U9 Home Page

Hello everyone,

Firstly welcome to everyone, especially the new parents & children joining the Cobham U9’s rugby team. We hope you had a good summer break & are looking forward to the coming season.

This is a quick note to cover off a number of things which we would like you to be made aware of prior to the start of the season.

1.      Start Of The Season:
The season starts on the 5^th September, with training, as usual between 1000-1200. Please ensure that you are there a little earlier than this, to allow for registration with Anne & Paul Edwicker (the U9 Managers). It is important you register your childs attendance with them, so that your child is covered under the clubs insurance.

2.      Location Of The U9’s When Training At The Club:
Having parked in Munro House, you will find the pitch for the U9’s on the field to the left of the club road, next to the exit to the Fairmile Lane.

3.      Festivals, Training & Team Selection
Attached the latest version of the fixtures for the coming U9 season. Please note that this is subject to change throughout the season. An up to date version will be on the Cobham Rugby Club web site, which will be kept up to date.

Please note the following regarding the attached festival & fixtures file:

a.      All children start this season equal i.e., without being allocated to either the A, B or C squads.

b.      Provisional selection of which squad your child will be put in (i.e., A, B or C’s) will be made post training on the 12^th September. Final confirmation of initial squads will be made post training on the 19^th September.

c.      All children will be reviewed as members of the A, B or C squads again post training on the 24^th October.

d.      All children will formally be reviewed following the above dates throughout the season (timing to be confirmed) & squads will be selected based on attendance, aptitude & performance.

4.      Assessment

a.      To help us make squad selections (see no.3 above), we will be assessing children on their attendance, aptitude & performance (offensive & defensive play). To help us with the latter assessment, we have drawn up a score card (similar to that used by the C team last season) to assess what each boy does when playing a formal rugby game. To help us make this assessment, we need at least 2 ‘spotters’ & 1 ‘scribe’ to note down what the boys are doing on the pitch during matches per squad. Please contact the Coaches/Anne & Paul Edwicker if you would like to assist in this process. It is very easy & will be refined if necessary as the season progresses.

b.     Please can you send a ‘head & shoulders’ shot (like a passport style – but doesn’t have to be serious) of your son, so we can add it to your sons training record?

5.      Safety & Equipment
The safety of your children is of paramount importance to us while training & playing rugby.

a.      Please ensure your children have a well fitted mouth guard, which is to be worn at all times during both training & playing matches.

b.      Please ensure your children wear rugby boots when playing.

c.      Please do not wear the rugby boots in Munro House car park, or any other hard standing surfaces, as these damage the studs & could cause serious injury.

d.      It is recommended (but not mandatory) that your child wears protective head & body gear.

e.      Please ensure that your child is wearing sufficient clothing appropriate for the weather.

f.        Please ensure your child has sufficient drinks to re-hydrate themselves.

g.      We are making arrangements to get childrens surnames printed on the back of their rugby shirts at the beginning of the season. Anyone who would like this, please contact Anne & Paul Edwicker at the beginning of the season. The cost is £5 per shirt.           

6.      Parents Contact Details
To help Coaches/Management and other members of the U9 team (only) make contact with parents (for example to assist with car sharing etc), we plan at the beginning of the season to give out the name, email address & mobile phone number of the parent of each child. Please let Anne Edwicker know by the 1^st September if you object to your details being shared with other U9 parents.

7.      Parent/Guardian Attendance
Please ensure that a parent or guardian of your child is at the side lines at all times, especially as we are now doing contact.

8.      First Aid

a.      Please can all parents who have official first aid training let Anne & Paul Edwicker know, along with details of

                                                  i.      What the first aid qualification is for specifically?

                                                ii.      The name of the organisation issuing the certificate?

                                              iii.      The date of the certificate & expiry?

b.      For those of you with first aid qualifications already, a refresher course will be run at the club on the 8^th September & the 14^th September. Please contact Suzanne.Whealing@btconnect.com to arrange directly. Please keep Anne & Paul Edwicker informed of any 1^st aid qualifications obtained.

c.      For those of you who would like to gain a 1^st aid qualification there is a full course, run in 2 parts on the 12^th & 19^th October. Please contact Suzanne.Whealing@btconnect.com to arrange directly. Please keep Anne & Paul Edwicker informed of any 1^st aid qualifications obtained.

9.      Volunteers
As you know the rugby club runs smoothly thanks to the kind support of parent volunteers. We all need to do our bit to help the club. Each season, one parent/guardian from each family of every child needs to volunteer at least once to help out at the club. These duties include management, coaching, BBQ or car parking duties. Please be prepared to volunteer when asked.

10. Communication Throughout The Season

a.      Anne & Paul Edwicker will send to you emails from time to time, letting you know what is going on with the club in general, or specific arrangements regarding our age group. When asked, please respond in the timeframe requested, as there will be no chasers sent out.

b.      Please talk to the Coaches/Anne & Paul Edwicker if your child has any problems with the transition from tag to tackling, or indeed if you have any other issues or suggestions to improve the running of our age group of the club in general.

Many thanks to you all for your continued support & we look forward to seeing you on the 5^th September.

Kind regards,

Paddy O’Brien             Anne Edwicker               Paul Edwicker

Head Coach                  Manager                        Manager & Cobham                                                          Festival
                                                                    Chairman