The Coaching Locker is a new web based coaching manual with videos, diagrams and details to help give players their first taste of rugby has been launched by the Welsh Rugby Union
It can be accessed via the Welsh Rugby Union website on www.wru.co.uk or through the domain name www.wrucoachinglocker.co.uk.
The Coaching Locker is available free of charge to anyone who needs to coach young players in the basic skills of the game.
Video clips featuring young players practising drills are on line for coaches to see exactly how their routines will be performed in training.
The films are complimented by easy-to-read diagrams which explain what coaches should aim to achieve in session after session.
The information has been put together by a panel of WRU Rugby Department experts calling on top level coaches to draw up the fine detail of the activities.
The coaching aids are aimed at children from six to 16 and the WRU will expand the site to include senior coaching aids later.
The activities aim to teach young players the basic skills of running, catching, passing and continuity.
The Coaching Locker uses young players in the video clips in order to show exactly how the drills will be performed for real in sessions.
Coaches can then see what their activities and sessions should look like when they run their own young teams through the programmes.
WRU Coach Development Manager (East) Gerry Roberts organised the project with Development Officers Carl Scales and Chris Ower delivering and preparing the programmes.
Roberts said: “The Coaching Locker will help us introduce more youngsters to rugby with the proper core skills to develop their ability to play rugby.
“A lot of hard work has gone into this project but it will undoubtedly prove to be an important tool in the teaching of rugby.
“You have got to put the foundation in first before you start adding the building blocks to get youngsters interested in the game.
The WRU Head of Rugby, Joe Lydon, said: “This is an important initiative for Welsh rugby and will undoubtedly help us in our aim of boosting participation in the game.
“If we want to encourage more youngsters to take part in the game we have to make the game accessible for players and coaches.
“We have to make the game attractive for youngsters and then increase the levels of contact and complexity as they get older and more knowledgeable.
“There is huge interest in Welsh rugby at the moment and the WRU is involved in a series of initiatives aimed at capitalising on that.