Vodafone Warriors football staff Tony Iro and Duane Mann plus the club’s welfare and education manager Jerry Seuseu will be in Christchurch for the next three days working alongside the Southern Zone at an under-16 and under-18 development camp.
The joint venture follows on from the inaugural Ruben Wiki Challenge Shield competition run in Auckland in March which involved under-16 and under-18 teams from Akarana and Counties Manukau plus a Vodafone Warriors invitation side and a locally-selected Samoan team.
Recruitment and development manager Iro and academy and pathways head coach Mann will combine with local coaches in a number of sessions culminating in trials on Thursday for South Island under-16 and under-18 sides. Seuseu will support them as well as running welfare and education workshops.
“The camp is a great chance for us to work with the Southern Zone to bring together elite under-16 and under-18 players from around the South Island,” said Iro.
“We’ve scheduled a programme covering conditioning, skills, training, a coaching forum and trials as well as putting a focus on welfare and education.”
The camp, being held at Linfield Park, brings together 35 players in each of the two age groups. The programme begins tomorrow morning with coaches from Aranui High School, St Thomas of Canterbury College and the Southern Zone running conditioning tests followed by skills coaching and game theory sessions with Iro and Mann in the afternoon.
Wednesday’s schedule features two education and welfare workshops plus an attack skills session and training runs followed by a forum for local coaches, manager and trainers in the evening.
The trial for the under-16 teams kicks off at 10.00am on Friday with the under-18s starting at 12.30pm followed by awards to wrap up the event.
