England call-up for Davidson

[josie andrews]

Alex Davidson, a Year 11 pupil at Bolton School and already a first-team rugby player, has been called up to the England Under-16 s Rugby League team.

He will be part of the squad that takes part in a three-Test series against France in April.

Alex, has impressed while playing for the North-West of England.

Alex currently has a scholarship with Wigan Warriors and hopes to sign a full contract with them next year.

He said: “I’ve been part of the national camp u14s set-up before but to be called up to the u16 squad is a real honour.”


http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/bo ... _Davidson/

[Wigan Watcher]

Personally I don’t think it is right for a young guy to step up above his age. I can accept other peoples point of view on this but rugby is not like other sport and feel why do it apart from people saying it makes them a better player. I personally don’t agree.

Let the lad develop at the right pace and congratulations on being such a good player but the sport of rugby will wait for you don’t try and chase success, you have a long career ahead of you, step up to the plate when you really need too.

Just two words come to mind. BURN OUT!

[Wigan Watcher]

I suppose if your good enough your old enough !

Not the case with younger players, they may have the size and ability but they do not have the mental attitude and normally physical presence. On top of that they have no need what so ever to play above themselves. I have seen it more than twice now where it has all gone wrong due to coaches and parents allowing it to happen. I would like some one to explain why they want a young guy to play for a under 16’s team.. Who gets what out of it apart from the coach?

It’s wrong!

[The JGG]

I suppose if your good enough your old enough !

Not the case with younger players, they may have the size and ability but they do not have the mental attitude and normally physical presence. On top of that they have no need what so ever to play above themselves. I have seen it more than twice now where it has all gone wrong due to coaches and parents allowing it to happen. I would like some one to explain why they want a young guy to play for a under 16’s team.. Who gets what out of it apart from the coach?

It’s wrong!

But he isnt 11 it says year 11 so he is at the right age group.

[Wigan Watcher]

I suppose if your good enough your old enough !

Not the case with younger players, they may have the size and ability but they do not have the mental attitude and normally physical presence. On top of that they have no need what so ever to play above themselves. I have seen it more than twice now where it has all gone wrong due to coaches and parents allowing it to happen. I would like some one to explain why they want a young guy to play for a under 16’s team.. Who gets what out of it apart from the coach?

It’s wrong!

But he isnt 11 it says year 11 so he is at the right age group.

Then its clear I have got the wrong end of the stick, some people would say as usual so I will say it for them.
I thought the posting was because he was at a younger age than the age level he was playing for..

[josie andrews]

The post was to highlight that we have a young player who is on a Wigan Warriors Scholarship selected to play for England.

[Wigan Watcher]

I take that on board now and thank you for clearing it up for me.

[nathan_rugby]

y11 = 15 year olds turning 16

U16s = 15 year olds and people turning 16

Good on him.

Our wigan academy have had alot in the past years on national camp etc

jack hughes
matthew sarsfield
ryan king
liam thompson
logan tomkins
ian thornley

[gpartin]

I WW's defence I also read it as him being 11

[cpwigan]

I have never had an issue with players playing above their age group. It is tried and tested and I myself did so from the age of 10 upwards.

I actually prefer the system used quite a lot in Australia where players are categorised by weight rather than age. It is even more an issue in Aus because of the growth spurts of young polynesian boys who are massive for their age group.

Ian Thornley and Owen Faz both regularly played a year above for Pats. It would have been silly for either not to. Even now I see a real need for Wigan RLFC to fast track Ian Thornley because unless he is physically challenged he will not learn evasion techniques etc and thus when it comes to SL he will get a culture shock as do all youngsters who simply outshine their age group by physical domination.

It took Ian Lucas several seasons to learn how to absorb/ride tackles because as a youngster he would simply run through defenders as if they were not there and score length of the field tries. That happened at every age group until he got to first team.

Often the youngsters who has had to develop skill rather than use brute strength develops into a far better player in the long run.