The Ospreys Academy has teamed up with Nathaniel Car Sales of Bridgend to transport the regions age-grade players to college throughout Ospreylia each morning.
As part of the changes to the development structure at the region this season, age-grade players attached to the Academy at Under-18 level are participating in daily training sessions at the Ospreys Llandarcy base between 7am and 9am.
Thanks to a special agreement between the region and the colleges in Ospreylia (Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend), the players have a delayed start to their college day following training, and thanks to Nathaniel Cars who have supplied the Academy with a pair of mini-buses, they can now be dropped off at their respective destinations swiftly and efficiently straight after their sessions.
Regional Performance Development Manager, Andrew Millward, said:
“We are extremely grateful to Wayne Griffiths and his team at Nathaniel Car Sales for their support in providing us with mini buses that can be used to get our Academy players to their colleges in a timely fashion each day. One of the main problems facing our Under-18 players previously has always been a lack of training time together as they have traditionally been restricted to just a couple of evening sessions a week. To try and overcome that, we made changes to our development structure for this season, which enables the players to train together every day between 7 and 9am, prior to the start of their college day, which will have obvious benefits to the team.
“Clearly, with our young players coming from right across the length and breadth of the region, this brings with it its own logistical problems. Thanks to the understanding and cooperation of the three colleges, with whom we have an excellent relationship, the players involved are able to have a delayed start to their college day. What Nathaniel Car Sales have done with their generous donation is allow us to pull everything together, allowing us to transport the players to and from training first thing in the morning, getting them to college as soon as possible after the morning session finishes.
“We have stressed to the squad the importance of continuing with their formal education alongside their rugby development, and this arrangement is good example of how we are working with our partners to ensure the ongoing holistic development of our new wave of talent.”
Wayne Griffiths, Managing Director of Nathaniel Car Sales, said:
“I’m delighted that Nathaniel Car Sales have been able to show our support for the Ospreys, and in particular, the Academy department, through the provision of these two mini buses which will certainly make the logistics of moving these young players around after training much easier.
“Being based in Bridgend, the Ospreys are our regional team, and as such it makes perfect sense for us to be involved with them in this way. To be able to play a small part in the fantastic work that is being doing at the region to develop young local rugby talent will give us all at Nathaniel Car Sales tremendous satisfaction, and we hope that this proves to be a long and fruitful relationship with the region.”