South Wales Scorpions will be rolling out the award winning Embed the Pathway (ETP) programme in schools outside England for the first time.

The programme is being run as part of the club’s on-going commitment to developing the game in the region, and this announcement is being made following close work with Wales Rugby League (WRL) and the Rugby Football League (RFL) in order to achieve this goal. The introduction of ETP will form a key part of the pathways now been put in place and of the soon to be launched Scorpions Sporting Foundation.

ETP for schools is a FREE open access fully inclusive programme that forms the first steps on the WRL Talent Development pathway. The aim is to grow a greater pool of talent, improve talent and develop club players, Scorpions players and Welsh internationals of the future.

Paul Emanuelli, Scorpions’ Head of Youth Development and the club’s leading points scorer of all time, said: “Welsh schools have a proud tradition of not only competing in but winning Champion Schools, the RFL’s flagship schools competition.

“The opportunity to participate in the ETP programme would further enhance the Rugby League playing capability of those schools but it is also designed to assist schools who have perhaps never considered or delivered Rugby League in curriculum before.

“Further the programme will complement rugby union delivery in schools and help develop the complete rugby player.

“For many PE teachers, the main hurdle to overcome is sport specific knowledge so ETP has been designed with that in mind. It is a Key Stage 3 scheme of work supported by a CPD opportunity and underpinned by playing opportunity and Scorpions led open access development days where young people can receive expert coaching, profiling and signposting to the next stage of development.”

Idris Evans, Wales Rugby League’s National Development Manager has praised the Scorpions for giving this opportunity to schools in the area.

“Working with local schools will give the Scorpions an excellent opportunity to pick up young talented players whilst at the same time generating further interest in the Champion Schools programme,” he said.

“We have seen some really good players coming through the Champion Schools competition this year that have fed straight into the WRL “Players to Leaders” programme, allowing for players from both the schools and community game to develop their skills and knowledge of the game, the Embed the Pathway programme will only strengthen this and open up new opportunities for participation in schools.”

The Embed the Pathway resource provides 24 lesson plans in blocks of 3 x 8 units of work (one for each of years 7, 8 and 9) that hit four key development needs for young players…

(1) Game Sense

(2) Movement Skills

(3) Coachability

(4) Mental Skills

By taking part, each school becomes a WRL Player Development School and a Scorpions Player Development Partner. ETP is open to every school regardless of number size and location that delivers ETP at Key Stage 3 as part of their teaching curriculum.

The intention is to roll out the programme on a phased geographical basis with the first teacher CPD being held during May at Caerphilly RFC. The FREE TEACHER CPD course takes two hours and will be held out of core school hours and run by members of the RFL Embed the Pathway Team in conjunction with South Wales Scorpions.

Course Details

Venue:- Caerphilly RFC, Virginia Park, Virginia Close, Caerphilly. CF83 3JA

Date & Time:- Thursday 5^TH May 2016 4:00pm til 6:00pm

To register your interest and receive details of the Teacher CPD please visit the web link below:

http://www.rugby-league.com/get_involved/coach/embed_the_pathway