A new strategic partnership has been created between The University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s Academy of Sport, Llandovery College and Llandovery RFC to provide a pathway for students to combine their academic and rugby aspirations through Further, Higher Education and semi-professional rugby.
All three organisations have already collaborated on key academic and sporting ventures and this partnership further strengthens their relationship.
The learner is central to the UWTSD Group, and their commitment to providing an excellent learning experience is at the heart of their activities.
All three institutions aim to support students involved in high performance rugby while they study.
This partnership will provide students with access to professional-level rugby coaching and strength and conditioning training, as well as advice on nutrition, diet, and lifestyle.
The students will have a range of academic options as well as playing in the WRU U18 Colleges/Schools League while at Llandovery College. This is also the case when they then move onto UWTSD for their Higher Education and play in the BUCS Rugby Union League / Cup structure.
Supporting them alongside this will be Llandovery RFC who have pathways to their teams at U18 and their Semi-Professional team.
Lee Tregoning, Head of the UWTSD Academy of Sport said:
“We are constantly looking to enhance the linkages between further and higher education to create unique pathways such as this for academic excellence and high-performance in rugby that will benefit our learners.
“We welcome the opportunities this creates for greater alignment between the three institutions. We aim to develop and enhance our partnership and to maximise further, higher education and Semi-professional rugby opportunities for learners in both academia and rugby.”
Gareth Potter, Head of rugby at UWTSD said:
“The services that all parties provide will give a typical student a five-year pathway where they can train and play at the highest level in college, university sport and semi-professional rugby while also achieving their academic goals.”
Dominic Findlay, Llandovery College Warden added:
“We are delighted to be joining both Llandovery RFC and UWTSD in a really exciting partnership giving our talented aspirational young Rugby players the opportunity to train and play for a leading Welsh Premiership side whist combing their Further education courses.
“The College has successfully worked with both institutions over many years and this partnership will bring even further benefits to our pupil body. Working to keep bright Welsh qualified boys and girls in Wales and the area is hugely important as the WRU and the Regions work their way through the many challenges they face. The future is the young talent of Wales that this partnership will help create yet another pathway over the coming years.”
Peter Rees, Llandovery RFC Chairman said:
“The Drovers have always benefitted from an excellent working relationship with Llandovery College and we are now delighted to broaden our partnership to include UWTSD.
“The Premiership in Wales is a really important part of the pathway to professional rugby but it can be a challenging career so it is really important that we can provide our players with every opportunity to develop their academic career in parallel with playing and similarly we want to provide talented students at the College and University an opportunity to start their professional rugby career at the highest level of club rugby in Wales. We believe that this is one of the first such relationships built around a Welsh Semi – Pro club and it demonstrates the important emphasis we place on all aspects of player development at Llandovery RFC”
