London Skolars are delighted to announce the return of our Half-Term Activity Camps this October and there will be something for everyone with two days of camps for all age groups and abilities. We are excited to announce one day of brand new Multi-Sport and Activities, while the other day will cover specific Rugby Development Skills, with both camps taking place at New River.
The Skolars Multi Sport and Activity Camps are aimed at U7 to U14 boys and girls playing age groups and provide organised, educational, inclusive and structure activities, utilising our experienced and qualified coaches from the London Skolars Community Team.
In these sessions coaches will deliver a variety of sports and activities, creating a fun and enjoyable environment in which participants will work closely with each other and their coaches to gain the maximum amount of fun from the day.
Specific Course Information:
Course: Skolars Multi Sport & Activity Camp
Date: Wednesday 26th October 2016
Time: 10am Registration – 3.30pm Pick Up
Venue: New River Sport & Fitness, White Hart Lane, N22 5QW
Ages: U7 to U16
Price – £10 per day
The Skolars Performance Rugby Camps are aimed at U11 to U16 boys. The intensive one-day course will allow participants to develop their core rugby techniques as well as a focus on helping to improve specific skills. Players in attendance will receive advice from Skolars 1st Team and Academy staff that will help facilitate game development and gain knowledge on certain themes of their play which can assist each player and their team-mates to develop their overall rugby game.
The Core Modules which will be covered during the day will be:
- Fundamental Catch & Pass Skills
- Beating a Defender & Winning Contact
- Progressive Contact Techniques
Specific Course Information:
Course: Skolars Performance Rugby Camp
Date: Thursday 27th October 2016
Time: 10am Registration – 3.30pm Pick Up
Venue: New River Sport & Fitness, White Hart Lane, N22 5QW
Ages: U11 to U16
Price – £10 per day
Bookings for both days can be made online at www.skolarsrl.com/tickets/buy-tickets/
For more information please call 020 8888 8488 or email claudiaortiz@skolarsrl.com
The year 2016 has been a good one for the club all round, with numerous exciting developments happening in all facets of the club both on and off the field.
At first team level the club have continued to progress, enjoying one of their best seasons in some considerable time. After a couple of difficult recent seasons, head coach Jermaine Coleman was hired mid-way through the 2015 season, he and his staff have injected fresh ideas in to the team, these started to pay dividends towards the back end of that year. With a full pre-season to instil his ideologies on how Rugby league should be played this year the club have kicked on.
The first team suffered an early blip against Pilkington Recs in the Challenge cup, however this seemed to serve as a wakeup call to the players, who then went on a five game undefeated streak- the longest in the club’s time as a semi-professional club. Particular highlights of this run were the wins away against Doncaster and North Wales respectively.
The team saw their unbeaten streak end against Keighley Cougars in the Ipro cup, however revenge would not have to wait long as Skolars would then beat the Cougars in the league less than a month later. Some choice words from the Keighley coach proving superb motivation. The following month would see the London Skolars topple another traditional powerhouse of the competition in an absolute thriller at New River, this time it was Barrow Raiders who were edged out 42-34.
Top eight status was sealed with the second last game of the season, although it was not easy for the Skolars, waiting until the last play of the game to kick a conversion to win 23-22 against Gloucester All Golds.
The Super Eights have not gone to plan for the Skolars, with injuries beginning to take their toll. Nevertheless, what is certain is that they have proved a valuable learning experience in the consistency required to be a promotion winning team. It has made the team hungry to push for promotion again in 2017 which for a team as relatively young as the Skolars and with such obvious potential is feasible.
The club’s award’s ceremony was held Friday evening and the winners of the awards are as follows-
Coaches Player of the Year- Ryan Chester
Directors Player of the Year- Sam Nash
Players Player of the Year- Dave Williams
A special mention should be made to our captain Dave Williams, along with John Paxton and Joe Price who all surpassed 100 appearances for the club during the course of this season.
