Previous Coaching Staff

Craig Buttery

Craig was the first England Coach and he was instrumental in setting up the National Programm. The senior team competed in the inaugural World Cup in 2007 coming runners-up to Scotland. The following year, Craig took the Youth Team to Hungary where they were victorious, becoming Youth World Cup Winners. The senior team were again runners-up to Scotland in the 2011 World Cup. Shortly after this Craig oversaw a friendly victory over Scotland after which he left to explore the establishment of a VXGB squad.

Paul Reed

Paul was the head coach for a short space of time and he developed the training sessions further. There were no competitive matches during Paul's tenure.

Paul Hildreth

Paul Hildreth then took over the National Programme, determined to make it a very professional outfit. He scheduled a routine of 5 structured training sessions per year at the then National Centre of Excellence. He appointed a team consisting of Tom Hildreth (tactics coach), Jonathon Cooper (youth team), Conrad Broughton (assistant coach) and Helen Mackenzie (fitness coach). Under this coaching team 3 squads were developed - youth, senior and masters. They ran trials for new players (recommended by club coaches) and had uniforms for training sessions, game day and travel.

Paul later changed the coaching staff and was now assisted by Tom Hildreth (who became fitness coach), Jonathon Cooper (assistant coach) and Carl Alsop (tactics coach).

Under Paul's leadership England became very successful.

Having developed a 'masters' squad, Paul took them to play a friendly series against the England Stoolball team with the England VX team playing the Stoolball team at both Stoolball and VX. This was a very successful day cementing links between the old sport and the new.

• 2015 Senior World Champions (held in the UK)
• 2016 winners of the first Test Match series (held in India)
• 2016 European Champions (Held in Bilbao)
• 2018 European Champions (Held in Bilbao)
• 2019 VX World Champions (held in the UK)
• 2019 VX Youth World Champions (held in the UK)

After the 2019 high Paul resigned as Head Coach and moved to an administrative role as Team Manager.

Carl Alsop

Carl took over the role as Head Coach. He kept Tom as Fitness Coach and appointed Scott Snowdon as Assistant Coach. This trio ran some excellent sessions and the future for the England VX squad was looking very rosy - but then Covid hit and the potential was never reached.

Here are some images from the excellent sessions run by Carl, Tom and Scott.

And here are some images from the various events