England Ice Hockey are pleased to announce an exciting new collaboration with researchers from Leeds Beckett University ahead of the 2024 Showcase Draft.

Members of the School of Health’s Musculoskeletal Health and Rehab Research Group will be assisting EIH with combine testing at the Showcase Draft, allowing greatest insight into the athletic population of the sport across youth age groups.

Combine testing provides a valuable tool for governing bodies, clubs and athletes alike to enhance player development and improve decision-making in player selection moving forward.

Our collaboration with Leeds Beckett University will lead to subsequent data being published relating to the performance of these age group players, and in-turn will act as a benchmark for hockey players across the UK.

This is an amazing step forward for British hockey and the integration of best sports science practices, and we look forward to working alongside Leeds Beckett University researchers to better understand the standard of players featuring at the 2024 Showcase Draft.

On the announcement, England Ice Hockey strength and conditioning lead Rupert Quiney MSc, said: “Last year’s combine at Showcase was the first ever large-scale sports science testing event within British ice hockey, which I believe served as an important milestone for growth with ice hockey and strength and conditioning.

“We managed to execute athletic performance testing for over 400 of England’s best youth ice hockey players, which was a huge success.

“What we haven’t achieved yet, is to utilise that data to best inform players, parents, coaches, clubs, and the organisation with meaningful feedback, or offer a contribution to sports science literature specific to ice hockey.

“I’m confident that our collaboration with Dr Ashley Jones and his team at Leeds Beckett University is how we can overcome that hurdle. Their resources, in the form of data collection hardware, the avenues for safe and ethical data sharing, and manpower at events, will be a huge asset to England Ice Hockey, both for the Showcase Combine and for future projects.”

Dr Ashley Jones, director of the Musculoskeletal Health and Rehab Research Group, said: “As a research group, we are delighted to be collaborating with England Ice Hockey at the 2024 Showcase event, which brings together talented players from all over the UK.

“We will be working with the EIH strength and conditioning team to physically profile the athletes between U12-U18 level. This data will be subsequently published and will serve as an accessible benchmark for UK ice hockey players up and down the country, and could be used for talent identification, injury prevention and maturation type work at national level.

“We hope that this is the start of a fruitful relationship between the organisations, and that research-informed practice can become a useful addition to the off-ice provision for this group of athletes.”

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