Meet the team

Our Talent Academy Coaches

Head Coach - Chris White
Chris has joined the University coaching staff following 9 months in Japan and Australia. Prior to this Chris was the Hockey & Cricket Coach at Kings Bruton, where he was also a student, under the tutelage of Ben Dudley. Chris also played for the University of Bristol Mens Hockey Club as a non student player in our England Hockey league team, thus Chris already has a long association with Bristol and has already played a big part in the work that has been put in place by Ben.
Lead Coach / Girls Coach - Martin Hicks
Martin joined Bristol in August 2021 and acts as a Coach within the University Performance Hockey Programme, across both Mens and Ladies Squads. Martin has been part of the Coaching team for the University of Bristol Mens 1st team in their first season in England Hockey Division One (South) for the 2022/23 Campaign alongside leading the 2nd XI and supporting the University of Bristol Ladies 1st and 2nd XI’s. Prior to joining Bristol, Martin has almost 10 years coaching experience at various levels and age groups.
Boys Lead Coach - Matt Forster
Matt currently plays and coaches with Cardiff Met Hockey Club having graduated Cardiff Metropolitan University with a BSc and MSc in Sports and Exercise Science. Matt is qualified in First Aid, Level 1 Football coaching, Level 1 and 2 hockey coaching and level 1 and 2 personal training and adds a huge amount of knowledge and experience into our Coaching team from his education and employment background with Newport County FC.
Assistant Coach - Duncan Armsby
Duncan brings more than 18 years of successful coaching at club and school hockey with local club Westberries Ladies Hockey Club and Redmaids' High Girls School, as well as experience of working with Avon County boys u16 & u17 age groups. Duncan has recently completed his GB Hockey Advanced Coach Programme accreditation and also brings his extensive experience as a teacher to our team. Duncan will work primarily with the boys programme for this season.
Assistant Coach - Sophie Trigg-Turner
‘Trigg’ has played and coached around Bristol for many years, playing for local clubs including Firebrands and Clifton Robinsons to premier league level as well as internationally with Wales. Recently Trigg has taken up playing and coaching roles with our own University of Bristol Ladies Squads. Trigg has coached for many years for Avon County & Bristol Performance Centre and also brings years of teaching experience. Trigg will act as an assistant coach across the boys and girls groups primarily (but not exclusively) leading goalkeeper coaching.
Assistant Coach - George Nicholls
Having grown up in Bristol, George has recently been through the  Bristol Performance Centre, DiSE and Futures Cup process himself prior to attending and graduating Birmingham University with a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science. George has captained and coached teams from a young age with Avon County and with TBB and continued this whilst at University of Birmingham; playing and Captaining his National league team alongside coaching and acting as Club Chairman. George has recently taken up coaching roles at Clifton College and Clifton Robinsons HC. George will work with the girls programme.

Talent Academy Environment

In line with the coaching philosophy outlined in our Coaching Strategy, the coaching environment will deliver consistently high quality, intensive training opportunities that cover the tactical, technical, physical and mental factors linked to the player development qualities.

Coaches communicate using common language and work together to create a joined-up hockey programme for each player. Coaches regularly review language to create consistency and ensure the tactical approaches defined by the language used in our environment are easily understood.

Game play is at the front and centre of everything we do, we aim for practices to be as simple as possible so players spend as much time as possible focusing on finding solutions to the problems the practice presents and can relate this back to aspects of the game they are playing. We aim to combine the development needs of individual playerswith the needs of the group as a whole, building team cohesion and tactical /game understanding.

Our Committee

The University of Bristol Hockey Talent Academy shall be led and administered by a management committee consisting of:

Head of Hockey
Chris White
TA Girls Lead Coach
Martin Hicks
TA Boys Lead Coach
Matt Forster
TA Manager Welfare Officer
Valerie Shipsey
TA Manager & Welfare Officer
Hannah Hicks
TA Administrator
Emma Rossiter
TA Independent Advisor
Russell Earnshaw
TA Independent Advisor
Jon Bower

The Talent Academy Management Committee shall be responsible for all aspects of the Talent Academy in line with the vision and purpose outlined above, with a particular focus on the Welfare and development of participants.

The Talent Academy Management Committee shall be responsible for creating the culture to support individuals in line with the University of Bristol, the University of Bristol Hockey Club and the Bristol Hockey Talent Academy vision & principles. Meetings will take place 6 times per year.

The University of Bristol has chosen individuals according to their skills and experience in running successful hockey programmes at the University of Bristol, in school, in clubs and in Junior Academy environments. The Talent Academy Lead Coaches have significant experience in the previous England Hockey Talent Systems.

(Voluntary) Independent Talent Academy Committee members have been appointed according to experience in other Talent Development environments with the aim of maintaining independence from the organisation and day to day leadership team with the ability to challenge processes and delivery where appropriate.

The Dispute process shall be undertaken through the Talent Academy Management Committee Chaired by the Talent Academy Lead. For any disputes involving the Talent Academy Lead, investigations and meetings shall be Chaired by the University of Bristol Head Coach and/or an Independent Talent Academy Committee Member. Any matter of a welfare nature shall be referred to England Hockey Welfare Officer as appropriate.

Got a question?

If you would like more information, please e-mail us.