Not if you take a walk round Wakefield city centre, he isn't.

one of the reasons I started this thread is that at his age from being one of the fastest in the school over short distances I ended up being the fastest over the 1500 doing at a time of 4 - 08 with no one pacing me and a half a lap in front of any chasing pack.

he hasn't either to be truthful line speed is slow to get off which I now believe he has a body posture problem (due to the wear on his school shoes) and stamina to last the full at a high pace, don't get me wrong when the lad is in full flow and has got up to speed he powers through well it just needs a tweak

Pretty much summed me up, in a straight sprint I would have confidently backed myself against most playing the game in England including first team level, but I could not break a tackle and I struggled with size, due to my lack of size late development.

that's why I thought it might not be the ideal place for him, like I said to him it would be like chasing the rabbit

Why so tetchy? It's a discussion board, after all. If you want to offer private advice, you can do that. If you want to deliver general statements of fact, be prepared to justify them.

I think i did but you seem to think by throwing a hand full a sprinter names out there that they are the norm rather than the exception....as good as they are, and also because they are not the are the norm they have a very unique style that is not what you would normally look to coach a developing junior rugby player.

Just to clarify Johnh, I wasn't aiming my comments at you!

Did not take it that you were mate.

I'm not suggesting they're the norm, I'm simply pointing out that in the top 10 list of sprinters, there are as many tall as there are short, and that a norm in that sense is perhaps unhelpful. As far as I understand it, Snowie wants to know whether sprint training at Wakefield Harriers will help his lad get quicker. There may be a number of other people who'd like to know whether this type of training could improve their kids' performance. They'll come in all shapes and sizes, and no doubt one solution will not suit all. However, whether you're the ideal shape and size to be a sprinter, according to perceived wisdom, or not, it doesn't seem to make that much difference in terms of the speed you can attain. So is it worth any up-and-coming young rugby league player joining an athletics club, or should they do something else, and if so, what?

I'm involved with the Harriers and know that some of the coaches, one in particular, has done speed training with several rugby league, including super league players. If you want to PM me some details about him - age, contact details, position he plays etc I can get someone to contact him who can match him to the best coach.

Many of the people down there are big Wakey fans so don't assume they just have athletics at heart.

I do a lot of work with Neil Holmes who is a senior lecturer on Athletics at Leeds Carnegie University and has worked extensively with Leeds Rhinos over the last 5 years or so. Is he by chance one of the coaches you refer to in your post?

I think all of the above is answered in the thread.