Aspire is progressively structured. We find brilliant young athletes as soon as we can, then guide them through the academies until they reach the top. And while there are rough age ranges for each level, they’re flexible — ability is the most important factor when deciding if you should graduate. We’ve included more detail about each level of the programme below.

County Academies

For most young athletes, County Academy assessment weekends are the first step. At these day-long sessions — usually taking place in April or May in counties across England — we assess nominated 12, 13 and 14-year-old athletes. If we think you have potential, we’ll invite you to join the Aspire programme at Regional Academy level.

Regional Academies

At Regional Academy level, athletes aged 13 to 18 attend training sessions over three weekends in the summer, autumn and winter, plus an April tournament. Training covers tactical understanding and technical skills along with physical conditioning, nutrition, and mental resilience, and after each weekend you’ll receive coach feedback and a detailed development plan. At the tournament we’ll assess everyone’s progress. If you impress, you’ll move up to the National Academy.

National Academy

Athletes at our National Academy are usually 14 to 20 years old. At this level you’ll attend five residential training weekends in June, September, October, January and March, plus extra training for matches and tours. You’ll continue to develop the physical and mental skills needed to perform at an elite level across 10v10 and 6v6 formats, and we’ll provide more in-depth training in position-specific requirements.