Steve Salvin's Update

Steve Salvin

On his return from a fact-finding mission to London Irish, we managed to catch Academy manager Steve Salvin sat down for a rare 10 minutes. Steve wanted to highlight a few developments within the Academy structure, all of which is good news as the Knights Academy works hard to enhance the talent of the boys involved.
Players out on loan

This year we have increased the number of Academy players who are out on loan at other clubs. This has meant time on the phone fo me organising placements of quality for players at clubs that need someone in that position, to guarantee the boys as much of a chance of playing as possible. Time on the pitch in a competitive environment is as important, if not more important, as Academy and skills work. Players develop from learning within a game situation, from positive and negative experiences, and this year we have a significant amount of Academy players getting game time with local clubs.

Harrogate: Scrum-half Will Robinson and lock Jake Brady.
Hull Ionians: Open-side flanker Callum McKenzie, centre Steve Slingsby, fly-half Joe Wright and second row Joe
Makin.
Sheffield Tigers: Full-back Will Du Rant, prop Mike Ward, hooker Sam Pitcher and open-side flanker Tom Wheeler. Scunthorpe: Prop Ali Fagan.
Huddersfield: Winger James Wood. The continuing development of these players relies on real-time competitive experience.

London Irish visit
I spent three days last week with Justin Bishop and Neil Hateley of London Irish, looking into how a Premiership Academy is run and getting good solid advice and support. I took some good ideas from the Elite Player Development Group set-up, watching them play and train, spent some time with the Senior Academy and witnessed the AASE programme working. The AASE programme has 24 boys attending a local school and training with the club five days a week, which is something under proposal here at Doncaster Knights and is my next piece of news.

Doncaster Knights proposal
We have had discussion with Danum, Hall Cross and Armthorpe schools regarding the way London Irish incorporate local schools.We will be looking to launch a related system where young players attending one of those schools can train one day a week here to keep our local link strong when it comes to player development. This plan also gives the boys a direct pathway into the Knights Academy setup.

NLD link-up
Currently our trainee programme is fed by the South Yorkshire Development (SYD) Programme. This helps us identify boys who are at an ability level that can benefit from time at Castle Park from around the age of 13 years
old. Due to the location of Doncaster and it crossing into North Lincolnshire and bordering Nottinghamshire etc, we have been given an opportunity to link up with the North Notts, Lincs and Derbyshire Development Programme, effectively doubling our potential intake of young player within the local area of the club. As the club grows, so does our catchment area, and it means young players who live within a reasonable distance of the club can now get a chance to be recommended.

Stuart Lancaster meeting
This week myself and John Lowe met up with Stuart Lancaster, England Saxons coach now heading up the Academy set-ups. The meeting is themed around ideas, how Doncaster can get involved in national conferences and generally looking about where we can get and give support locally and nationally. Hopefully all this isn’t too much information to take in at once, but it is a busy time for the Academy. The signs are good for our continued development and I hope you can share my enthusiasm that although the work is hard it will pay off in the long run when we can help more players develop to play at the best level they possibly can.

STEVE SALVIN