Sixteen experienced coaches from England, Ireland, Germany and Wales met in Cardiff to participate in an RLEF Level 2 coaches course, held at the Sport Wales headquarters.
Leeds Rhinos’ foundation coaches, Leon Crick and Chev Walker attended as project partners. Wales Rugby League national manager Idris Evans was joined by six Welsh candidates, with Anthony Loxton entered onto the RLEF’s coach educator pathway. Bob Doughton, Simon Cooper and Mawuli Amefia represented Germany, and Mike Aughey, Tony Dale and Wayne Kelly represented Ireland, with Kelly joining Loxton on the educator programme.
“The course was very helpful for me both as a coach and as a player,”commented Amefia. “I’ve learned a lot and I can’t wait to pass the knowledge on in Germany. It helped me understand yet again how important coaching the basic core skills is to all players, no matter what level they are at.”
Dublin-based Aughey said: “It was a very good, productive four days working with coaches from different countries. There were open discussions with input from all, and great practical and classroom sessions led by our partners Leeds Rhinos.”
The attendees will now undertake a series of continuing professional development tasks that will be used to evaluate their competence and progression.
The course was past of the EU backed TEP, a three-year, €723.000 investment into capacity building through good governance and technical training. Jointly funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ project, the RLIF, and five of its full members, the TEP is intended to build the knowledge and skills of the RLEF’s 21 European members, through high quality training and mentoring. Divided into six regional clusters, all individual member countries are granted the opportunity to share experiences amongst fellow Europeans dedicated to rugby league development.
