The Ospreys U18 group recently spent a weekend being put through their paces by the RAF at St Athan as part of their pre-season preparations.
The team building weekend in the Vale of Glamorgan saw the team faced with a series of mental and physical tasks aimed at challenging, motivating and educating players, learning about themselves and their team mates.
Age-grade management at the region worked closely with RAF officers to create a programme of activities that would help develop skills such as communication, leadership and problem solving in a different working environment away from rugby.
Andrew Millward, WRU Performance Manager for the Ospreys region, said the weekend was a great experience for the Eyasses:
“It was a tough few days for the boys but was really worthwhile and prove beneficial towards their long term development. Taking them out of their comfort zone and putting them in some unfamiliar situations allowed us to find out a lot about them, and for them to find out a lot about themselves.
“The skills used over the course of the weekend are all transferrable to the rugby environment and will help them become not only better players but better people. If we can develop leadership skills and improve communication skills in the group then we will empower our young players to become more self-reliant. The benefits of that will be seen on and off the field within our environment.
“We are grateful to everybody at the RAF for all their invaluable assistance in putting together a great experience for our youngsters.”
To see some photos from the weekend please visit our Facebook gallery here.