AFTER a year away, Barrow Raiders are bringing back their Junior Education Training Sessions (JETS) programmes this summer and they will again be hosted by head coach Paul Crarey.

The scheme, which has proven very successful in the past, will begin with over 20 invited coaches who are with amateur rugby league clubs from the area taking part in three ‘coach the coaches’ sessions on April 27, May 4 and May 18.

Following this, the Raiders will open up their Craven Park stadium to up to 140 children aged 11-16 who either play for one of the amateur clubs or have been put forward by schools throughout Furness and Cumbria for five weekly sessions from June 8.

The hope is that some of the youngsters who attend will one day play for the club’s under-19 side, the Furness Raiders, before progressing into the first team or even the Super League.

Crarey said: “It’s part of why I joined the club in the first place and I think a lot of the kids who come through our JETS programme are actually in the academy or have signed on to the first team, while some have gone to Super League clubs.

“Rio Corkill, who’s at St Helens, he was one of our juniors on that programme on day one and I think he’s gone on tour to Australia with St Helens.

“We look around at the players who we have brought through and you can feel proud, and the local coaches can feel proud, and what it does is bring the whole rugby league area together.

“Every club was represented by a coach and every club was represented by a player last time.”

The JETS programme was on hiatus last year as Crarey couldn’t quite fully commit to it, with Raiders’ first team battling against relegation from the Betfred Championship at the time.

This time, Crarey is all in, as are coach Steve Rea, Barrow players Wartovo Puara and Tee Ritson and the club’s community officer Siona Hartley.

Crarey said: “There’s two things you can do in life; you can either criticise and moan and be miserable or you can be happy and you can go out and help people and improve the sport that you love.

“You can give a lot back so that when you’ve finished you can hold your head up, look people in the eye and say that you did your best, and that’s the way I look at it.”