WARRINGTON Wolves have appointed Ben Lazenby as the club’s head of youth, junior reccruitment and development.
He succeeds John Bastian, who has moved on to become head coach of Championship side Featherstone Rovers, and steps up from his current role of player performance manager.
Lazenby first joined the Wolves in 2008, and prior to joining the club, gained experience in a number of roles including coach educator, Rugby League development manager and team manager at reserve level.
He said: “I am delighted to be given the opportunity to continue the great work that John (Bastian) and I started five years ago and I am committed to see the continued development of junior players for Warrington Wolves both on and off the field.
“We have developed a strong and honest culture here at Warrington and I am keen for that to continue, along with introducing a few new elements to the programmes currently in place that will see us as a club develop and improve in order to continue to provide the Warrington Wolves first grade with high quality young juniors.
“We are always striving to improve and with the junior players coming through the club the future looks bright for the long term success of Warrington Wolves.”
The youth development team working under Ben also sees a number of new recruits ahead of the 2014 season: Phil Jones joins from London Broncos as player performance manager; former Super League player Chris Melling is appointed as rehab specialist and academy physiotherapist; Jake Batsford takes on the academy head of strength and conditioning role; U19s Academy will be coached by Danny Fullerton and Lee Briers; and Gary Chambers returns to the Wolves’ fold as U16s Academy head coach.
Andy Gatcliffe, Wolves’ chief executive, added: “Ben has achieved a great deal in the past five years on a personal development front but he has also shown a ‘real lead’ in developing the junior players at the club whilst working closely alongside Tony Smith and the results have been very evident indeed, with quality young players joining the senior players’ squad.
“We are delighted to see some new faces within the youth development team and look forward to seeing the fruits of their hard work and experience unfold in 2014 and beyond.”
Lazenby appointed as Wolves’ Head of Youth
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About Author
Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
