Introduction to conditioning – Youth (pre-level 1)

This course is designed to provide coaches with a basic knowledge and understanding and a foundation of practical skills with regards to conditioning practices for the youth rugby player.

This course builds on the Conditioning Children module and continues to show how the player will develop and grow and outlines challenges this presents for training the physical capacities. This will allow coaches to plan and design appropriate conditioning sessions for the youth rugby player thereby increasing players’ ability to play and compete in the game of rugby both in the present and in the future.

In the course, we include six Multiple Choice Questionnaires (MCQs). The MCQ consists of six questions that all relate to the content described within each module. We have one MCQ placed at the end of each module. The MCQs are intended to help you assess how well you understood the module. When you have answered all the questions, you will be given feedback as to your knowledge of the preceding content. 

Good luck and enjoy the challenge.

The course consists of 5 modules:

  • Long term athlete development
  • Functional screening
  • Game demands, warm-up, and recovery
  • Preparing for resistance training
  • Speed and agility

The modules in this course aim to provide the coach with knowledge and practical skills that they can use when training the youth rugby player. The long term athlete development model builds on knowledge gained from the Children’s Conditioning module and demonstrates how best to train and plan for the continued development of the young player. The functional screening module focuses on the use of the overhead squat as a movement assessment tool. The next module focuses on the game demands of rugby, and how coaches train their players to meet these demands. This module also focuses on warm-up and recovery for young players. In the preparing for resistance training module, the coach will learn about the process of anatomical adaptation and how to plan and implement resistance training. Finally, the speed and agility module builds on the Conditioning Children module and details more training methods to stimulate young players as they grow and mature.