THE search has begun for a hockey development officer. The Guernsey Hockey Association has been advertising the post locally and one of the driving forces behind the move hopes that it won’t be too long before the position is filled.

‘Ideally, we would like to have somebody in place as soon as possible, but it will very much depend on what applicants we get,’ said Bruce Spittal of the Guernsey hockey junior development group.

He added that a development officer was ‘certainly needed’ although the exact details of the role have been left open for the moment.

‘The reason we have not made it too definitive is because it depends on whom we can get,’ Spittal said.

‘Initially, we are not expecting it to be a full-time job although there is no reason why it could not become full-time.

‘We are not limiting our thinking to one person either. Potentially, we could have someone who is quite strong on the coaching side of things with someone else who is very good at administration and they could work as a team.’

The idea is that whoever takes up the development officer’s role will be supported by the junior development group and will be continuing will several schemes that are already in place.

There are sessions for youngsters on Tuesdays and Sundays and soon there is likely to be an after-school club, probably on Fridays.

The DO would also be expected to start getting out and supporting teachers in primary and junior schools, instigating programmes and tournaments, as well as bringing his or her own ideas to the job.

‘There are quite a lot of existing arrangements for hockey, for example we have had people such as David Wray and John Hunter trying to co-ordinate between the schools and put on annual year-group tournaments, but we have been very much reliant on people doing it voluntarily.

‘Really we are trying to bring together a lot of initiatives that are already in place and then start to introduce new ones in order to get a development programme for hockey taking children up to senior level,’ said Spittal.

The DO will be funded by two private corporate sponsors (Collins Stewart and PwC), funds raised for the initiative from the GHA’s membership and the Guernsey Sports Commission.