The Dragons Age Grade Coaches and Management teams have been confirmed as they begin pre-season fixtures leading into the 2011-12 campaign.
Dragons U18s
Head Coach, Will Thomas
Team Manager, Angie Prangell
Forwards Coach, Robert Sidoli
Backs Coach, Jon Bryant
Conditioning Coach, Josh Robinson
Physio, Ben Warburton
Dragons U17s
Head Coach, Nigel Smith
Team Manager, Simon Leonard
Assistant Coach, Lewis Evans
Conditioning Coach, Lee Wadsworth
Physio, Ben Warburton
Dragons Regional U16s
Head Coach, Grant Robson
Team Manager, Colin Brennan
Forwards Coach, Aaron Coundley
Backs Coach, Matthew Chapman
Conditioning Coach, Gareth Smith
Physio, Sara Buttery & Ian Jones
Dragons Development U16s
Head Coach, Paul Edwards
Team Manager, Mark Phillips
Backs Coach, Richard Smith
Assistant Coach, Adam Hughes
Conditioning Coach, Jack Davies
Physio, Sara Buttery
Regional Age Grade Skills Coaches
Front Row, Huw Gustafson
Kicking, Lewis Robling & Jason Tovey
Scrum Halves, James Leadbeater
The U16s have been training at Newport High School since the beginning of June with the U17s and U18s joining them later that month once all of the GCSE exams had finished.
All of the coaching appointments had been made between Will Thomas, the Academy Manager, Robert Beale, the Director of Rugby and Darren Edwards, Head Coach as the Dragons aim to develop a coaching pathway integrated alongside their player pathway into Semi Professional and Professional rugby. The coaches will additionally be mentored by the Dragons Assistant Coaches Shaun Connor and Rob Appleyard who alongside Darren Edwards presented on the Dragons Way and have been instrumental in developing periodised plans for the season embracing the Dragons core principles.
Will Thomas explained 'the key to a successful player development pathway is ensuring you have quality coaches with the ability to deliver not only the fundamentals but to the needs of the modern game. We have put together coaching and management teams with the skills mix to deliver this alongside less experience coaches who have the passion and attitude to progress through the coaching pathway. With the aim of developing and building a pool of coaches around the region who can deliver not only to our potentially elite players but also to a wider pool of players back in the coaches club or school for seasons to come. It is great for these young players knowing that the likes of Rob Sidoli, Lewis Evans, Aaron Coundley and Huw Gustafson are coming straight off the Dragons training ground and delivering the same skills and techniques that the Senior players are doing. It's additionally great that the WRU and Dragons have developed a vehicle for the likes of Rob and Jon Bryant to further enhance their coaching skills on their way to realising their future ambitions to be a professional coach.'
