Wales RL under 16s to get BTEC presentation

By Ian Golden,

An important Wales under 16 training session is taking place on Friday 6^th May at the Caerphilly County Borough Centre for Sporting Excellence in Ystrad Mynach.

The session will commence with a presentation from Mark Jones and Mark Davies from Coleg y Cymoedd who will outline the opportunities available at the college to be part of the South Wales Rugby League Academy, run by the college in partnership with South Wales Scorpions, and to study BTEC Level 1, 2 or 3 qualifications and/or A Levels alongside a rigid RFL Category 3 Accredited Rugby League programme.

This will be followed by training on the 3G pitch as the squad prepare for the visit of England on Saturday 20^th August.

Wales under 16 team manager Peter Tiffin said: “We would like everyone that wants to be a part of this year’s Wales under 16s Squad to be present as this is a key area to the future development for all players who want to continue within Rugby League.

“Also, this will be the last opportunity before we as staff reduce the training numbers to 26, and we will then up the sessions to a weekly occurrence.”

The Wales under 16s squad held a development day in Builth Wells last weekend so that young hopefuls from all over Wales could attend.

WRL’s coaching and performance development manager Jon Ellis was delighted with how the day turned out.

He said: “We had nearly 40 players turn up including those in Super League academies. Four games were played and they provided a great spectacle of Rugby League for a very large crowd that seemed to increase as the day progressed. I was very impressed with the players on show and I’m sure Wayne Ponting the head coach will have some serious headaches regarding his team selection.”