• GB EDP

GB Men's Elite Development Programme Squad Announced For 2023

Great Britain Hockey is excited to announce a squad of 36 players and five reserves has been selected for the GB Men's Elite Development Programme (EDP) in 2023.

Athletes from across all the home nations, including Max Anderson and Patrick Rose from Ulster, who are looking to follow in the footsteps of David Ames and Ian Sloan, have been included in the initial squad.

There is a strong Scottish contingent too including two, Jamie Golden and Struan Walker, who were part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games team.

Whilst Wales’s Fred Newbold is due to play his first international match of 2023 in the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela, which begins this Friday when England face Wales.

First formed in 2017, the GB EDP is designed to help those identified as having the potential to perform at Senior international level develop the skills, physicality and character required to become a medal-winning Olympian.

Many players have already progressed from the programme into the Senior Great Britain set-ups, with players such as Fiona Crackles, Jacob Draper, Ollie Payne and Tom Sorsby all representing Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where the Women came home with Bronze.

It’s an exciting year for the programme as three sets of brothers, Tim and Nick Nurse, Ali and Calum Douglas and Rohan and Yuvraj Bhuhi, bringing a new competitive element to the squad.

"Selection for the GB EDP is a super achievement for the players and I am really looking forward to seeing them develop their hockey over the next 12 months. There is an outstanding programme of hockey & support services for the players to make the most of and hopefully, in the not too distant future, we can see some of them follow in the footsteps of players who have already successfully transitioned from the GB EDP into the GB Senior team"

Jon Bleby - GB Men's EDP Head Coach

During their time in the programme, players will attend a number of two-day training camps and will be in regular contact with the senior squads through training sessions and practice matches.

Jon Bleby will continue in his role as head coach of the GB Men's EDP for 2023, with Barry Middleton and Jerome Goudie working as his assistants and Ali McGregor and Chris Hibbert as goalkeeper coaches. 

The GB Women's EDP squad for 2023 will also be confirmed later this month.