Delegates from Latvia and Ukraine joined their Polish colleagues in Lodz, western Poland, to complete Polska Rugby XIII’s coach education activity in the EU-funded Training and Education Portal project.

RLEF Coaching Manager Martin Crick oversaw the activity alongside Level 1 Coach Educator, Artur Martyrosyan, who’s Ukrainian Rugby League Federation (UFRL) is the group’s designated mentor nation.

Aivis Eismanis and Vilmars Sokolovs travelled from the Latvian Rugby League Federation (LRL), whilst Lukasz Lucka and Educator-trainee MichaÅ‚ Wójcik represented the hosts.

“A very successful level 1 coaching course in Lodz saw 12 participants study both theoretical and practical aspects of rugby league which will allow them to deliver coaching sessions to new participants,” said Crick. “Five candidates were immediately successful with the others scheduled to complete the programme in the coming weeks.”

One of the new coaches, Konrad Amrozinski of Sparta Brzeziny, noted: “The course gave me a lot of knowledge about rugby league. It helped me to progress as both a coach and a player. I think it's a big step for rugby league development in Poland. Thanks to these courses we can educate ourselves and share our knowledge with others.”

The TEP is a three-year, €723.000 investment into capacity building through good governance and technical training, funded by €466.000 from the EU’s Erasmus+ project and the remainder from the RLIF and five of its full members. It is intended to build the knowledge and skills of the RLEF’s 21 European members through high quality training and mentoring.