Ulster Rugby vs Toulouse

KIERAN CAMPBELL: ACADEMY BOSS CAMPBELL TARGETS FUTURE Kieran Campbell, Head of the Hughes Insurance Ulster Rugby Academy, is a natural enthusiast, but at the moment he and his management team and players are really ‘buzzing’.

As a player with Ulster a decade ago he was a bubbly, effervescent figure at the base of the Ulster scrum, a pivot of real intelligence and an avid student of new coaching techniques, soaking up new ideas as inventive as his playing style: sharp, thoughtful, searching, probing. There are lots of reasons for his huge optimism at the moment, not least the new arrival of Les Kiss to take charge of the senior squad, so keen to bring the future generation of players in the Academy up through the ranks. Already Jacob Stockdale, Dave Shanahan and others have been put into starting line-ups by Head Coach Neil Doak, given their chance to perform and – just as important in many ways – brought intimately into the panel littered with internationals from all corners of the globe. “We’ve all been impressed at how Les goes about his business, and as coaches and players we’ve bought into his vision, and he in turn has been so supportive in making the entire Ulster Rugby set-up, at all levels, holistic. “We like to say that ‘there’s an Ulster way of doing things’, it’s about values, it’s about a shared philosophy about the game and about the structures which will secure and enhance the future at the very top level,” says Campbell. “And, of course, as Academy management we are always trying to broaden and improve our own systems, and that’s particularly true and evident now in our player identification programme. “I’m lucky to have Bryan Young and James Topping, for instance, on board, and we have a Strength and Conditioning staff which is superb in tailoring programmes for each player, and in using their experience and range of contacts to find the Ulster players of tomorrow. “It’s a truly global effort, identifying those with Ulster qualifications, and whether it’s through people I’ve come across at, say, London Irish, or others at the Academy who’ve real insights into the furthest corners of the game. “A team Head Coach Alex Codling, with his England connections, is well-versed in lads who are playing or are in education there and who we should watch and approach through their parents. “And what has been fantastic about the last year or so has been the way we have developed and

strengthened our links with clubs and schools. They know that we are here to give youngsters the chance to fulfil a potential to play at the highest level. “Trust is what we have earned from the clubs and schools, and that has to be carefully nourished. But we are all focused on the same goal of excellence, whether it’s in education or out there on the pitch. “Together, with the clubs and with the schools we fashion what we call ‘impacts’ – sessions with the Academy here at Kingspan Stadium – to suit each individual. “We have facilities which are the envy of many in the professional game, and when these young players come to join us they don’t just get to use them and to be given specialist coaching, they realise they are immediately part of the whole Ulster Rugby ‘family’. “It’s great to see the guys out there going through drills, and then watch Neil Doak, Allen Clarke, Joe Barakat and others from the senior set-up put them through their paces, give a bit of advice here and there, and Les is monitoring it all. “It still surprises some of the Academy players – even me at times! – when Les and I are discussing how to keep moving forward that he knows each youngster by name, and can tell you, and the player himself often, where he can be helped even more!” What’s known as the High Performance Pathway at the Academy starts with identifying Under 16 and school players who have the potential to play rugby for Ireland, a very high bar but one Campbell insists maintains standards in the panel, in the management team and – a few years hence – on the field in a senior Ulster jersey. “That pathway continues at Under 17 level, leading to the Under 18 clubs and Under 18 Schools’ representative sides. That moved to the Under 19s when streams are merged to produce the Under 20 Ulster team. “And as players progress through they are not just coached in the accepted sense, but our Academy and Sub-Academy panels are assessed against five key performance indicators and upon which we put a lot of emphasis. “They develop strategic, tactical, technical, physical and mental skills, and though that might sound a bit like jargon, it is very practical, it’s done on a collective and one-on-one basis, and is totally in keeping with our holistic approach. We are profoundly committed

KIERAN CAMPBELL

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