Dubai: UAE Rugby on Wednesday unveiled its Elite Player Programme (EPP), a long-term strategy aimed at identifying, increasing and developing future Emirati players for the UAE national team.
The primary goal of the EPP is to focus on the development of 25 Under-18 Emirati players every calendar year.
“It is a necessity that these players show strong potential, in skills and mental aptitude, to progress to a higher level, with the ultimate aim being UAE national team representation on the international stage,” said UAE Rugby secretary general Qais Al Dhalai.
Apollo Perelini, UAE Rugby’s head coach and high performance manager said: “In the first year our focus will be the senior elite U-18’s, [in] year two, we will widen our reach to junior elite U16, and [in] year three we will bring in a junior U-14 category. These three levels of development will give us a stronger platform to identify and develop our elite players and provide us with a sustainable future for Emirati players.” he added.
Each year, each group will participate in numerous training camps and focus on age-specific skills and fitness.
The U-18’s will be exposed to game and training analysis, skills and game management and position specifics. The U-16’s will be exposed to the basic, technical aspects of the game, including game awareness; while the U-14’s will be exposed to the basic fundamental skills of rugby. The U-16 and U-18 groups will also undergo a series of fitness tests.
The programme will commence January 1, 2017.
