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 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.

it does fascinate the difference between stamina and sprint as it is totally different,

my mrs first view of a winger was John Bentley at Halifax and was amazed of his leg size smitten to RL since

thanks for all assistance I will take all info in and if anyone can go deeper into why the difference it would be far more entertaining than arguing stadiums

lindsay rotherford could shift a bit. remember that try against fulham at belle vue as if it were yesterday.

The young full back side stepped him like he wasn't there and Chambers went flying past.

Thats where the sports specific conditioning comes in. All his life he trained to perform over a 10 second max time scale and as such he conditioned his body to do just that via his training. His anaerobic system was superb, but his aerobic system not nearly prepared for the demands of rugby league.

That is the point about young lads going to Harriers who are doing it for the benefit of improving speed at rugby. Harriers will certainly give coaching and technique advise related to improving sprinting for athletics, but its a little more complex than that because you have to look at technique for a rugby player that will improve his speed but also not have a negative impact on his ability to take contact etc.

Rugby players generally when looking to improve speed need to improve on the initial acceleration phase as very rarely do players get into the "flight" phase so it is important to consider the game you are playing prior to any conditioning/coaching is undertaken.