On every Monday this month, Wakefield Wildcats will be extending their Embed The Pathway offer to incorporate under 15 and under 16 Open Access Development Days.
The days follow the format of the club’s successful Embed The Pathway programme and the first two sessions have seen over 50 boys from West Yorkshire in attendance.
Attendees have included former scholarship and current community club players, alongside players from schools and some players that had never played Rugby League before.
The Open Access format allows all attendees to be put through their paces over a three-hour session by England Player Development Coaches, Darren Fisher along with James Stephenson, Martyn Reilly & Gareth Spedding.
Wakefield Head of Community & EtP Lead James Stephenson said: “We’ve been delivering Embed The Pathway from under 12s to under 14s for the past 12 months and we thought we’d try the ETP 14+ programme.
“We’ve been really happy with the enthusiasm the lads are showing and will be planning more for later this year and beyond.
“There is a healthy rivalry amongst some of the players from the different clubs they play at, but they all come with the understanding that it is an offer to help them be the best they can be and continue enjoying their Rugby League.”
Anthony Atherton, the RFL’s National Talent Development Officer, added: “The Wakefield programme for ETP has gone from strength to strength since James took it on.
“This is a groundbreaking retention strategy and we’ll be working closely with James to map the participants’ journeys and look at how this model can be replicated.”
The dates for future open access development days are as follows;
Under 12/13s boys – Tuesday 16th August
Under 14s boys – Wednesday 17th August
Under 15/16s boys – Mondays 15th & 22nd August
Women and girls – Friday 19th August
For further details, email james.stephenson@wakefieldwildcats.co.uk