Andrew Wilson - Rugby League Development Officer
Tel: 0113 3950163
Fax: 0113 3950200
or email using the link on this page.
Development of rugby league within Leeds is based on partnerships involving all key players namely, amateur leagues, professional organisations, education, health and Leeds City Council.
The sports development officer, (SDO) for rugby league sets and agrees programmes with all partners with the aim of producing clear pathways for coaches and players to achieve their maximum level.
Setting programmes is only the first stage of the development role, once agreed, the SDO facilitate the structures involving a large volunteer base, community sports coaches who are employed by Leeds City Council, Sports Colleges and Leeds Rhinos Rugby League Club.
An important tool is the Leeds Rugby League Service Area which is a working group that has representation from all the key partners formulating the development and performance programmes over a city wide remit, based on structures both from the National Governing Body and Leeds City Council.
The current programmes that are in place are,
- School and Club Links.
- Rhinos community coaching.
- Leeds Rugby League Service Area.
- Club Mark.
- Coach Education.
- RADS.
School and club link:
This programmes is a fine example of breaking down traditional barriers between amateur rugby league clubs and schools. For far to long within Leeds there was the situation of us and them. With the partnership of Leeds Rhinos the SDO has full use of their community coaches, therefore able to set the key tasks and insure that the schools who require rugby league support have the opportunity. The aim of the programme is to run a 6 week coaching structure within 30 schools climaxing with a festival at an accredited amateur club that will adopt the invited schools, allowing the pathway from one partner to another. Although this programme has been only running over the past two years already it is apparent that both clubs and schools are now taking ownership for development of the children.
Leeds City Council community sport coaches who support school development within the special needs schools have enabled an annual disability festival to be held at South Leeds Stadium in partnership with rugby union. Over 30 schools attend from local, regional and national areas. Based on a generic tag rugby format the event has grown and allows suitable players a pathway into either mainstream union or league clubs.
Girls rugby league has grown and is supported by the NGB, Sport England and Leeds City Council. With the formation of the champion schools competition with the finalists playing at the challenge cup final, schools have been involved at local and regional level to qualify. As a pathway a local girls competition linked into school festivals and hence the numbers of girls playing is increasing.
Community Sports Officers,(CSO) work closely with the SDOs in supporting schools and amateur clubs ranging from funding issues, facility and playing area provision and organising events such as summer holiday programmes. The CSOs are invaluable to many development programmes for they are the people who best know the areas they are based in, which can reduce unnecessary ground work by a SDO.
Rhinos community coaching:
Apart from the school and club link programme the Rhinos community coaches conduct weekly coaching sessions with clubs, schools and development areas nominated by the Leeds City Council. Rhinos community coaches are based at each sports partnership throughout the city and programmes are based on Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD), with ‘fundamental’ the key. As part of the programme, healthy lifestyle linked to the healthy schools initiative is currently being piloted at Boston Spa High School.
Leeds Rugby League Service Area:
The service area is made up from representation of all partners and support the development of the game within Leeds from grass roots to performance level. The aim of the group is to allow all participants within the game to achieve their desired levels and produce pathways for all. Recognised as the development arm of the NGB the service area facilitates the national programmes at local level which follows the pathway into regional and national performance camp and the partnership games.
Club Mark:
The accreditation scheme, Sport England Club Mark which is integrated into the NGB club development work and that of the Active Sport programme to support the development and recognition of clubs that are safe, effective and child friendly.
The role of the development officer is to oversee and support the application and eventually agree that all requirements have been met. Currently 18 clubs are working towards the accreditation, Milford, Drighlington and Leeds Rhinos have already gained the award. Club Mark is an excellent tool to assist clubs in maintaining their community involvement and documents areas of good practice.
Coach Education:
" Good teachers produce good students, good coaches produce good players" based on this statement support is given to all amateur clubs and schools to insure all volunteers within the game are qualified to a minimum level. Various coaching qualification courses are facilitated during the year with regular evaluation feedback to insure all areas of concern are addressed including:
- child protection,
- sport first aid and
- working with the disabled.
Following the NGB coach education programme the majority of amateur clubs are ensuring all their staff are suitably qualified. During the annual Tri Nations competition there is an international forum held at South Leeds Stadium to enable coaches and teachers the opportunity to experience coaching at a higher level.
RADS:
RADS stands for " Rugby League & Athletic Development Scheme" involving all 42 high schools at the year 7 age group. The concept is a generic sports and health programme based on LTAD, Long Term Athlete Development and initially involves rugby league and athletics coaching. The target group is any year 7 student, and talent ID is directed to students who have no sporting involvement outside the school environment and have shown ability within the testing programme to progress. Generic specialist tutors will cover such areas as sports conditioning, healthy lifestyles and sport psychology. At the conclusion of the 18 week programme a sporting camp will be held for all the talented students. At this stage all SDOs within Leeds City Council will be invited to conduct coaching sessions with the students to allow them the opportunity to experience all areas in sport and decide their pathways in sport.
The scheme has three key benefits, firstly all year 7 students in a high school will be tested on various disciplines of fitness and health and the results will be available to the school PE department to show the starting block which will enable setting PE programmes for the academic year. Secondly the identification of talented young sports people who have previously been unavailable outside education. Thirdly, as the government remit for the young is on healthy life style and concern with obesity, the information obtained through this project will be invaluable and such agencies as Primary Care Trusts (PCT) for the first time has access to accurate data from a cross section of social levels.
The aim is to annually test all year 7 students throughout the Leeds Area this will exceed 10000 students. The testing programmes are internationally recognised as clear indicators for individual abilities and needs in both sport and health. Long term, the scheme will seek ownership from the schools with the testing of all students up to and including year 10, this will enable PE departments and PCTs to track the individual year groups on the levels of fitness and health from the ages of 11 to 15 years.
Tag you're it
Hundreds of rugby players will be descending on the Headingley Carnegie Stadium on 25 September 2007 to take part in this year’s National Disability Tag Rugby Festival.
With over 500 players the 2007 event is the biggest event of its kind to be held in the UK and is now in its eighth year. The festival aims to promote rugby union and league as well as disabled sport on a national level.
This popular event is organised by Leeds City Council’s Sport Development Unit and supported by both the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Rugby Football League (RFL).
Young people and adults with learning disabilities, physical impairments and sensory impairments will be taking part, with teams of seven payers taking part in 10-minute matches. Tag rugby is minimal contact version of rugby, with tackles being made by removing one of the Velcro ‘tags’ attached to the player’s waist. It contains many of the core elements which feature in both rugby union and rugby league to produce a fast and skilful game.
Leeds City Council rugby coaches will work with Leeds schools which enter the festival in the run up to the event. The Leeds Rhinos first-team squad and Tykes players have been invited to attend and Rugby Super League Officials will be refereeing all the games.
Apart from the matches there will also be other activities to take part in including coaching sessions which will be carried out for players and fans to try all the different disciplines of rugby – passing, tackling, running and passing.
For further information contact Leeds City Council Disability Sports Development Officer Katy Elliott or Rugby League Development Officer Andrew Wilson on 013 3950001.