Rugby League Storms into the Curriculum

Melbourne Storm Development have taken steps to ensure the future development of Rugby League in schools, by embarking on a coach education and accreditation program which is targeting large numbers of both current teachers and teacher education students.

In just the first few months of the school year, the Melbourne Storm Development team has held coaching courses and coaching sessions for over 180 current and future teachers.

The goal of the program is to showcase Rugby League as a school based activity and to ensure that teachers are comfortable with teaching the skills of the sport in a school setting.

Ross Antoniolli, coach accreditation provider for Melbourne Storm Development comments that: “Football codes are a current component of the Physical Education and Health syllabus, and our program will ensure that Rugby League is seen as an option to be taught in this subject. It’s our way of helping to put Rugby League on the menu”.

The program, running in conjunction with RMIT and Australian Catholic University (ACU) has proven popular with both male and female teachers, with one of the most successful programs conducted with the primary education students at ACU.

Melbourne Storm Development is currently implementing the ARL Development national schools programs into Melbourne primary and secondary schools, but the new teacher education and accreditation programs will enable schools to continue to develop Rugby League using their own skilled staff.