County trials & development day: REMINDER!!

Remember - this Sunday trials (for U17s) and a development day (for U14s) will be held at Stevenage rugby club, registration at 1.30pm.

Vicky Lowe (U17 Head Coach) writes:

Hopefully you've been able to access the registration forms and the girls/coaches will have them all filled out before the day....this will speed up registration which will give coaches more time to warm up their teams.

Just to recap the format for the trials. The plan is to run 10 a side matches, most girls will be playing in club teams. I appreciate that not all clubs are able to bring a 10 a side team that are all experienced enough to be at the trials, so what we have asked clubs to do is link up to form mixed teams. Can I stress at this point that trials are not to be seen as competition between clubs, Luke, myself and the spotters are
looking at individual girls and the club (or school) they play for is irrelevant.

So we're asking the coaches to take responsibility for warming up their players and then we'll get everyone together, give you a schedule for the matches then we'll get cracking!

I'd also like to say we put a lot of thought into the trial format for this year. We looked at how trials are run in other counties and discussed the format with Peter Engledow. I realise there will always be teething problems but myself and Luke feel this will give us the best opportunity to spot talented rugby players. And I do expect this year to be more competitive than last year....and thats a good thing. For girls county rugby to be taken seriously we need to make it more competitive, more elitist and give our girls the best opportunity to progress further at regional and representative level.

I understand that some girls at your clubs may be very new to rugby, and if you feel the trials are not for them don't bring them. The matches will be full contact (though scrums may well be uncontested and will be decided on the day). The plan is to run development sessions, like last year, at the same time the county team train Sunday October 15th, Sunday November 12th and Sunday December 3rd). This will provide a fantastic opportunity for new players to gain experience and more coaching.

If anyone has questions or queries feel free to get in touch, my number is 07739 968499.

So far I've got numbers from 4 clubs (Fullers, Hertford, Letchworth and Sarries). Can the other clubs email me asap with numbers, or say which club you've linked with so we can work out a match schedule before Sunday.

Thanks
Look forward to seeing you all there.....don't forget boots and mouthguards (girls will not be able to play without them).