Academies visit Thornhill Trojans v Wakefield Trinity RLFC

Wakefield Trinity’s Academy and Reserve players visited Thornhill Trojans this week in the first of a series of planned community training sessions.

The club’s players and coaches used the facilities to conduct a game review within the Thornhill club before taking to the field to conduct a training session.

The players then split into groups to deliver training skills sessions to Thornhill’s U14s and U15s.

At the session Trinity Head of Youth Ben Lazenby said: “I am delighted with the warm welcome we have received from Thornhill Trojans, being able to take our academy training on the road is great for us to be able to connect with the rugby league community and share what we do at Wakefield Trinity . Academy.

Thornhill Trojans have really looked after us, to start with we have our game review from the reserves’ recent win over Bradford in the clubhouse before taking to the pitch to look at some areas for improvement from our last two games , as well as our ongoing speed work. and skill development.

We hope this information session will be the first of many in the Wakefield district. I think it’s really important to share what we do in the Academy with community clubs for a number of reasons – it supports wider engagement and relationships with community clubs, which in turn helps bring the whole game together in Wakefield. By sharing what we teach, how we review and how we coach players, coaches and parents, it provides valuable benchmarks of the on-field development we are trying to achieve at Wakefield Trinity. As we move the Academy forward, taking our community clubs on the journey with us is critical to our long-term success. Taking Academy training on the road makes our training accessible and provides an insight into our training for coaches, aspiring players as well as encouraging our players to learn additional skills in coaching community club juniors.

I was delighted to see how the Reserve and Academy players came together to train Thornhill Trojans U14 and U15 at the end of our training, our players are great role models and it hasn’t been long since they were playing for their community clubs so they are fully relatable to the young players they aspire to. The boys came up with some drills and games around basic skills and stuck with the Thornhill players to make it an enjoyable session for all.”

Going forward, the club are looking to hold another training session on the road in August and hopefully one in September, before planning a series of these sessions throughout the 2025 season.

If any of the clubs in the Wakefield district are interested in hosting the Academy or Bursary for a training session please get in touch [email protected].

This initiative is one of the ways Wakefield Trinity is looking to get more involved with the Rugby League clubs in our community, so keep an eye out for coaching development opportunities, club visits, player pathway activities and camps holidays.