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KIERAN CAMPBELL:
ACADEMY BOSS CAMPBELL TARGETS FUTURE
KIERAN CAMPBELL
Kieran Campbell, Head of the Hughes Insurance Ulster Rugby Academy,
is a natural enthusiast, but at the moment he and his management team
and players are really ‘buzzing’.
As a player with Ulster a decade ago he was a bubbly,
effervescent figure at the base of the Ulster scrum,
a pivot of real intelligence and an avid student of
new coaching techniques, soaking up new ideas
as inventive as his playing style: sharp, thoughtful,
searching, probing.
There are lots of reasons for his huge optimism at the
moment, not least the new arrival of Les Kiss to take
charge of the senior squad, so keen to bring the future
generation of players in the Academy up through the
ranks.
Already Jacob Stockdale, Dave Shanahan and others
have been put into starting line-ups by Head Coach
Neil Doak, given their chance to perform and – just as
important in many ways – brought intimately into the
panel littered with internationals from all corners of the
globe.
“We’ve all been impressed at how Les goes about his
business, and as coaches and players we’ve bought
into his vision, and he in turn has been so supportive
in making the entire Ulster Rugby set-up, at all levels,
holistic.
“We like to say that ‘there’s an Ulster way of doing
things’, it’s about values, it’s about a shared
philosophy about the game and about the structures
which will secure and enhance the future at the very
top level,” says Campbell.
“And, of course, as Academy management we
are always trying to broaden and improve our own
systems, and that’s particularly true and evident now in
our player identification programme.
“I’m lucky to have Bryan Young and James Topping,
for instance, on board, and we have a Strength
and Conditioning staff which is superb in tailoring
programmes for each player, and in using their
experience and range of contacts to find the Ulster
players of tomorrow.
“It’s a truly global effort, identifying those with Ulster
qualifications, and whether it’s through people I’ve
come across at, say, London Irish, or others at the
Academy who’ve real insights into the furthest corners
of the game.
“A team Head Coach Alex Codling, with his England
connections, is well-versed in lads who are playing or
are in education there and who we should watch and
approach through their parents.
“And what has been fantastic about the last year
or so has been the way we have developed and
strengthened our links with clubs and schools. They
know that we are here to give youngsters the chance
to fulfil a potential to play at the highest level.
“Trust is what we have earned from the clubs and
schools, and that has to be carefully nourished. But
we are all focused on the same goal of excellence,
whether it’s in education or out there on the pitch.
“Together, with the clubs and with the schools we
fashion what we call ‘impacts’ – sessions with the
Academy here at Kingspan Stadium – to suit each
individual.
“We have facilities which are the envy of many in the
professional game, and when these young players
come to join us they don’t just get to use them and
to be given specialist coaching, they realise they are
immediately part of the whole Ulster Rugby ‘family’.
“It’s great to see the guys out there going through
drills, and then watch Neil Doak, Allen Clarke, Joe
Barakat and others from the senior set-up put them
through their paces, give a bit of advice here and
there, and Les is monitoring it all.
“It still surprises some of the Academy players – even
me at times! – when Les and I are discussing how to
keep moving forward that he knows each youngster by
name, and can tell you, and the player himself often,
where he can be helped even more!”
What’s known as the High Performance Pathway at
the Academy starts with identifying Under 16 and
school players who have the potential to play rugby
for Ireland, a very high bar but one Campbell insists
maintains standards in the panel, in the management
team and – a few years hence – on the field in a senior
Ulster jersey.
“That pathway continues at Under 17 level, leading
to the Under 18 clubs and Under 18 Schools’
representative sides. That moved to the Under 19s
when streams are merged to produce the Under 20
Ulster team.
“And as players progress through they are not just
coached in the accepted sense, but our Academy and
Sub-Academy panels are assessed against five key
performance indicators and upon which we put a lot
of emphasis.
“They develop strategic, tactical, technical, physical
and mental skills, and though that might sound a bit
like jargon, it is very practical, it’s done on a collective
and one-on-one basis, and is totally in keeping with
our holistic approach. We are profoundly committed