JUNIORS
We have a successful youth training programme within SMHC.
Junior training takes place on Friday evenings:
U6s, U8s and U10s (to year 5): 6pm to 7pm
U12s (years 6-7): 5.45pm to 8pm
U14s (years 8-9): 6.45pm to 9pm
Confident Year 10 & 11s may prefer to train with the adults on Wednesdays (ladies) or Thursdays (men).
Training Dates 2025-6
Autumn Term (Cost for the whole term £55):
12 September - 17 October
HALF TERM BREAK on 24 October
31 Octoberto 5 December
Spring Term (Cost for the whole term tbc):
9 January - 13 February
HALF TERM BREAK on 20 February
27 February - 27 March
The Under 10s, 12s and 14s participate in a mini-tournament around once a month. See the fixtures page for more info.
Many of the older juniors are also training and playing with the senior sides.
If you are interested in joining, please contact us first to check that we have space available.
Brief History
It all started in the late nineties when the club was introduced to a concept called Champion Coaching. Whereby loacal clubs provided sports specific coaching to 13/14 year olds. Steve Tyley, a long time member both playing and club development took on the role of chief coach, having already attained the necessary coaching qualification and with the support of a few club members started the ball rolling.
Our 1st group was small and consisted of 10-15 youngsters eager to learn the finer art of hockey: somewhat surprisingly the group was dominated by boys and with only one girl attending. From this base we set up groups catering for younger players, this gave the youngsters a good grounding and they were all able to slot into the Champion Coaching programme once they reached 13. The luxury of having astroturf was at this time some years off so the youngsters grazed their knees and wore their shoes out on the redgra shale pitch and even at times on the tarmac netball courts at Whitstone school.
From those somewhat humble beginnings and in no short measure due to much improved facilities the capacity grew accordingly.
Junior News
6 April 2025 U12 South West Finals
This morning it was the turn of our Under 12 girls to represent Somerset in the South West finals at Clifton College.
They started their pool matches with wins over Stroud and Ocean City before a (one-sided) draw against Blandford and another win against Bath Buccs. Two more wins against Chippenham and Truro saw them top their group undefeated.
Their semi-final against Cheltenham was a very tight match with both sides having chances but neither able to grab a winner. So the tie was decided by shuffles with Cheltenham coming out on top.
Shepton picked themselves up to beat Chippenham for the second time to finish third overall, a fantastic achievement.
Well played to all and a big thank you to our umpires and large crowd of supporters.
20 March 2022 U14 Somerset County Tournament
Both Girls and Boys Under 14 sides played brilliantly in their end-of-season tournament at Queens College In Taunton. The girls finished as runners up behind Taunton Vale, and the boys also grabbed second spot behind a strong Taunton Civil Service team. Well played all!
13 March 2022 U10 Somerset County Tournament
Our fantastic Under 10s played some great hockey in the season-end tournament in Cheddar. The Boys were a little unlucky not to finish higher than 4th place, but the girls had an amazing morning with five wins a draw to be crowned county champions. They will now represent Somerset in the South West finals in April.
