NLD Girls U16 Foundation Programme

While the name of the programme has changed, the ethos and purpose continues to be a development-focused pathway programme for girls with the talent and ambition to progress within rugby; whether within their club set-up, into the NLD u18s representative side or into an RFU Player Development Group centre (formerly Centres of Excellence).

Sadly, we are saying goodbye to our Manager Ken James and our Lead Coach James Hamilton, along with Assistant Coach Chris Rudkin who have been with us since the introduction of the DPP programme in 2022. We would like to extend a huge thank you to Ken, James and Chris, as well as to Jess Weaver who left us at the end of the first year, for their efforts in establishing and maintaining such a strong programme in the first two years.

 We are pleased to announce that we already have a new Lead Coaching team in place: Guy Hope will be Executive Lead Coach with responsibility for overseeing the coaching team in providing a high-quality programme experience in line with a clear vision; Stacey Coulthard and Simon Jewkes will be co-Lead Coaches with responsibility for heading up a strong coaching team in the delivery of successful programme sessions. Simon is stepping up from his role as an Assistant Coach in the first two DPP seasons and Guy and Stacey bring with them a wealth of experience from coaching within the BUCS, RFU, IRFU and C of E formats. We are also pleased to say that Connor Power is staying on as Strength and Conditioning coach, Holly Felton as Assistant Coach and Katie Nesbitt and Chelsea Hillsley as Auxiliary Coaches. Debbie Linn, NLD Girls Opportunity Officer, and Siobhan Peeling, NLD Head of Girls Rugby, will also continue to ensure oversight and support from within the NLD Age Grade Committee.

As we come to the end of the first two-year programme cycle and restructure our leadership team, we have also made changes to the application process for next season’s players. Applications for the NLD Foundation Programme (formerly DPP) 2024/25 season will be in the form of self-nomination by players and we are asking all interested girls to put themselves forward, including players who have already been on year 1 of the programme this season, so that our new team can have a fair look at everyone wanting to take part in the programme at the assessment sessions.