Introductions by Mike Ruddock and Cecil Duckworth

Welcome to The Worcester Academy

Having an Academy structure here in Worcester adds huge value to our organisation. This structure gives us the opportunity to assess fully the skill level & athletic prowess of each individual Academy member. It also allows us to tailor bespoke personal development programmes for each individual player.

I'm a big believer in promoting young players whenever possible, for example during my time at Leinster as coach when I gave" first" professional contracts to the likes of Gordon D'Arcy, Brian O'Driscoll, Leo Cullen, Bob Casey, Girvan Dempsey and Shane Horgan. All these lads had huge talent however they were all prepared to work hard at their game in order to improve. This example shows that talented young players can soon become household names if they are prepared to work hard enough.

I believe that we have the same opportunity here with an outstanding crop of young players that have been developed by Andrew Stanley, Gary Meechan and their staff. I believe a number of those will go on to become household names in the future.

In recent seasons a record-breaking number of players have came through with stars like Tom Wood, Miles Benjamin, Matt Mullan, Chris Pennell, Joe Carlisle, Graham Kitchener, Matt Cox and Jonny Arr all guided into the first team by the work of our Academy set-up.

The Worcester Academy is going from strength to strength are the coaches are doing a fantastic job by attracting the cream of talent in our region. For the young athletes involved they know that they have a chance of making it at the club as our recent track record proves that we are a club that is prepared to give young players an opportunity.

MIKE RUDDOCK OBE, DIRECTOR OF RUGBY

A club and its dedicated supporters can take no greater pride than in seeing one of its very own pull on a first team jersey.

At Sixways Stadium we realise that a successful Warriors Academy is vital to the long-term achievements of the club. But the programme is more than just about finding the stars of the future - it's also about producing talented, educated and well rounded young men.

We have already seeing the benefits of our Academy programme in the last few seasons with a number of top class players now regulars in both our first team and international squads. They are highly talented and motivated individuals who realise they are role models both on and off the pitch.

At Warriors we always create an environment which allows players to develop their rugby skills at a high quality training facility, supported by a team of hard working coaching staff who will be intent on improving them as individuals.

For their part, we expect the highest standards and our Academy players to work hard academically and every time they train. It takes a huge amount of dedication to become a professional rugby player but at Warriors we have proved we have the environment to nature and develop outstanding young rugby players.

CECIL DUCKWORTH OBE, CHAIRMAN

Academy Set-Up

The Worcester Warriors Academy has already started to develop a strong history of developing home grown talent with a number of products now gracing the first team at Sixways Stadium.

Since 2002, and the introduction of the RFU's new Regional Academy programme, Worcester has attracted a number of high quality young players from around the region, and developed a number from within the auspices of its own club.

The role of the Warriors Academy is to identify and develop talented young athletes from the age of 13 to 21 and engage them in an Elite High Performance development programme. Our aim is to provide every player that comes into the Academy structure with a positive experience that enhances them as individuals and maximises their rugby potential, no matter what level they get to. By doing this we are confident we will provide an environment to develop not only good rugby players, but well rounded individuals.

To maximise player potential:
- Each player is unique and therefore requires a unique level of service
- Players will be exposed to the most appropriate learning environments
- Long-term, performance based goals with a player centred approach

Athletes may progress through many Academy levels, sometimes starting at School of Rugby level then moving onto Elite Player Development Group (EPDG) level and finally Regional Academy level.

The objective of the Academy is to maximize the potential of identified elite rugby players and to enhance their personal, education and vocational development opportunities. The standard will necessarily be high, but our aim is to ensure all our Academy members achieve professional contract status.

At Sixways Stadium we have outstanding facilities for the delivery of an elite development programme with weights gyms, physiotherapy rooms, state-of-the-art rubber crumb training areas, floodlighting and analysis rooms.