AUTUMN TERM NEWSLETTER
Welcome to our Autumn Term newsletter! Despite the dark nights, we have been fortunate with the continued mild weather which has meant that we are still experiencing full attendance at training! Our membership this season totals over 400 kids and the most exciting bit is that we have had a record number of boys joining us. Long gone are the days of scratching around to make up teams for our boys matches which is really excellent.
Teams and groups
We have a packed schedule of mini festivals and league games across the age groups and we are very grateful to Jeff Moores, our Fixtures Secretary, for managing to juggle everyone’s competing needs as far as home pitch time goes.
All of our girls groups are at capacity and have waiting lists (some of them rather long!) up to U13 and we may soon have to introduce waiting lists for the boys section. Although we are delighted that you want your friends to join us, please do bear this in mind when mentioning us to your mates in relation to the younger age groups.
Our younger age groups teams appear to be fairing extremely well in their festivals so far. Very often our teams are taking first, second and third place. We are also doing well in most of our league games. Well done to all.
Midweek training and HiPac
After a slow start, our new Thursday night training is now well attended. This gives the boys and girls not attending Fridays the opportunity to play more hours of hockey during the week which in turn hones their skills and improves their ability. If anyone is interested in coming along to these sessions, please contact Ricky Juttla (rickyj@richmondhockeyclub.com ) to see if there are any spaces left. We also have a full compliment of kids at HiPac on Friday nights. These sessions are by invitation only and aim to provide more intense training for players from U11-U14G.
Representative hockey
We mentioned back in the summer that we had record numbers of kids playing county hockey last season (27 in total!). We also had record numbers of kids getting through to the JRPC stage which is the equivalent of regional trials – 10 in total, with 4 progressing further to Tier 1 stage – and from there one player was selected for the U15 Girls HiPac Training camp at Lilleshall with one player selected as the first non travelling reserve and one player was selected for the U16 Girls Futures Cup as a non travelling reserve. Well done to all of these kids –we are really proud of them and it is testimony to the strength and depth of the current coaching structure at RHC !
Coaching team
We are extremely sorry to have to say goodbye to Bejay Ranger who has coached the U11s, the U14s and the U18s over the past few years. He is departing London for pastures new with his wife and we wish them both very well and hope they will come and see us when they are around this way.
We welcome Andres Labourt, ex Argentinian international, to our team and hope that he settles in well.
Pro Shop Visit
Wendy from the Pro Shop will be at training on Sunday 4 December with a selection of hockey related goodies to fill up those stockings at Christmas! Do please bring your cash down and benefit from some fantastic present ideas for our hockey-loving children.
Website – keep it current!
We are on a major drive to keep our new website alive and current. This is where YOU can help. If you felt able to do a match report or take some photos while you are pitch side watching your son or daughter, please let you squad leaders know. The more we can share these responsibilities, the easier it is for everyone.
Equally, if anyone has any feedback on our website or any other good ideas in relation to news etc, please do let us know (lucymunro@btconnect.com).
Second Hand Kit Sale
We are keen to know whether there is enough interest (and kit!) to merit running another Second Hand Kit sale. Donations/items should be given to Frances Barton on the last session of term (11 December). Instructions on how to label these up will be given by Frances direct to those wishing to sell items.
If you have kit to sell, or you would be interested in this, please email Frances Barton (fbarton@blueyonder.co.uk).
Also, if you would be able to take this over from Frances moving foward, please also let her know. It usually happens just once a year.
Volunteer Opportunites – PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Andy Fawcett has kindly offered to step in as Junior Treasurer, for which we are very grateful.
That just leaves two other posts that we are very keen to fill.
1. Junior Communications Manager: this would involved keeping an eye on the website and collating any information that groups have that needed uploading (you would not be required to upload it – individuals can do this easily!) as well as ensuring that our website is working at its best for the junior section. It would also involve liaising with local newspapers etc were there is anything of merit to bring to their attention.
2. Junior Social Liaison: we are very keen to put on an end of season bash this year (we didn’t manage this last year) including an awards ceremony and we need someone who is organised and enjoys entertaining to help us arrange this.
If anyone has any spare time and would like to get involved with the Club in these two areas, please contact me asap.
As we get bigger year on year, the need for additional folk to step up and volunteer their time is crucial to ensuring that the club operates effectively and that we keep our subs down. If you have any spare time and could help with some admin, match management, match reports for your child’s team etc, please let us know. Please don’t be shy!!
U9s Indoor January 2012
We thought it might be helpful for you to know that the U9 girls train indoors for the first six weeks of the year at a facility just down the road from UOW. Shiranee will give out full details nearer the time, for those with other children attending training the heads up in advance might be useful.
And Finally….DOGS!!
We don’t wish to end on a negative note, but despite our repeated requests to all parents not to bring their dogs on site to training or matches, there are still a large number of folk who are still bringing them down. The UOW have a strict no dogs policy on site!!
This is causing some genuine tension in our working relationship with UOW and is not good for keeping things running smoothly with them moving forward.
Please, please, when you drop off your child or come to watch them in matches or at training, LEAVE YOUR DOGS AT HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Moving forward, anyone who brings their dog on site will be asked to leave the site immediately.
We hope that your kids are all enjoying being members of RHC . If anyone has any constructive comments, please do get in touch (lucymunro@btconnect.com) . We wish you all a good rest of term.
RHC Junior Committee
November 2011
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