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NEWSLETTER
by Laurent Suspène
(Chairman of Valley Fort RFC)
30 August 2011 |
New Season Newsletter from Laurent Suspène, Chairman
Dear Players and Parents,
I hope that you all had a great summer and that you are fully rested and ready for this new season of mini-Rugby. This season promises to be even more exiting than the previous one with the Rugby World Cup around the corner, the traditional festivals and tournaments and our tour to Kuala Lumpur in February.
Valley Fort is one of the largest min-rugby clubs in HK with 650+ registered players last year. Our growth over the year has been tremendous. This is to the credit to the past management teams that have created the club and made it a place where kids and parents can have fun around this beautiful sport called Rugby. Our ambition is to continue to improve and to offer players and parents more fun and enjoyment.
The executive committee will remain unchanged compared to last year with:
Jason Brueschke Vice- Chairman & Tournament director
Bill Cotter Vice Chairman, liaison with HKRFU & Tour Organizer
Ali Chaudhry and Fred Laine Co-Directors of mini-Rugby
David Peters Director of Colts Rugby
Jessie Lam (valleyfort.info@gmail.com) will continue to be our Clubhouse Manager.
Of course, our backroom team composed of Kim Murphy, David Hurren, Henry Tsui and Luncinda Ma will continue to make sure that the club runs smoothly from an administrative standpoint.
Minis News
This year Ally Maclay will take the newly created role of Coaching and Technical manager for the minis. In this position, Ally will be working with the Director(s) of Rugby and respective age group Head Coaches to produce medium and long term strategies coaching plans with the view to assisting Valley Fort become the pre-eminent mini-Rugby academy in Hong Kong. Among other things, Ally will also be providing his technical expertise to the rugby coaches and the parents to improve the overall standard at Valley fort.
For the first time, Valley Fort is planning to have mini-Rugby girls team ( U9-U10, U11-U12). Megan Porter has accepted to become the head coach for the girls. She already has the coaches lined-up and expects as many players as possible. Do not hesitate to bring your friends, sisters etc…
Colts News
The coaching this year will be headed up by Paul King who is the head coach for Valley. He will have working under him a group of dedicated Valley Senior players some of whom are HK National players.
One change of note this year is that the age bracket has changed from U18s to U19s as so many players are still in school playing A grade rugby & the Colts Committee felt this would afford them another year to be able to play club rugby.
The season will commence with 10s tournaments for the U14s 16s & 19s all taking place in September or early October & then move to 15s league play.
Adma Andrade has moved to China and Erin Emerik will replace her as Girls Colts coordinator.
Calendar for the First Half of the season
The minis will be using Stanley Fort as well as St Stephens like last year. The first training session will be held at St Stephens on September 4th.
Before Christmas, the Fort will not be as available as in previous seasons and more sessions will therefore be at St Stephens. I suggest you to check the Training Schedules as well as the emails that you receive from the head coaches on a regular basis since the schedule might evolve with time.
The Colts will be training on Pitch 12 at Happy Valley while pitch 8, our home ground, is upgraded to a synthetic pitch the same as at Kings Park. It is expected to take more than a season. Training times remain the same as previous years : 1330-1630 hrs depending on the age group.
Parking at St Stephens
There is not enough parking space at St Stephens to accommodate everybody. Our experience last year has lead us to take the following measures to make sure that we do not create chaos and we follow St Stephens’ School recommendations:
- Only a very limited number of specifically registered cars will be allowed to enter the school
- People coming with a taxi will be allowed to come inside to drop off passengers
- No private cars will be allowed inside the school even if it is only to drop off passengers.
Sponsorship
The club has signed a 3year sponsorship deal with Linklaters and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their continuous support to Valley Fort and to mini-Rugby over the years.
Kits and Equipment
Kits will be distributed starting this week-end. This is always a difficult exercise and I urge you to follow the instructions given by your respective head coaches in order to make it as easy as possible. We will also have extra equipment for sale (caps, training vest, training tee-shirts etc…).
Tour
This year the club will be going to Kuala Lumpur for its annual tour. We will participate in the Bintang Rugby Tournament on February 18 & 19. We will be providing more details specific to this shortly. However, please note that in order to ensure our ability to make reservations, we will be looking for everyone’s commitment by early October. We are looking to stay at the Sunway Resort which is conveniently near to Sunway Lagoon http://www.sunwaylagoon.com/main.asp for plenty of family activities. We will be coordinating the travel arrangements this year through Mr. Thomas Tavares and Ms. Rachelle Donald of Sunpac Tours & Travel. Their number is 2180-9300 if you would like to contact them now for details.
In conclusion, I want to remind you all that our club depends on the continued good spirit showed by all volunteers and parents who turn up to the great Valley Fort community: All our coaches are volunteers who share the love of the game and who work enthusiastically to reach the goals set in our Mission Statement. During the season, we welcome parents feedback and participation in all forms. We wish to foster a strong collaboration between Parents, Players and Coaches.
Laurent Suspène
Chairman
Valley Fort RFC.
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