When the National League started in 1998, many of the top teams had settled, experienced teams with few, if any, younger players. Cannock was something of an exception, with two England U-18 internationals, Chris Mayer and Kalbir Tahkar, just starting to make their way through the ranks.

However, in the game as a whole, the development of junior players was very hit or miss, with the majority of young players being children whose father or mother played the game.

Cannock has always prided itself on being an ambitious and pioneering club, and in this spirit was realised that we needed to do something more to actively encourage youngsters to play hockey at Cannock, rather than lust relying on the children of club members.

Chris Milne was the pioneer of youth development at Cannock. Many Sunday mornings, on the grass at the old Morris ground during the late 80s, Chris and about 10 boys could be seen practising their skills.

Peter Pritchard took on this role from Chris in the early 90s and for many years Peter could be seen every Sunday morning, come rain or shine, on the astro's at Cannock with these youngsters - some as young as five - giving them valuable coaching.

This was the start of what we have today.

20 children used to come down in those early days at the new ground. We have now arrived in 2007 with a junior membership in excess of 150, ranging from four to eighteen years of age.

Peter also formed the Cannock badgers side, which he organised and played in for a number of years. This has provided the inspiration for a number of players who have since gone on to play 1st team hockey for Cannock.

Also involved was Vic Decosta, who in the early 90s looked after the U-16 and U-18 age groups as Cannock started playing their First competitive youth matches. Ozzie Harris took over this role between 1995 and 2000.

From that single hour on a Sunday morning, we now train on a Thursday evening, between 6.00 and 900pm, splitting the groups into U-9s, U-11 and U-13's in the first hour, U-15 in the next and U-18's in the final hour. We are lucky to have coaches who are witting to give up their evenings regularly, and we also encourage some of our U-18's to help with coaching.

The whole club is seeing the benefit of the juniors' structure. Many of those juniors are playing regular Saturday hockey, and a number of the early disciples now captaining teams.

Not only has the junior section produced talented home grown players who are pushing for and holding down 1st squad places, but it is also providing much needed players for all teams throughout the club.

Perhaps the icing on the cake has been that a number of our youngsters have also been selected for junior international teams.

A constantly changing environment means Cannock needs to maintain its tradition of innovation, and the 2004/5 season has seen us introduce an Academy training squad, designed to give elite players a stepping stone towards the national league squad.

In the modern sporting environment, clubs wilt only survive if they have a vibrant youth set up, and we believe we have. As long as we continue to invest in this set up, and keep looking for ways to improve it, Cannock can always look forward to a place at the top. Cannock has won a vast number of county and regional junior titles over the years - too many to list - with the following national achievements.

Editor's Note: Typically Phil Gooderham, the author of this article has not mentioned himself once. After assisting for a number of years, Phil took over the leadership of Cannock Juniors in1995, and developed the Academy. His enthusiasm and integrity shine through in all he does and the results speak for themselves. He has, quite simply, built the best junior setup in the country. Phil was elected a vice-president of Cannock Hockey Club in 2004.