Area Performance Centre (APC) coaches met for the second time this year in order to continue to improve the teaching and coaching at the APCs. 

 

The meetings were held in conjunction with the Under 15 England Development Squad camps in Doncaster and Bristol. This was a unique opportunity and an initiative to bring the performance development system and coaches closer together. 

 

The purpose of the coaches meetings, held in February, included:

 

 

During the camps, the APC coaches taught on court with the U15 Development Squads teaching fundamental skills under the observation of Performance Pathways Coordinator, Warwick Cann.

 

"The APC is now our direct feeder into the Under 15 Development Squads and Regional Development teams," said Cann.

 

"The APC will concentrate on developing the individual skill level of our players. The technical skill level needs a lot of attention with coaching detail to bring it up to standard. We are trying to build on the foundation achieved by the clubs but together there is a lot of work to do to bring England up to the standard of our European neighbours.

 

"We need to work far more systematically and each play our respective roles to develop the potential talent we have in England," he continued.

 

"It is obvious that while we may have talent, the necessary skill level is not what it should be, based on other countries' development of their players. Therefore we need to work more directly and effectively on developing the individual skills for these 13 and 14 year olds.

 

"The bottom line is we need focused quality coaching and training for young players at all levels including APCs. The camp attendances and meetings, however, were a step in the right direction to developing the necessary quality system with a better focus on teaching the individual fundamentals.

 

"Hopefully club coaches will attend in the future and see what our focus is. This will help our players to improve."

 

The APCs continue on the last Sunday of each month with all club coaches welcome to attend. Full details are on the website in the Area Performance Centre section.