Rugby Academy kicks off

The Huntley Rugby Academy has had a wonderful trip to the Massey University Rugby Academy last week. The boys were timed and tested in a number of key areas and emerged from the day with a list of key skills to work on. Each player also has a positional individualised programme sheet to help them perfect their positional play. These were kindly introduced to the boys by the Manawatu Turbos conditioning coach.

This week we have had Sarah Harris who is the High Performance Director at Equestrian Sport New Zealand talk to the boys about goal setting. One of the key facets of Sarah’s talk was the importance of setting short and long term goals and having a plan to achieve them. One fact she shared with the boys was that the average Super Fifteen player has a rugby life span around 3 years and this is why it is important to plan for a life after sport.

Coaches Sam Edwards and Mark McAlley have been very impressed with the boys’ enthusiasm for the academy. “We realise that the boys must enjoy this. It has to remain fun for them, after all they are 11-12 year olds and they have a lot of rugby in front of them.” said Mr Edwards. Having outside people come in and share their experience has been invaluable in ensuring the success of the programme. We have attracted a number of boys to the school because Huntley has an enviable reputation in educating these boys and also offers high quality coaching rarely see at this age level.

The rest of the term has the boys heading off on their northern tour to play Southwell School in Hamilton, a visit from a nutritionalist, a coaching session with PNBHS and Feilding High School.