Taking pre-season beyond the pitch

Huddle’s Warrior XV Performance Camp brought together Finborough, Bedford, KCS Wimbledon and Kingswood for an immersive pre-season experience delivered in partnership with the British Army. Combining high-performance rugby with the perspectives, challenges and conversations that help young players grow beyond the game.

From 23–27 August, Warrior XV was designed to be much more than a week of rugby training. Based at Gibraltar Barracks, home of 3 RSME Regiment, the camp placed players in an environment very different from their everyday school setting, creating new challenges and developmental opportunities before culminating in Finals Day at Aldershot Stadium.

That difference is central to the Huddle experience. We believe growth happens when young people are challenged by new environments, exposed to alternative perspectives and experiences. Quality sporting experiences are always at the core, but the wider experience is where some of the most lasting development can happen — building confidence, broadening horizons and strengthening the connections between teammates.

Players arrived with their own team goals for the season, but Warrior XV gave them something they could not recreate through a standard school pre-season programme. Across five days, teams combined their own training with specialist sessions and developmental seminars. The rugby programme included a scrum masterclass with Dan Richmond, a kicking masterclass with Alex King and structured team training throughout the week, giving players the chance to sharpen both individual skills and collective performance. The week then came to a close with a set of friendly matches at Aldershot Stadium, with fixtures officiated by Army Rugby staff and accredited referees. This was a great opportunity for teams to put a demanding week of preparation into practice in a competitive but controlled environment. But Warrior XV was deliberately about more than pre-season training and matches.

Development beyond the sidelines

Alongside the rugby programme was a series of workshops and speaker sessions intended to give players practical tools to develop as players and individuals. Major Rob Hitch led a Laws of the Game workshop, helping players develop a stronger understanding of how to perform effectively within the laws. Major (Dr) Pat Burgess and Major Dean Holder delivered a Defence Mindfulness workshop, exploring how players can better understand and manage their own thoughts in pressured sporting situations. Performance nutritionist Dr James Fleming educated the players on fuelling for performance, from match-day nutrition and performance plates to supplementation. Saskia Fisher ERI brought military-informed thinking to injury prevention, covering preparation, mobility, strength and conditioning fundamentals, load management and recovery.

The programme also looked beyond immediate performance. Former military serviceman and professional Super League player Stephen Howson led a conversation about how different environments — from changing rooms and barracks to the digital world — can shape personal and professional development. And in the Beyond the Game Pathways Panel, Richard Shorter was joined by international rugby player Harry Mallinder, entrepreneur and founder of CONKA, Humphrey Bodington and Chair of Army Rugby Union, Brigadier Andy Geary to explore the different directions high-performance sport can take young people, both on the pitch and beyond it.

Former England international and Head of England Men’s Player Pathway Mark Mapletoft led a coaching CPD session especially for coaching staff. This focused on attacking rugby, contemporary coaching approaches and practical ideas to take back into the school environment.

A different kind of partnership

Our partnership with the British Army gave Warrior XV a setting and perspective that made the camp genuinely distinctive. Hosted at Gibraltar Barracks exposed players to a high-performance environment outside their usual training ground. Alongside rugby, the programme incorporated experiences such as airsoft shooting and command tasks introducing teams to different ways of thinking about communication, responsibility, decision-making and working together under pressure.

For Huddle, partnerships like this are about opening doors. Our events are designed to give young people diverse experiences, in unique environments and opportunities they would not ordinarily encounter through school sport alone. The British Army partnership brought that ambition to life by creating a week in which physical preparation sat alongside personal development, teamwork and new perspectives.

Supporting the whole sporting experience

Warrior XV also recognised that a young player’s development does not happen in isolation. On Finals Day, parents and coaches were invited to a session with Richard Shorter, The Non-Perfect Dad, exploring how adults can better support young people through the highs, lows and pressures of sport. From conversations after a difficult match to balancing encouragement with expectation, the session focused on confidence, resilience, character and helping young athletes get more from their sporting experiences.

It reflected the same principle running through the entire camp: performance matters, but the experiences surrounding participation matter too.

More than pre-season

Warrior XV gave all our players the chance to prepare for a new rugby season in an environment built to challenge more than their fitness. They learnt about nutrition, injury prevention, mindfulness and the laws of the game. They heard different perspectives on identity, careers and life beyond rugby. And, through Huddle’s partnership with the British Army, they encountered a completely different high-performance culture centred on preparation, teamwork and shared responsibility. That is what a Huddle performance camp is designed to unlock: exceptional sporting experiences that help young people develop as players, teammates and people.

New environments. New challenges. New perspectives.

See where your game can take you.