Rhinos and Huddersfield Town Academy staff share knowledge to develop player pathways

Football and Rugby League came together at Leeds Rhinos Academy recently as the club invited neighbours Huddersfield Town Academy to visit the club's Bartercard Kirkstall training ground to see how other sporting academies work and also how both clubs can develop their player pathways.

The meeting, which was facilitated by Academy Psychologist Ross Shand who splits his time between both clubs, is the first of two sessions that will give staff and players from both clubs the opportunity to visit each other’s training grounds and share their knowledge and experiences.

During their time with the Rhinos Academy staff, members of Huddersfield’s coaching team and players sat in on the team review session, gym workout and field session, and also observed Leeds’ Under-18s and Reserves players attitudes towards training.

After the session, Shand said: “From conversations with my colleagues at Huddersfield and Leeds, we identified an opportunity to share some practise. Their staff came and sat in our coaches meeting before training and observed what a normal day looks like for our coaches, and some players also came down and joined us in the gym and observed the lads training. There are benefits of having that clear culture and knowing what Leeds Rhinos is about but we can also get stuck in those ways of thinking and we become blind to potentially other ideas and stimuluses that could help develop the lads better. Ultimately, we’re working with players of a similar age group.

“I think it’s helpful for someone to come in and ask why. It just challenges our coaches to reflect more on what it is that they’re doing and why they’re structuring the sessions etc in the way that they do. That’s not to suggest it’s wrong, but it gets the coaching staff and everyone really to just think more indepth about what we’re doing and is there a different way of doing things that get better results.”

Leeds Rhinos Player Pathway Development Manager John Bastian added: “It was really good to have Huddersfield Town’s academy staff and some of their elite junior players over here at the Rhinos watching what we do. They looked at areas that we were really happy with and areas individually that we want to be stronger in. I’m sure they saw things that they can use to improve areas for their junior academy. Out on the field, they were really receptive. The players and the coaches were watching and were interested in the lads and how disciplined they were and their communication, certainly in the review.
“Exactly the same will happen when we go over to Huddersfield in July. We’ll watch and learn from them and bring some things back to Leeds Rhinos Academy that will help us progress our junior players.”

Support the Rhinos Academy

In July 2020, Leeds Rhinos teamed up with new official Lottery partners, the National Youth & Community Development Association (NYCDA), which is a not for profit organisation committed to helping its partners raise funding for initiatives.

Money raised through the Leeds Rhinos draw will go back into the club's Academy, to help develop and support the next generation of Rhinos on the player development pathway.

Fans can join Rhinos 4 Life for just £1 per week and will be entered into the NYCDA Weekly Draw for a chance to win £1000s in cash prizes every week, whilst also helping to generate funds that will support the future of the club at its young players.

Keep an eye out on the website and social media platforms for upcoming news and developments on this partnership including announcements on none cash prizes from Leeds Rhinos, as well as all other NYCDA partners.

The current prize fund has a £1000 Jackpot, additional prizes of £100, £50, £25 and 10 x £10.

Click here to find out more about Rhinos 4 Life

For any further enquiries, to find out how to get your business involved, the latest results and details on where proceeds go, then please get in touch using the email or phone details below:

Phone: 0113 512 4159
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