INCLUSION SURVEY
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THIRSTY THANK YOU's 14TH OCTOBER
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AFFILIATION - DUE NOW
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INCLUSION SURVEY **** THIRSTY THANK YOU's 14TH OCTOBER **** AFFILIATION - DUE NOW ****
UPDATES
THIRSTY THANK YOU
The Thirsty Thank You has been rescheduled for the 14th October. Trevor, our esteemed chairman, invites all the Club’s volunteers for a drink or two on 14th.
ALL COACHES AND VOLUNTEERS WELCOME
PITCHES FOR THIS WEEK
This week’s pitch plan has been finalized and can be found here:
https://sevenoaksrugby.com/pitch-booking
Not long until we get extra space at Tech!
PERSONNEL CHANGES
We have some changes to personnel in the mini and youth set up. I’d like to extend huge thank yous to Will Morris and Polly Colesmith who are stepping down.
Polly has been the team manager for what is now the Under 16 girls for the last 3 years. For the vast majority of that time she also supported the under 14 and 18 girls as well. She’s done a fantastic job in helping the club to grow its girls offering and has been proactive and stoic in driving improvements for the girls. We’ll miss her (and her daughter’s) involvement and know she and her family will always be Oaks and always be welcome.
James Sutherland has agreed to take over for the under 16s and is well up to speed thanks to Polly’s transition. We welcome James and know he’ll be as strong a voice the girls as Polly.
We’re also very sad that Will Morris is stepping down from the helm for the Under 8s. He’s led the group from under 5s and felt that the year before contact was a good moment to let someone else take the lead. We’re really pleased that he is staying on to coach (and play!) and will miss (if that’s the right word) his “banter” .
I’m really pleased that Jan Golaszewski has decided to step into the breach and follow Will. It’s clear that he will be fantastic fit for the club and the age group and we’re hopeful about getting him out for the vets soon too!
Please join me in wishing Polly and Will all the best and welcoming James and Jan to their new roles!
WINNER WINNER
CONGRATULATIONS to the Under 13s who achieved 100% affiliation first. We’ll make sure that Cory gets the £50 bar credit to spend on his coaches/parents!
There is still more to do for a number of age groups - don’t forget that we needed all players to be affiliated on GMS ASAP.
If you haven’t done it yet, please do so now. If you are having challenges don’t give up - try this link or contact your age group lead now.
The RFU have also confirmed their own prize draw for clubs who match or increase the number of players affiliated versus last year. Prizes include the opportunity to win a training session with and England Rugby legend, a £2,000 club kit voucher and up to three kit packages each worth £1,000.
We have affiliated 438 children so far and have another c200 to go.
As an added bonus the 450th child to affiliate with the club will receive a training ball from the club.
MEDIA
We’d love each age group to find a volunteer to help provide content for Social Media and the Club website - photos, match reports, even player puff pieces!
Ideally we’d like a non coach volunteer (come on parents!) to join our small social media team (WhatsApp) so they can share material.
We’d like all age groups and club members and stakeholders to be well represented across our Media - Minis or Youth, Parents or Siblings, Coaches or players.
1 volunteer per age group - no experience required - a smartphone and WhatsApp is all that’s needed. We want to set you up on a WhatsApp group and provide images and very brief summaries of what has happened for your age group each week - it shouldn’t take much time at all. Periodically we might ask one of them to actually post some of it to social media too - again nothing too time consuming!
Please let Hendo know who your volunteer is!
DON’T BE A HEADCASE…
…. do your headcase!
Headcase is one of the UK’s leading concussion awareness and education resources. We take player safety extremely seriously, and this course is aimed at helping us prevent and manage suspected concussions.
COACHES
All of our coaches are required to complete “Headcase” training annually to be able to coach at the club and receive their free stash (which is on the high seas and on its way to us). Coaches can now see on their GMS dashboard whether this is up to date. You should log into GMS course finder (filter for “virtual”) to complete the course.
PARENTS
We also invite the parents of mini and youth players (and youth players) to also complete the training or check out the guidance - it will help prepare them for if the worst should happen and give them insight into the return to play process.
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
All of our amazing parents should have received subs requests direct from Spond and most have paid.
It’s vital that all players are members, in order to be covered by the Club’s insurance and whilst there is a short grace period (primarily for members who are new to the club) we ask that this is paid as soon as possible as we enter weekend of fixtures and festival.
If anyone hasn’t received a request – we recommend checking the contact details on Spond in the first instance.
If there are any other issues, anyone can contact their age group lead or Andy McClinton, which includes anyone who needs financial support.
COACH EDUCATION & RECOGNITION
RFU COURSES
There are still plenty of opportunities for coaches to attend RFU coaching courses - check them out below.
We do have a limited budget available for coaches to attend courses appropriate to their age groups. Please contact Hendo for more information
SAFEGUARDING
All our volunteer coaches need to be DBS checked in order to coach at the Club and the club regularly monitors that its coaches are up to date. With the first check being completed this week, coaches can proactively check their status on GMS, or check with Hendo.
VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION
As part of the Honda Volunteer Recognition Programme, club volunteers who have match tickets to England V Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa in this year's Autumn Nations Series can register for up to four tickets each for pre-match hospitality in the British Airways Fan Village in the West Car Park at Twickenham.
For more information contact Hendo!
REMINDERS
CLUB NEWS
We’re asking all our members and parents to make sure they’ve signed up to the club newsletter using the link below.
This way you can be sure to keep up to date with all the news from across the Club
INCLUSION SURVEY
For the past two years, the RFU have asked people involved in the community game to take part in our inclusion and diversity survey. This research has helped shape and inform the RFU’s work in this area and is key to supporting the RFU with its strategic objective to drive rugby union in England to better reflect the diversity of society.
Your views and experience are crucial to us being able to reflect in our plans the reality of community rugby. We would greatly appreciate you taking the time to complete this survey.
We’d like to invite all club members to complete the survey
PARKING UPDATE
Please remember that there is NO parking available to the rugby club at Lady Boswell’s on Sunday. You risk your car being locked in by the church until they open up on Monday morning and we risk losing access to their pitches on Sunday morning!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Sevenoaks Rugby asks all parents of Mini players in the U5s, 6s, 7s, 8s and 9s to remain on site and pitch-side during training and matches. Only by exception can they be absent and then they must nominate another adult to take responsibility for their child and inform the relevant coach and the player.
We find that some players in these groups can get upset if they are left alone and sometimes need emotional support from a parent or adult they recognise.
For parents of Mini players in the U10s and 11s that do not remain pitch side they must inform the coach and the player and remain contactable (or nominate another adult to take responsibility).
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Padded headgear / scrum caps has never been approved or marketed by World Rugby or the RFU to reduce the risk of concussion and there continues to be no conclusive evidence that wearing headguards reduces the chances of sustaining a concussion while playing or training.
Wearing a headguard should be the personal choice of the player and/or parent. While a headguard can provide some protection (e.g. covering the ears) and confidence (e.g. when introducing players to contact); there is a possibility that wearing protective equipment could potentially change a player’s behaviour (i.e. making them over confident and thus neglecting correct technique and risking further injury to themselves or others). Therefore, players and coaches are encouraged not to neglect correct technique, particularly in the tackle and ensure that players are aware of the purpose of headguards and their limitations.
We recommend that players talk to their coaches about the relative confidence of their child, when deciding whether a headboard is appropriate for them.
