Upminster RFC Under 11’s
Coaching Newsletter
Dear Parents and players,
The new season is coming up, so it’s time I gave you some useful information to get you started.
Firstly the new season starts on Sunday 20th August 2006, 10.15 a.m. warm up for a 10.30 a.m. start.
Location; this season we will hopefully still use the Avon Road side of the fields, roughly between The Leas and Tees Close the same as last season, so head for there unless you hear otherwise.
On 10th September (registration day) we are hoping to have a barbecue and games organized for the children to celebrate the start of the season with the Under 12’s.
We will also start midweek training again on Thursday evenings from 7th September 2006, at Hall Mead from 7.45 - 9.00pm (for U10s and U11s). This will be midweek club training for all age groups.
Equipment needed;
- Rugby kit appropriate for the weather conditions, with no zips.
- Own labeled Water bottle containing non-fizzy drink
- Mouthguard
- Boots with all-aluminum studs
- Shinpads (optional but recommended by the RFU)
- Dry warm clothing to wear between games and at end of session.
- Upminster RFC branded kit is available from our suppliers Fenton Sports in Brentwood, as it is branded I’d suggest that any such kit is
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‘personalised’ preferably with your child’s name or initials prominently displayed.
Squads – Lions and Tigers
This season there will be some changes to the lead coaches for these squads.
I will continue to be Head Coach for the Lions assisted by Glenn Grover and Clive Harris and Jason Orgles will be Head Coach for the Tigers assisted by Phil Wellington. Jason will have a larger group of children to coach so support from parents will be vital to help the sessions run smoothly.
All players will train together for part of the session, I can see them then being split into A and B squads or 3 groups; Forwards, A squad backs and B squad backs periodically.
The 2 teams will be announced on 10th September 2006.
Fixtures
Most clubs now operate both A and B sides which means that both teams will be able to attend most away matches together.
On occasions clubs may not have the room to accommodate both teams so we will then look for a separate fixture for one of the teams or organize a training session instead. Any changes to the original fixtures list will be posted on the club website: www.urfc.comso please check this before match days or with myself or Jason to see where you need to be.
Aims for the season
As for every season the main aim is to develop all the players to the best of their potential.
In terms of challenges and targets for the Lions, I think that the Festivals we want to go all out to win are the Essex Cup, the Harlequins tournament and the Worthing Festival as in previous years.
For the Tigers, I am sure Jason is keen to see as much silverware by developing the players to their full potential and going as far as we can in the festivals building on their success from last season.
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Parents & Players
Both teams will have a register running for both training, festival and match days. This register will be for record purposes only and will bear no relevance to whether players play or not. As in previous seasons I understand that players
have other commitments so if you cannot make training that is fine but if you cannot make match days, can I ask you to inform your relevant coach so that we are not short of players on the day. Any player who wants to play for URFC on match days can play for URFC regardless of how many training sessions they have been to as long as the coach feels that it is safe for that player to do so.
New players that join us this season will again not play in competitive matches until it is felt that it is safe for them to do so.
Poo Patrol
Yes, that old favourite will still be part of the routine to make sure that the pitch is safe for our children to play on.
Children being left unattended;
Despite the fact that the children are now that bit older, we do still insist that every child has an adult present who is responsible for them throughout every session – this does not have to be the parent/guardian, as long as you make an arrangement for an adult to be responsible for your child and let your child know who that adult is, that’s all we ask.
Changes to the game this season;
We will now have 12 players on the pitch instead of 9, 2 lock forwards and I full back moving nearer to the 15 a side game. The pitch size will increase to accommodate the extra players and also the playing time will increase. Kicking is now allowed at this level and a drop kick will start every game and be carried out in penalty situations but only the fly half and full back will be allowed to kick the ball and this will be very limited as good ball handling is still the most important way of moving the ball forward and kicking can lose possession very easily. The game now becomes much more like the real thing with more offsides for different situations and we will be covering all these aspects in the lead up to our festival on 8th October 2006.
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Help Needed
As in previous seasons, we need help to run the team;
We already have the following volunteers:
Team Manager – Avril Weatherley
Fundraising – Claire Anon-Calvo / Linda Taylor
Social secretary – Richard Morgan
IT specialists – John Dumbrill / Glenn Grover
We still need volunteers for the following posts:
Press secretaries – Lions/Tigers
Collecting money for the following events;
Indoor training at Hall Mead
Trip to Harlequins
England game at Twickenham
17th December 2006 – Kids Christmas party
8th April 2007 – Tour
6th May 2007 – Awards Day
End of season party
We are also thinking about compiling a CD of the players and parents during the season which can be viewed at the end of the season in the clubhouse on a big screen over a few beers. I would like a volunteer from each team to do this as long as we have no objections from any parent about their child being videoed. If you do have an objection to this, please let me know.
Please contact either Avril of myself if you are willing to volunteer for one of these jobs.
Also, we are hoping to have 2 festivals at Upminster this season, our annual Festival on
8th October 2006 and hopefully the Upminster B team festival on 4th March 2007. Both teams will play in the A festival but only the Tigers in the B festival if this takes place.
Both of these festivals will be beneficial to the club as a whole and Tracy has kindly agreed to organize them, hence we will all need to help Tracy out as the Festivals approach.
COACHING HELP
I have been trying to arrange some preliminary coaching courses as I know we have a number of willing volunteers amongst the parents.
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There will also be more courses run throughout the season for current coaches in order to improve the level of coaching. I am hopeful that we will also be able to offer a first aid course which will be open to all parents.
Equipment
We need to allocate kit to parents at the start of the season so I will need volunteers from both teams for the following:
Tents
Shirts
Water bottle holders
First Aid Kits
Tackle bags
Also, most of the children now have a squad rugby ball which I have a record of. These balls need to be brought to training but not on match days to avoid the possibility of them getting lost.
The club has now agreed to buy the Minis a scrum sled which is great news, especially for the younger age groups and also we have 2 new sets of portable rugby posts.
Parents and Player code of conduct
As a club we have an excellent reputation for conducting ourselves both at home and away in a manner that is fitting to the game of rugby and this is something that I personally feel very strongly about. Players and Parents must respect match officials at all times, applaud good play from both sides and win with dignity and lose with grace so lets build further on the reputation that we have.
Copies of the parent and players conduct will be included in your registration packs.
News in brief
Gumshield impressions will be taken by a qualified dentist in the clubhouse on 3rd September from 12pm at cost of £26.50 for a plain colour and £36.50 for multicoloured if you wish to order one.
For those people requiring references for school applications I will have a basic form that can be backed up with your festival and club certificates. This will be
available by the end of September, let me know in advance if you require one of these so that I can have them ready for you.
Registration day Sunday 10th September, please make sure that you return your completed forms and money to Avril on or before this date otherwise your child will not be insured to play.
Regarding the tour in 2008 it has now been decided that we will not be joining Gavins group on the tour to South Africa due to lack of interest.
We are still keen to organize our own tour in 2009 and the most popular destination seems to be Canada so we will now look into costs and make enquiries with some Canadian clubs to see how feasible this would be.
Mark Jordan (contact no 07813 146493)
On behalf of the URFC Under 11’s coaching team
