Life As A Young Athlete

training for their future everyday

Life as a Young Athlete

THE FUTURE WOLVES OF SUPER LEAGUE

With grazed knees, battered bodies and surrounded by the inescapable stench of sweat, the boys stumbled back into the changing rooms. Despite their bruised and slightly crippled appearance, there was a proud sense of achievement on every one of their faces. The Warrington Wolves Under 16 academy had won their County level match against Cumbria with an impressive score of 48 - 6. Looking around the room, during their post match talk, every single boy was proud to be part of the Wolves family. But what does it actually mean to be a boy of 15 or 16 and be apart of this respected and renowned club?

Being one of the 12 professional clubs of the Super League, Warrington Wolves have an incomparable academy structure, built on respect, hard work and dedication. Working together as a team to build each individuals abilities to their best possible standard;

friendships are created which could last a life time. From the high intensity and top quality training once a week, combined with academic commitments and fitness education, the group of 39 boys became very close in a short amount of time.

To these boys, being a part of this academy is being a part of family.

When speaking to the older team members, from the Under 19s squad, each boy had his own brilliant and impressive view of the academy, but one thing stood out to me, to which everyone agreed, “You will not leave the Wolves Academy the same person you were when you started�. Not only do the coaches want to develop the athletic abilities of the squad, but also develop them as a person by

teaching them respect and sportsmanship as part of the academy education programme.

The standards of the club are exceptional! With the minimum criteria for coaches being of an excellent standard, which is parallel to the high performance environment the squad train in, both team and position specific training is of an unbeatable measure. The man in charge of preparing these boys for their future is The Acting Head of Youth, Junior Recruitment and Development, Phill Jones. His role in the club, besides being amongst one of the many role models for the younger team, is to scout,

“You will not leave the wolves academy the same person you were when you started”

select, train and develop these boys from as young as 14. He overlooks the entire Under 16 squad and trains them to the become the best rugby players they can be. However, not only does he look after the team, he also offers parental support and education to the parents and guardians of the players; including aspects of their lives such as diets, fitness and sleeping patterns.

When speaking to Matthew Pye, 15, who is a member of the Under 16’s squad, he shed light on what it’s like to be so young but yet to be living everyday with your future in mind. For these boys everyday decisions, such as something as simple as what they

want for their dinner, have to be considered carefully. To people outside this community it might sound like hard work for something not guaranteed at such a young age, to which Matthew replied with “It may seem like hard work, like too much effort, but you know when you’re out there training in all weathers for hours at a time, if you do it right and put that effort in, you might get something out of it in the future that will be worth all the aches and pains of training”. Matthew also goes on to say how even though they’re currently a group of 39, he feels like each boy is “seen as an individual with individual needs”. Looking into this statement further, you can see how this is true in more ways than one. Not only does each player have training

“An individual with individual needs”

specific to their strengths and weaknesses, but they all have access to the experienced sports physio, Ben Stirling.

As his role within the squad, his job is to know every players muscles as if they were his own, to know how far each player can be pushed and how much field time their bodies can cope with.

It is clear to see from spending any time with the squad, they’re not just a family brought together through their love of playing rugby; but a well oiled machine working together as one.