Hockey Heroes at the Silhillians Sports Club in Solihull. The next Hockey Heroes course starts on 1st March and runs to the 5th April, you can find out more and sign up here.
More About Hockey Heroes
Hockey Heroes from England Hockey is aimed at children who have no experience with hockey and is a programme that is designed to be fun and welcoming (which it is). The course is designed for children to have fun, regardless of experience or ability and aims to boost confidence and ensure a positive experience of sport.
Small groups of children, attend for 6 weeks for hourly sessions, priced at £32. This includes 2 plastic hockey sticks, a ball and a personalised tee shirt; perfect for practice at home. You can easily register here.
Each Hockey Heroes session focuses on helping children develop some physical hockey superpowers (which I though is great to encourage children) including dribbling, passing and goal scoring, plus character development super powers including team work, communication, perseverance and respect. I chatted to a couple of parents who were really keen to get their children to get involved in something that encouraged team work and hockey is great for this.
Parents are also encouraged to get involved and join in at the start of the session for 10 minutes, which was great fun and helped me remember my hockey days.
At the end of the session the children are rewarded for unlocking their superpowers and get a sticker for their hockey stick. You can’t go wrong with stickers and kids!
Our Thoughts
Our local club was at the Silhillians Sports Centre In Solihull, so we headed over each Sunday morning.
We found Hockey Heroes a welcoming, friendly group of sessions, that gave my eldest an introduction to hockey. There were very interactive and encouraged children to chat about what they were learning and learn from each other.
There was a lot of teamwork and a lot of the activities were done in small groups. This gave the children the chance to learn about team working and also make new friends. The instructors were really friendly and on a level with the kids, so this helped my eldest feel comfortable. We had lots of mentions of “Steve” over the six weeks.
My eldest loves anything that has incentives, so in the first week, they had to complete a task to win little bands. She got really involved in this. She loved the stickers at the end of each session too. They were taught the basic skills, like how to hold their hockey stick and how to stand properly, ready to learn more about dribbling and passing in their groups.
My eldest is quite like me, she likes to do, so I could see she really enjoyed playing a little game on the final session and trying out some of the skills she had learnt. She’s also quite friendly and I think she enjoyed teaming up with other children and working with them.
As I’m giving an honest review the only couple of things my eldest struggled a little with was tiredness and the cold.
The classes are an hour long and there is a lot of running about. I think if your child hasn’t done a lot of this, it will wear them out. I did have to explain to my eldest, it’s just practice and getting fitter in time.
When we started out it was September and pretty warm. By the end of the sessions, we had hit the end of October and it cooled down, so bear in mind they need to wrap up and be encouraged to keep moving!
Overall, the course was perfect as a taster into what hockey is about, in a fun and friendly environment. My eldest had some fun and learnt some new skills.
As someone who has played hockey before, I was glad she could give it a try.
Disclosure – we were provided with this course in exchange for an honest review and compensated for out time. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
