Manchester Rangers RLFC have been accredited by The RFL as an England Rugby League Player Development Club.
Rangers Community Coaches have spent the last 9 months attending various CPD events, completing their training on Wednesday 16th September 2015 and as such, Matt Valentine, Anthony Petrykowski and Nick Holt have all been accredited as England RL Player Development Coaches.
Rangers Head Coach and Coach Co-Ordinator, Steve Molloy, is already an accredited England RL Player Development Partner, meaning he can deliver the Embed the Pathway CPD to community coaches and school teachers.
Embed the Pathway is a program of coach and player development days in non-selective environments, which aims to develop all talent within the age groups of U12-U14s. The aim is to grow a greater pool of talent to improve standards and develop potential England players.
The Embed the Pathway program has four key areas;
Coachability
How do player behaviours and attitudes contribute to development?
Mental Attributes
Introducing sports psychology to the young player.
Game
Technical aspects specific to Rugby League
Movement
The ability of the young player to perform key movements with control and accuracy, vital for their physical literacy.
The aim is for the Embed the Pathway Program to be seen as the “national curriculum” for 12-14 rugby league players, making it the perfect tool for coaches in this age group and secondary school teachers, introducing and developing players, often new to the game.
The RFL are also currently in the process of developing a framework for players that are aged 14-16.
After attending various CPD events Manchester Rangers coaches can implement the framework within their sessional delivery, in particular with groups aged 12 – 14.
Receiving this Kite Mark from the RFL is once again a signal of intent for the Rangers, as Matt Valentine explains;
“As coaches, it is sometimes easy to get drawn into the technical and tactical aspects of the sport, particularly as the participants start to get older.
“The Embed the Pathway CPD has certainly enabled us to look at things a little bit differently now.
“We can now deliver a higher quality of session incorporating a wider range of aspects that aides the development of our young players.
Developing the Rugby League stars of the future
“We fully intend on continuing our progression to ensure we are offering our young players every opportunity to succeed within the game.
“Manchester Rangers can now have a significant effect on the England players of the future. How good would it be to have a Mancunian represent the country in the next 6/7 years?
Manchester Rangers will be hosting player development days in 2016 which will see players from across the city invited to take part 24 high quality sessions over the course of the year – the same standard of coaching as a Super League player receives on a daily basis!
Anthony Atherton, National Talent Development Officer for the RFL speaks highly of the Rangers activity in Manchester;
“It’s great to be working with Manchester Rangers and see them, in such a short space of time, embrace the Embed the Pathway programme by fully committing to CPD attendance.
“Nick, Matt, Steve and Ant have been ever presents who take the key learning messages back to their local community to build playing and development opportunities that will see the club grow from strength to strength.
“The future certainly looks bright for Rugby League in Manchester.”