11 Leeds Rhinos players completed their Rugby League coaching badges at the academy training ground at Kirkstall last week, as part of an ongoing commitment from Leeds Rhinos to further develop their playing staff off the field.
The Foundation has already sent players such as Alex Foster, Jordan Baldwinson and Brad Singleton to take part in coaching sessions across the city as part of the Foundation’s Partner Schools Project, but will now provide more coaches from the playing staff to help deliver the school sessions.
The qualification will allow the players to coach in the community as part of the foundation's three-year Rugby League development plan, to offer Rugby League to a growing number of people in the region, with the added incentive of the children being able to learn from a first team player.
Leon Crick, who is the Foundation's community manager, explained the importance of the qualification for the players and the foundation:
"As part of the players enrichment and their wider role within the club, they will help us out in the community, so when we are in schools, the players might come along and it adds a bit of value to what we do, having the presence of some first team players there as role models, so in the new year they will be out in the community with our foundation coaches around Leeds."
The assessment day which took place on Friday 12th December, offered local school Swallow Hill Community College an opportunity to sample the players coaching first hand, as the children took part in the players’ assessments throughout the afternoon, with first team stars such as Josh Walters, Andy Yates, Stevie Ward and Liam Sutcliffe, who explained the personal opportunity the qualification provides:
"It's massive really, obviously Rugby League is a relatively short career so doing things like coaching gives you a better insight of what could come afterwards, if some of the players want to go into that field it puts it all into a better perspective, you never know what could happen, so if worst comes to worst, you've got some coaching to fall back on."
With the foundation's School Partner Project now operating in 37 schools in the Leeds district, the badges provide a chance for the Rhinos players to give back to their community, which Liam is keen to take up in the New Year:
"It's always good to go out in the community, like with the kids today, you can go out and teach them something new and provide hopefully that enjoyment that will get more kids involved in the sport because the sport should be growing, which obviously ties in with all the work that the foundation is doing.”
The players completed the assessments over a four-week period which has involved both theory and practical elements culminating in the 4 day assessment. The complete list of players who completed their Level 2 coaching qualification in Rugby League:
Stevie Ward
Liam Sutcliffe
Josh Walters
Thomas Minns
Jimmy Keinhorst
James Duckworth
Andy Yates
Luke Briscoe
Rob Mulhern
Ben Frankland (academy)
George Milton (academy)