Michael Black has been working in the Hughes Insurance Ulster Academy for three years, first as Age Grade Performance Manager, and more recently as Provincial Talent Coach.
A big focus for Black over the past two seasons has been on developing the youth game, having witnessed a small number of players coming through the club pathway in comparison to the school system.
There have been some successes, with the likes of Johnny Murphy, Chris Farrell and Adam McBurney making an impact in recent times, but it had been identified as a real growth area.
“There is no doubting the raw material and physical potential of players in the club game, it’s about developing it and providing opportunities,” said Black. “This is being done by investing more time in these players and the support network around them.”
One of the challenges in the past has been talent identification, but that has steadily improved and has been buoyed further by the introduction of Jonny Gillespie as Talent Development Officer last year.
Along with a big network of club and school coaches, he collates a large amount of information on players on a weekly basis.
“For club players, their first step on the development pathway is at U16 Regional Development Squad (RDS) level. This programme from U16/U17 level through to U18s has seen significant changes in recent season,” explains Black.
“There are now four U16 RDS with two sessions per month from October through to April. These squads are run by Ulster Rugby staff and eight Talent Coaches, in addition to the relevant managers, who are all volunteers.
“Further investment in these players at U17 and U18 level can be seen in them training centrally as a squad each week. Jonny Gillespie is the Head Coach of these squads and puts together the technical and tactical content. This is delivered by a mix of staff and volunteer coaches including Academy staff and specialists. Identified players at this level also have S&C coaching support and access to a physiotherapist, when required.”
Black is keen to praise the work of clubs but recognises that the new structures afford players more exposure to training and development games.
“The clubs are doing a great job at youth level in terms of growing the game and coaching these players. However, most clubs only train once per week and have matches that can be sporadic. The aim is to supplement this good work being done by providing additional coaching sessions centrally per week, as well as visiting key players during their school day and squeezing in a 1-on-1 session.
“I also organise a series of ‘development’ games during the season where we play competitive matches against Grammar Schools, which is worked around the club youth league structure. This provides additional rugby as well as stretching players beyond the levels of their current environment, which is key to their development in high performance.”
This added investment, which has been supported by Ulster Carpets and Hughes Insurance, combined with a very strong working relationship with the Ulster Branch Youth Committee, has started to show tangible results…
This season there are two new entrants into the Hughes Insurance Academy who have come from the club youth game; hooker Adam McBurney (Randalstown RFC, now playing at Ballymena RFC) and back row Aaron Hall (Ballyclare RFC, now playing at Ballynahinch RFC).
For the first time in three years, Ulster had representation in the Ireland U18 squad in the form of Rainey RFC second row John McCusker and Armagh RFC tighthead prop Paul Mullan.
During the summer, two of the best U18 club players trained with their Grammar School counterparts and then played in the Schools Inter-provincial Championship. These were tighthead prop Callum Smyth (Rainey RFC) and second row Oisin Kiernan (Virginia RFC) and both performed very well throughout.
Furthermore, Joe Dunleavey (Letterkenny RFC back row) and Cormac Fox (Armagh RFC flyhalf) were instrumental in helping Ulster to secure the recent U19 Inter-provincial Championship, with fine wins over Munster, Leinster and Connacht.
“Results in the U18 Clubs Inter-provincial Championship in recent years may not have gone as well as we’d hope. However, we now have a number of players pressing for places at the next level in Ulster and Ireland representative teams as well as a good number of our U17 and U16 players coming through strongly.
“The next challenge though is to bring through more quality players in a ‘winning’ environment so that they go on to represent successful Ulster and Ireland teams of the future,” concluded Black.
A big focus for Black over the past two seasons has been on developing the youth game, having witnessed a small number of players coming through the club pathway in comparison to the school system.
There have been some successes, with the likes of Johnny Murphy, Chris Farrell and Adam McBurney making an impact in recent times, but it had been identified as a real growth area.
“There is no doubting the raw material and physical potential of players in the club game, it’s about developing it and providing opportunities,” said Black. “This is being done by investing more time in these players and the support network around them.”
One of the challenges in the past has been talent identification, but that has steadily improved and has been buoyed further by the introduction of Jonny Gillespie as Talent Development Officer last year.
Along with a big network of club and school coaches, he collates a large amount of information on players on a weekly basis.
“For club players, their first step on the development pathway is at U16 Regional Development Squad (RDS) level. This programme from U16/U17 level through to U18s has seen significant changes in recent season,” explains Black.
“There are now four U16 RDS with two sessions per month from October through to April. These squads are run by Ulster Rugby staff and eight Talent Coaches, in addition to the relevant managers, who are all volunteers.
“Further investment in these players at U17 and U18 level can be seen in them training centrally as a squad each week. Jonny Gillespie is the Head Coach of these squads and puts together the technical and tactical content. This is delivered by a mix of staff and volunteer coaches including Academy staff and specialists. Identified players at this level also have S&C coaching support and access to a physiotherapist, when required.”
Black is keen to praise the work of clubs but recognises that the new structures afford players more exposure to training and development games.
“The clubs are doing a great job at youth level in terms of growing the game and coaching these players. However, most clubs only train once per week and have matches that can be sporadic. The aim is to supplement this good work being done by providing additional coaching sessions centrally per week, as well as visiting key players during their school day and squeezing in a 1-on-1 session.
“I also organise a series of ‘development’ games during the season where we play competitive matches against Grammar Schools, which is worked around the club youth league structure. This provides additional rugby as well as stretching players beyond the levels of their current environment, which is key to their development in high performance.”
This added investment, which has been supported by Ulster Carpets and Hughes Insurance, combined with a very strong working relationship with the Ulster Branch Youth Committee, has started to show tangible results…
This season there are two new entrants into the Hughes Insurance Academy who have come from the club youth game; hooker Adam McBurney (Randalstown RFC, now playing at Ballymena RFC) and back row Aaron Hall (Ballyclare RFC, now playing at Ballynahinch RFC).
For the first time in three years, Ulster had representation in the Ireland U18 squad in the form of Rainey RFC second row John McCusker and Armagh RFC tighthead prop Paul Mullan.
During the summer, two of the best U18 club players trained with their Grammar School counterparts and then played in the Schools Inter-provincial Championship. These were tighthead prop Callum Smyth (Rainey RFC) and second row Oisin Kiernan (Virginia RFC) and both performed very well throughout.
Furthermore, Joe Dunleavey (Letterkenny RFC back row) and Cormac Fox (Armagh RFC flyhalf) were instrumental in helping Ulster to secure the recent U19 Inter-provincial Championship, with fine wins over Munster, Leinster and Connacht.
“Results in the U18 Clubs Inter-provincial Championship in recent years may not have gone as well as we’d hope. However, we now have a number of players pressing for places at the next level in Ulster and Ireland representative teams as well as a good number of our U17 and U16 players coming through strongly.
“The next challenge though is to bring through more quality players in a ‘winning’ environment so that they go on to represent successful Ulster and Ireland teams of the future,” concluded Black.