Moseley has pleasure in announcing the appointment of Craig West as assistant to the new Moseley Head Coach Kevin Maggs and of Chris Kemp as a full time Strength and Conditioning Coach.
There are few coaches around with more experience of England’s second tier than Craig West whose knowledge not only of forward play but also of the role of Director of Rugby provide the perfect foil to the newly appointed Maggs.
Craig played for Rotherham in the back row over a 14 year period in the club’s rise through the leagues before becoming the club’s Academy Manager along with coaching Yorkshire’s highly successful U20s side. He was Rotherham Head Coach from November 2007 until April 2010………and just to keep his hand in recently played for Sheffield Tigers in National 3 North.
West was also Maggs’s first ‘Head Coach’ at Rotherham in the 2009/10 season and this partnership was part of the plan put to the Moseley directors during the recruitment process.
West said “I’m delighted to be joining the new playing management team at Moseley and of having the opportunity to work with Kevin Maggs again. He was a great support to me when I was head coach at Rotherham and I am looking forward to returning the favour at this famous Midlands club.”
Craig is joined in the new playing management structure by Chris Kemp who will be the full time Strength and Conditioning coach with the objective of creating a fully professional environment for the 1st XV squad.
Chris said “I am very pleased to be joining a great club like Moseley and look forward to increasing performance levels from previous seasons which we aim to be reflected in improved results on the field. I think my previous involvement with other rugby clubs and with other sports will hopefully provide the experience to do this”.
Chris joins Moseley with significant experience of strength & Conditioning gained with the Swedish RFU (2009 – 2011), as well as implementing a Strength & Conditioning Development Programme with Leicester Tigers (2007 – 2011) during which time he worked with Birmingham and Solihull (2007 – 2009). Interestingly Chris also was performance coach for BMW Italia rider James Toseland (2010 – 2011) in the World Super Bike Series. He arrives with a University of Essex degree in Sport and Exercise Science (2006).