In a huge week of Rugby League Development, Leeds Rhinos Foundation were delighted to host another two free ETP Player Development Days for players right across the north of England.
As well as a Development Day on familiar territory at Ambassador club Hunslet Warriors, the Foundation were delighted to branch out and deliver their first ever sessions in Oldham at Waterhead Academy, which gave aspiring players aged 12-14 from the town and surrounding areas a fantastic chance to work on their core skills with coaches from the Leeds Rhinos Scholarship and Academy programmes.
The event was well attended, with 30 boys from 5 local community clubs- including Saddleworth Rangers, Waterhead Warriors, Oldham St Anne’s, Rochdale Mayfield and Limehurst Lions- all showcasing their skills to the Rhinos coaches for the first time. Following the sessions, several players were also invited to test themselves in the following evening’s u16 ETP fixture with Bradford Bulls, with Waterhead’s Peter White even grabbing himself a stunning try on the night.
Not content with just the one session, several of the players who starred at the Oldham sessions were also then present at the Hunslet Development Day, which had sold out for the boys session in under 12 hours after it was announced.
There was also a strong turnout for the girls session, with over 90 junior players in total attending the Player Development Day at Hunslet from over 20 different community clubs. By far the best response came from one of Yorkshire Junior League’s newest clubs- Dodworth Miners. The South Yorkshire based side, who only formed a junior section at the beginning of the year, brought a full compliment of 14 boys to the Player Development Day and were highly complimentary about how the event was run.
The sessions once again provided youngsters with the opportunity to experience training in a professional rugby environment and improve their core skills through a series of different drills, including speed and agility work with Rhinos’ Performance Coach Dan Spiers who kindly gave up his time to add a new dimension to the Development Day.
It was the perfect way to round off the Foundation’s ETP programme in 2021, which has bounced back perfectly from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and has once again proven to be the driving force behind the Rugby League Development Plan’s mission to unlock the next generation of talented players from throughout the grassroots and community game.
Click HERE to check out the full gallery of images from our Player Development Day at Hunslet Warriors on Friday.
The dates of future Player Development Days during the February and April half-term holidays will be announced in due course.
For more information about our ETP Player Development Days, please contact ian.hardman@leedsrhinosfoundation.org.