Over 40 coaches from ambassador clubs across the region took part in the launch of the new Coach Education programme last week at Leeds Rugby Academy, which included a guest workshop from Leeds Rhinos star Adam Cuthbertson
The workshops, which are provided for free under the Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s Rugby League Development plan, will run for the 6th year in 2017 delivered by members of the Leeds Rhinos coaching staff to provide unique coaching insights for community coaches in the region.
As part of a launch night for the new campaign, Leeds Rhinos Assistant Coach Barry Eaton, who will oversee the campaign along with Head Coach Brian McDermott, was joined by Leeds Rhinos forward Adam Cuthbertson to provide the first player led session of the season on coaching forwards play.
Since the Rugby League Development Plan was devised in 2013, the official charity of Leeds Rhinos has been committed to working with coaches at community clubs to assist with the development of players of all ages and to improve standards throughout the game as Community Clubs Development Officer Sam Horner explains:
“This is a new launch for what is going to happen in 2017 with the Coach Education for our community coaches, we’ve got a great one tonight with Adam Cuthbertson and the format he is using with the use of the scholarship players and coaching forward play has been really insightful,” said Horner.
“There will be loads of support from us throughout the year, Barry Eaton especially is going to be heading up the programme and bringing in guest players like we have Adam tonight, it’s going to be a great programme and will go on right through to the summer with lots more content for all coaches.”
Leeds Rhinos star Adam Cuthbertson, who coached members of the Leeds Rhinos scholarship on the night for the on looking coaches added:
“I didn’t realise that there was this many coaches coming down to be honest but Barry Eaton told me to get some drills together and come down and put the boys through some different techniques of the game, so it should be good, I really enjoy coaching so it’s good to get down here and share a bit.”
“Not so much offloading and small skills but more the skills leading into it, such as recognising the ruck and field position and elements like that, there is a lot more that comes to the play before you get into that position. All of that comes naturally to these kids who will watch it on TV and can pick up those fine skills but it’s the little things that they tend to miss which are quite important, so just teaching a bit of that which will evolve into those sorts of skills.
Cuthbertson, who set a record for offloads during the 2015 season during Leeds Rhinos’ treble campaign, believes that coaching a high skill level among forwards with a willingness to improve are most important assets when bringing through junior players;
“It’s really important to get the forwards at this sort of age to be really skillful because at the end of the day, size, strength and speed are important but when other players start to catch up, you then need something else up your sleeve, so it’s just really important to evolve the players while they are really young and willing to learn."
The Coach Education programme, which will be returning in January with another position specific session led by half back Rob Burrow, is a great way to bring these ideas to community coaches in the city according to the the Australian born forward:
“It’s good to just come together with coaches from the community, Barry Eaton is very open minded and it’s good to just throw some ideas at him during the workshop and he does vice versa, so it’s a good learning experience for everyone involved," added Cuthbertson.
For more information on the Coach Education programme contact Sam.Horner@leedsrhinosfoundation.org