In light of recent events, it is important to highlight that the relative success of the London Skolars has been in large part down to players born and raised in London. Of the forty strong, signed regular training group, thirty-two of these are from clubs outside the traditional Rugby league ‘heartlands.’ The club has players who originated from all four areas of London as well as Cambs, Northants, Herts and Beds. Of the eight players from the north and the southern hemisphere, five played this season, these were Jymel Coleman, Jermaine Coleman, Sam Nash, James Hill and Stephen Bannister.
When the club has decided to make a loan move to cover injuries or improve the squad, they have been London bred players who have fitted in seamlessly to the squad. These being Oscar Thomas, Alex Walker and James Woodburn-Hall.
These figures are promising for Rugby League in the south and credit should also go to those dedicated staff members at junior & university clubs around the region who have identified these players, convinced them to pursue rugby league and helped nurture them into the players they are now.
On the youth and community side the club has continued to improve in terms of both participation and ability.
Our mini’s section has had over 35 children regularly playing most Saturday’s, they also held the biggest festival of 2016 where 16 clubs from around London were present.
The under 13 squad was by far the largest in the competition with over 35 players turning out for the team. The side ended up finishing the league season in third place and narrowly being knocked out of the play off semi-final to eventual winners Elmbridge Eagles.
The under 15’s also saw their numbers grow considerably, this saw them win their opening four fixtures before flagging towards the end of season. Between this team and the under 13’s 9 players went on to represent the North in the Origin series.
The highlight of our youth section this year was the under 17 team. They began their season by winning the annual 9’s tournament. They went on to go undefeated through the regular season, winning all twelve games scoring 430 points and conceding just 56, although they would narrowly lose out in the league grand final to Brixton they would compensate for this by winning the Cup competition. On the back of this performance, 4 of the players have signed with professional Rugby Union Academies and 5 were selected for the Rugby League origin series. This bodes well for the future as the club hopes to see a few of these progress into the first team soon.
In the community, London Skolars have reached more children than ever. The community staff delivered Rugby League coaching sessions to over 1000 Primary & Secondary school programmes through the assistance of SkyTry. It hosted over 200 pupils at primary school rugby festivals run by London Skolars and finally it hosted 60 pupils for a tag tournament at the HAC prior to the Capital Challenge.
Off of the field the club finally opened its new clubhouse. Along with a great new office space for the club employees to work, there is also a gym that will be of great assistance in getting London Skolars players of all ages in shape for forthcoming seasons. The greatest feature however is undoubtedly the new bar, beautifully designed and well stocked, it will serve as a great social hub for home fixtures and numerous other events that it is available for.
The club would like to thank- the fans for being loyal to the club, we hope to see more of you back next year where we hope to serve up some more good rugby, the board for all the of the work they do behind the scenes, the coaching & playing staff for the rugby they have produced this year and finally all of the club sponsors who’s support makes all of the work we do possible.
London Skolars have expanded their Community Department with the addition of Community Coach Apprentice Aston Stephenson.
The Skolars have benefitted from a partnership between the London Foundation and Coach Core. The Coach Core consortium brings together six major organisations including the London Rugby League Foundation and the MCC, to support 20 apprentices to become qualified sports coaches.
The Fulham FC Foundation, sport for social change charity Greenhouse Sports, London Youth Rowing and the West Ham United Foundation are also backing the scheme.
Coach Core is a programme funded by The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, and already operates in three other major UK cities. The Coach Core consortium not only provides an apprenticeship, it also makes available additional training in terms of coaching qualifications and Create Development courses.
Apprentices will also have the opportunity to gain invaluable experience through supporting an international Test Match at Lord’s and other major sporting events.
Aston will support Community Development Manager Matt Cuss and will be an invaluable full-time resource to help with the expanding school portfolio that the Skolars partner with. Aston joins the organisation after completing his education at Barnet & Southgate College, where he was an important member of the Rugby Academy. Aston is also a product of the Skolars Junior pathway and is looking forward to getting started in the role and having a positive effect on the development of the next batch of Skolars youngsters.
