Future Rugby League stars in attendance at the RFL’s Player and Coach Education Festival (PaCE)

Hundreds of Super League stars of the future attended Leeds Beckett University at the weekend for the RFL’s Player and Coach Education Festival (PaCE), focusing on their future development as professional sportsmen.

The RFL launched the PACE Festival last winter, with the sport’s flourishing partnership with Leeds Beckett allowing gatherings of Under-18s and Under-16s players which are thought to be unique in British sport.

This year, after an extension of that partnership until 2027 confirming LBU as the official home of the RFL’s England Pathways Programme, the gathering of Under-18s and U16s also coincided with the Leeds climax of Kevin Sinfield’s 2025 fund-raising challenge which has raised over £1.18m.

Paul Anderson, the RFL’s Head of Male England Pathways, said:

“Launching the PACE Festivals was one of the highlights of 2024 in terms of the response and support we received from the 12 clubs who run elite Academies, and who welcomed the range of central support and education we were able to offer to their future players.

“It’s a great example of the value of our partnership with Leeds Beckett University, as it would be impossible to put on without the quality of facilities and people they are able to offer – and that’s why all of us who work in the Pathways were so pleased when the partnership was extended earlier this year.

“The weekend included 800 players plus another 100 or so staff, with the schedule combining active profiling sessions in the gym and on the field with presentations about brain health (including the importance of instrumented mouthguards), anti-doping, nutrition and psychology.

“Players were also offered access to a Nutrition app based on the behaviours needed to develop good habits, managed by Leeds Beckett specifically for players, and there was plenty of elite Rugby League experience in the room with all Academy and scholarship coaches and staff involved within the club’s pathway systems in attendance.

“And what a way to round-off the weekend with our U16s session coinciding with the finale of Kevin Sinfield’s latest challenge on Sunday – congratulations to Kevin and all of the team for their outstanding efforts!”