England and GB hockey have confirmed David Faulkner will leave his role as performance director this year.
Faulkner helped hockey in Britain develop and thrive
England and Great Britain hockey have confirmed that David Faulkner will leave his role as performance director at the end of the year.
Faulkner has been involved in the sport through their most successful period, leading England's men's and women's teams from world rankings of 11th to fourth and engineering Great Britain's first Olympic hockey medal in 20 years in London this summer.
During his period in the role, England and Great Britain have also won medals at the World Cup, Commonwealth Games, European Championships and in the Champions Trophy.
The success was capped as the British women's team won Olympic bronze, following on from their silver at the Champions Trophy, with the men also tasting success when they won the European Championships for the first time in 2009.
Fantastic leadership
England Hockey chief executive, Sally Munday, said: "We are very disappointed to be losing David as he has provided fantastic leadership of our performance programmes but we recognise that the demands of the performance director role require a unique dedication in terms of time and energy.
"David has put England and Great Britain Hockey ahead of everything for the last seven and a half years and I completely respect his decision to move on."
Faulkner has also been involved in some of the most important off-pitch developments, including the introduction of the Single System talent development pathway, the successful hosting of the Women's Champions Trophy in 2010 and the successful bid to bring the European Championships to London's Olympic legacy facility in 2015.
Chairman of England Hockey, Philip Kimberley, added: "I have thoroughly enjoyed working closely with David since we set out in 2005 to rebuild the reputation and results of hockey. He has played a hugely important role in our recent success on the pitch and in re-establishing our reputation off it; for that I thank him and wish him well in the future."
The recruitment process to appoint a new Performance Director will begin shortly.
