After blazing a trail this summer, Newcastle Thunder’s innovative SPARC principals will apply to a relaunched player development programme that begins this October and November with a number of open access development sessions taking place at Kingston Park Stadium.

Developed by the academy coaches at Newcastle Thunder, the SPARC development programme aims to give every male player in school years 10 and 11 the opportunity to regularly access additional coaching opportunities and challenges, regardless of perceived ability or experience.

SPARC is an acronym of the guiding principles of Thunder’s player development work, which aim to identify and nurture skills, physicality, awareness, resilience and character.

All the sessions are held on a Tuesday evening from 18:30-20:30 and provide access to coaches from Newcastle Thunder’s performance pathway and community development teams.

With the dates currently available up until the end of 2019, there will be a further announcement in the near future regarding the training dates for 2020, as well as potential development fixtures which will be arranged as part of the England Talent Pathway 14+ strategy.

Spaces for this programme are expected to be in high demand and we are likely to be limited in our capacity.

Please contact Michael.heap@newcastle-thunder.co.uk to book your place. We will do our very best to accommodate every player where possible.

The dates of the sessions are:

22nd October
5th November
19th November
3rd December
17th December
All players attending the programme are required to register in advance and will receive confirmation of a place. Players should bring with them indoor and outdoor training kit, boots, trainers, any necessary protective equipment, water bottle, notepad and pen.