Jenny: specialist needs for the specialising phase

Abstract

Jenny is a 13-year-old field hockey player from Nottingham in England, which is an area with a population of over 600,000 people. Her parents are White-British and they both work full-time, sometimes including the weekends. Together they earn around £30,000 per annum, which puts them in the category of below average earners in England.1 Jenny has one brother who trains at a well known football club’s academy for talented young players. Her mother and father spend much of their spare time supporting him by providing transport to training sessions and, where possible, accompanying him to matches at weekends. Jenny’s parents are wholly supportive of her brother’s aspirations to be a professional football player, but they are less certain about Jenny’s ambitions to play elite level hockey as it does not offer the same financial incentive.