He commented ‘I’m really excited to start at Skolars and to get out into the Community, it’s evident to see the good work that Skolars are doing and I’ll certainly be looking to continue in that vein.’
Community Manager Matt Cuss who will over-see Aston’s work commented on the appointment ‘Aston is a fantastic individual who has a real passion for the club and development of Rugby League in general. He has come through our Junior system and our College Academy at Barnet & Southgate and is well known around the club. As our delivery portfolio looks to increase, it was vital that we recruited a quality person to help us deliver on this and I am extremely pleased to have someone like Aston in post and we are very fortunate to have benefited from the excellent partnership that Dan at the London Foundation has set up with Coach Core.
After much anticipation the four nations is back for our viewing pleasure. It has been almost two years since we have seen the best four rugby league nations do battle in this format, and almost five years since it has taken place on British soil. What makes this tournament all the more exciting is that with 2017 being a World Cup year, we will be sure to see all of the world’s best players on show as they step up preparations for the big trophy next year. London Skolars are especially pleased to announce they have tickets for the double header at the Ricoh Arena AND England vs Australia at the Olympic Park.
Australia as usual will be the team to beat, they have the most overall wins in the competition with two- those coming in 2011 and 2009. They are also the current World Champions after defeating New Zealand convincingly in the 2013 World Cup final 34-2. They have quality in abundance, with the skills they demonstrate a sight to behold. This is encapsulated perfectly by their half back pairing Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston, a future immortal who is the current Clive Churchill, Dally M and world player of the year title holder. Although many point to the teams experience as a major factor in their ability to close games, critics claim the team is aging and struggles with more robust teams. Mal Meninga could combat that with a wealth of young exciting talent he has at his disposal, with the likes of Semi Radradra, Corey Oates and James Tedesco all in consideration. Whoever he decides to blood, it will be exciting to see them for what will probably be their first foray on UK soil.
New Zealand will again fancy themselves to go all the way and win this year’s Four Nations, as they are the current holders after they defeated Australia in the final at the WestPac stadium in Wellington 22-18. The kiwis are well known for their combination of aggression and flair. The pack features some of the most destructive players in the game such as Martin Taupau, Jason Taumololo and Jesse Bromwich. It is then complemented perfectly by the exhilarating Shaun Johnson and Isaac Luke. When New Zealand’s completion is high, they are almost impossible to beat.
Scotland are the qualifying nation that help to comprise this year’s four nations. Although they will be unfancied in this tournament as the fourth nation often are, they do not lack in ability. Their half back combination would not look out of place in the NRL. Danny Brough is one of the most creative players in the whole of Super League and a former man of steel, whilst Peter Wallace is enjoying some great form at the Penrith Panthers as they make their push for the NRL grand final. This will be their first appearance in the four nations and they will want to make sure they impress. London Skolars fans will also hope to see Oscar Thomas pull on the Scottish jersey after he served the club well in his loan period at the back end of this season.
Finally, England will be hoping they can go one further than their best effort and win the four nations. Their first international trophy since 1972. England’s squad is getting better year upon year, aided by several players testing themselves in the NRL with great success. Many will know of Sam Burgess’ success down under, but will not know as much about Josh Hodgson’s, the Hull KR hooker has been easily one of the top two hookers in this year’s competition. He has also been supported at Canberra by Elliot Whitehead, the former Bradford and Catalan man. If England’s players can bring their form into the four nations with Wayne Bennetts guidance, they will be a force to be reckoned with.
The four nations double header takes place on Saturday November 5th at the Ricoh Arena, England take on Scotland in the first fixture which is then followed by Australia vs New Zealand. These are priced at £20 adults and £10 concessions.
The following weekend on the 13th of November, England take on Australia at the Olympic Park. Tickets for this fixture are £25 adults and £15 for concessions. You can purchase these on the club website, simply click here.
