This week sees London Skolars launch their reserve grade ‘A’ Team. After much discussion and planning the club has come up with a performance plan which will see the ‘A’ Team becoming an integral part of the London Skolars Player Pathway.
The ‘A’ Team will provide Head Coach Jermaine Coleman and his assistants Matt Lambert and Matt Cuss an opportunity to give some of London Skolars most talented young player’s experience of an adult playing environment against some tough opposition in the London Premier Men’s League. U19’s players who have been training regularly with the 1st team throughout the whole of the pre-season like Donovan Noble, Luca Vettori and exciting U17’s like Dillon Adabie and Jerome Yates will all benefit from much needed game time against grown men. These players will hopefully develop in the same way that powerful prop forward Dion Chapman (pictured) has, Dion benefited massively from the A Team environment, and now finds himself starting regularly in League One. It will also give Coleman a chance to give his non-playing members from the Kingstone Press League One squad a real competitive environment through which to regain their place for the weekend’s League 1 fixtures.
The majority of the coaching of the ‘A’ Team will be undertaken by Andy Champ, who comes with a wealth of experience at a variety of levels, previously working with Broncos Academy and Cambridge University. His work will be closely shadowed by all the First Team staff who will ensure that there is absolute synergy between the two squads.
Community Manager and First Team Assistant Matt Cuss spoke about the importance of the A Team “even though we are a bit behind other teams in terms of our entry into the London Premier League, we felt that it was important that we put in place the correct processes to ensure that we got the A Team environment exactly right. The A Team now completes our Performance Pathway here at London Skolars, which begins with our Mini’s, travels right through our Junior teams, through our newly formed Rugby League Academy at Barnet and Southgate College and culminates with selection for the A Team or even better a contract with the Kingstone Press League One Squad.” Cuss continued “our Head Coach Andy Champ brings a renewed energy to the role and he fully understands the purpose of the squad and is really excited about the opportunity of working with some of the raw talent that we possess here at Skolars, he will work closely with Jermaine and the First Team staff in ensuring that the environment is as close to the 1st team as possible, and that players who represent the A Team have a genuine chance to achieve League One selection should their performances warrant it.”
Training will run alongside the League One Squad sessions and will start;
Tuesday 28th April 2015
7pm – 8.30pm @ London Skolars RL, White Hart Lane Community Sports Centre, N22 5QW
Skolars welcome applications of interest from local Rugby Union players who may want to compete in another sport during the summer and any other London based Rugby League players who want to play regular competitive Rugby League and give themselves a chance of a professional contract.
Anyone interested in training and playing with the London Skolars ‘A’ Team are invited to contact the club through Matt Cuss via email on the details below:
matthewcuss@skolarsrl.com
020 8888 8488
