Aughnacloy College hosts Ulster U18 Development Squad training session

The Ulster U18 Schools and U18 Clubs squads both took part in a recent training session at Aughnacloy College, as the school hosted such an event for the first time.

It's the beginning of a project that will see the school become a major hub for rugby activity, with plans in place to host regular regional programmes in the future.

The site has a fully floodlit 3G pitch and changing rooms, and it's hoped a gym will be built in the near future.

This development will allow Ulster Rugby's Development Squads to conduct all their activity in one location, involving on-pitch training, and athletic development sessions.

Continued development at the school will also benefit other sports beyond rugby, with many different clubs in the area also able to make use of the facilities.

The training session which took place at Aughnacloy College on Thursday the 14th of July included Ulster U18 Club and School players who are preparing for the interprovincial series which takes place in late August.

Ulster Academy and Pathway Coaches were in attendance to deliver content while athletic development, medical, and nutritional staff were on hand to support players with their ongoing development at a key stage in their rugby journey.

The event was attended by the Minister of Education Michelle McIlveen, Chair of Mid Ulster District Council Cora Corry, Councillors and MLAs from all the political parties across Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Aughnacloy College Principal Jeffrey Reid, and the Chair of the Board of Governors, Paul Bell.

They were joined by Ulster CEO Jonny Petrie, who spoke of the plans for the relationship going forward between the club and the college:

"It's great to be down here and to get to see these facilities first-hand and have our development squad here as part of the summer programme.

"One of the traditional challenges we have is around our regional facilities, because we've got kids that come into our programmes from a wide variety of locations across the province.

"The ability for us to work in partnership and look into developing facilities like this is fantastic and allows us to get boots on the ground in non-traditional rugby parts of the province.

"It's very encouraging to see and we hope to work closely with the council and the college in the future."