Written : Tuesday 23rd Jul 24Coaches, parents and children are generally having a well deserved rest (well, from rugby) before the season starts again on Sunday 1st September.
The popular Wednesday early evening Junior Touch sessions for the current U8 children upwards will finish on the 17th July. Many thanks to the coaches who led the sessions.
Preparation for the Autumn Minis Festival on the 29th September is well underway.
Our Festival is very popular and the children love the occasion but is entirely organised and run by our Club volunteers who make it so successful. We still need volunteers to help, so please do offer assistance. Danny Bailey, who will be Head Coach of the U11s, is leading the activity so do contact him or myself, Tony Wiener (minis.chairman@grfc.co.uk). For those of you who have contact with other clubs, please do promote our Festival. There are a number of rugby festivals on the same day so we need to keep promoting ours.
Following the successful sessions with local schools last season, we will be hosting 2 tag rugby events. The first of these will be on the 26th September for school years 3 & 4 and for those in years 5 & 6 the event will be the 10th October. Teachers, children and coaches really enjoyed the sessions so if you are available at 3.30pm on those days you will be most welcome to help and coach the children.
Last year’s very wet season clearly indicated that we do need club gazebos for the children when they are at festivals. Some age groups have started to raise funds but we are still appealing for sponsorship. So, please let me know if you work for a company who might able to assist in funding a gazebo.
The RFU require all children to be registered on their GMS platform – the one that manages membership fees. This was a learning curve last season so early registration would be appreciated. The Club may be penalised by the RFU if we fail to complete registration and unregistered children will not be permitted to participate in festivals.
Many thanks to all the coaches, administrators and volunteers. Without you, we just wouldn’t have such a successful club.
See you in September.
Tony Wiener
Minis Chairman