For those in school year 9, this is the first year in which young people are allowed to play in adult league matches, and it's generally the year when we start to suggest players attend adult training.

When they do this, we encourage them to attend both Academy training and adult training. (Adult training is on Wednesday nights after Academy training.) The best way for young players to develop their hockey skills is to practice - so the more time they spend on the pitch the better, and we try to make that easy by not charging anything extra for attending all of our training sessions.

Some youngsters are absolutely ready to do this, but others don't feel quite ready (and that's absolutely fine with us). For them, they can continue to Academy training and play for the Under 14 teams. Hopefully by the time they get to year 10, they will feel ready to start adult training.

One good option for youngsters is to play in adult mixed hockey which takes part on various Sunday mornings throughout the year.