Leicester Tigers coaches are continuing to develop young players at Brooksby Melton College in spite of the impact of Covid-19.
The Leicestershire college, like schools and colleges across the UK, has been forced to close its doors to the vast majority of students following the outbreak of coronavirus.
But young rugby players enrolled on Brooksby’s rugby programme – delivered in partnership with the Tigers – are being encouraged to continue their development with pioneering new learning techniques.
These include digital sessions on topics like strength and conditioning, drugs in sport and concussion, as well as live contact with Tigers coaches via video link. Wider support around career and lifestyle advice will also continue, while students can submit work through the college’s virtual learning environment.
Steven Baker, senior rugby development officer at Leicester Tigers, said: “For me, I feel that this is an amazing opportunity as a coaching team to provide an innovative way of rugby learning – it challenges us as professionals to create the resources and challenges aspiring student athletes to maintain their engagement with the programme.
“As a service provider it is our duty to maintain our high standards of delivery and support these learners with their goals in order to transition onto their next level of performance from a rugby, academic or lifestyle perspective.
“These are going to be incredibly difficult times for young athletes at the moment, both physically and mentally, and providing this programme of delivery to them will encourage them to look after themselves, as well as their peers and loved ones by sharing the information they will learn.”
Tigers Academy coach Tom Harrison heads up the delivery of Brooksby’s rugby programme alongside Baker. He explained the thinking behind moving education online.
“Having access to [specialist software] Coach Logic has allowed us to make this transition to education online with video content,” he said. “It’s widely known that Generation Z spend 23 or more hours a week streaming video and 80% of them claim to have learned something from a YouTube video.
“Alongside our usual performance analyst work, we are aiming to create engaging videos and workbooks that will upskill our student-athletes and help them to plan out their futures.”
Brooksby Melton College recorded their highest-ever finish in this season’s Academic and Sporting Excellence (AASE) League and also retained their County Cup title earlier this month.
You can read more about how the programme is helping to reshape stereotypes and the next generation of Tigers by clicking here.
Places are still available at Brooksby Melton College for 2020/21. Find out more about the rugby and education provision at BMC and apply now using the link below.
