Under 16s competition : Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:20 pm  

Does the way the Under 16s season is currently structured help or hinder the development of young players?

Leeds opened their season with games against Wigan, Saints, Hull KR and Huddersfield. Their final four games are against Midlands Academy, Bradford, London Broncos and Sheffield Eagles.

While it's good for lads at lower league clubs to get the opportunity to play against big name SL sides, what does it help the SL sides - who are, let's face it, primarily responsible for producing the next generation of internationals - to do?

There's much more to developing players at that level than results, so I'm not advocating the introduction of league tables or anything, but should the best young players in the country at that age group be facing each other more often rather than playing games against sides who are at a lower level?

Re: Under 16s competition : Sat Apr 18, 2015 7:26 pm  

They should have league tables, and they should have cups. What is the point in not? They have it from the mini leagues of under10's, so why do they not have it at this level?

I totally agree they should be playing the best ad often as possible, to give them the start of pressure at a professional club.

Re: Under 16s competition : Sat Apr 18, 2015 8:31 pm  

I would imagine the lack of full leagues/cups etc is to do with a relatively small set of fixtures because these lads are still playing for their amateur clubs.

U16's is merely the introduction to pro club environments. It has to be carefully done and you can't just say that more is better. It's the additional training at a higher level along with the introduction to things like self-assessment, performance reviews etc in a professional environment that is the main aim rather than what happens in the games.

The whole amateur system is poorly setup though. A straight league system that mirrors the pro leagues is a crap environment in which to develop skills or to increase participation.

The amateur system should be a series of mini leagues, cups, and different smaller sided, touch & tag competitions that help develop different skills and provide more enjoyable experiences for kids.

Re: Under 16s competition : Sun Apr 19, 2015 6:21 am  

The junior leagues did switch to a series of mini leagues this year. Already they have changed this again, as it didn't really fit.

Under 16's isn't the introduction to pro club environments. They do it much earlier now. Sure you are there more often at under 16's, but they are introduced much younger now. The embed the pathway plan has opened up easier spotting of potential from a younger age.

Re: Under 16s competition : Sun Apr 19, 2015 7:07 am  

Andy Gilder wrote:

Does the way the Under 16s season is currently structured help or hinder the development of young players?

Leeds opened their season with games against Wigan, Saints, Hull KR and Huddersfield. Their final four games are against Midlands Academy, Bradford, London Broncos and Sheffield Eagles.

While it's good for lads at lower league clubs to get the opportunity to play against big name SL sides, what does it help the SL sides - who are, let's face it, primarily responsible for producing the next generation of internationals - to do?

There's much more to developing players at that level than results, so I'm not advocating the introduction of league tables or anything, but should the best young players in the country at that age group be facing each other more often rather than playing games against sides who are at a lower level?

I would have thought at that age the job of the club is to develop the skills i.e. ball handling kicking tackling something we see so lacking in adult pro players. Results are largely irrelevant I would have thought

Re: Under 16s competition : Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:08 am  

Playing against the likes of East Midlands does give a greater opportunity to play.the U15s in the squad, I had 3 play for leeds yesterday 2 of which were making their debut with my 4th, loui, being rested along with the 16s who've played every game.

I'm a big fan of the old service area system that ran from 12s to 15s which I was involved in from 2004, the players benefited from that rep environment even without league tables being kept. I remember travelling to st Helens and Warrington with the likes of Liam Sutcliffe, Jordan baldwinson and micky learmonth and how the players matured with those experiences.

Not a fan of 'embed the pathway' some of the original ideas were absurd and the rfl dressed it up as rep teams being an unsuccessful development tool, they weren't, they just couldn't afford to run a rep programme and CPD programme.

Re: Under 16s competition : Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:17 am  

Gotcha wrote:

The junior leagues did switch to a series of mini leagues this year. Already they have changed this again, as it didn't really fit.

Under 16's isn't the introduction to pro club environments. They do it much earlier now. Sure you are there more often at under 16's, but they are introduced much younger now. The embed the pathway plan has opened up easier spotting of potential from a younger age.

Exactly. The Junior leagues need changing, a straight league system doesn't work and isn't necessary.

No u16's is still the introduction to a pro club environment. Embed the Pathway is to try and prepare ALL players better for that before they reach u16's. And to increase player participation.
And long overdue it is too.

Re: Under 16s competition : Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:03 am  

Seth- I personally think all SL teams at the very least should run u15 ,u16 ,u19 & an A team with an u23 cut off but adding a 3 player of open age allowance.
The Acadamy teams should also play county games imo of course having the likes of the Midlands etc is an added and they should be welcomed into that system what do you think?

Re: Under 16s competition : Sun Apr 19, 2015 12:14 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote:

I would have thought at that age the job of the club is to develop the skills i.e. ball handling kicking tackling something we see so lacking in adult pro players. Results are largely irrelevant I would have thought

Spot on.

Re: Under 16s competition : Sun Apr 19, 2015 6:26 pm  

Gotcha wrote:

They should have league tables, and they should have cups. What is the point in not? They have it from the mini leagues of under10's, so why do they not have it at this level?

I totally agree they should be playing the best ad often as possible, to give them the start of pressure at a professional club.

Because it's not about winning its about development, it's about setting appropriate challenges to the team and its individuals.

Training and selecting a team to win the Cup or League WILL get in the way of developing the skills they need to move on to full time professionalism.

Holistic learning that includes prefab/rehab, hydration, nutrition, self management, goal setting, reflection, analysis, leadership, spatial awareness, conditioning, physical development, fitness, role specifics, positional specific, team specifics, core skill improvement, technical ability, tactical awareness, team play, game structure, game/club vocabulary and more . . is what it's about and you can't learn that ONLY from playing and picking a team just to win means those outside that team don't get developed and are neglected.

Remember you have two cohorts in the U16s, Year 10s U15 and Year 11s U16
Within those year groups there are Quartile 1,2,3 & 4 kids in both age groups who need catering for differently. There are U16s who are physically mature yet are mentally imature and vice versa.

As for the fixtures, the staff will probably pick teams that can cope with the challenge whist still being challenged. So Leeds might pick predominantly U16s to face Wigan but a match against the Midlands offers an opportunity to select more U15s and still challenge them accordingly.

It's about Development not winning!