Sunday Session Review
With no England game this weekend the rugby world's eyes were focused on Ash Grove as A&C U12s as preparations continue for one of the most prestigious fixtures in the rugby calendar; the A&C RFC Minis' Festival on 08 October 2023. Our young superstars were put through their paces with some intensive training on handling, rucking, tackling and the dreaded bleep test. Our players of the week were TT (rucking), Alexander (tackling) & Riley A (bleeping). Well done!

The coaching team wanted to have an objective measurement of fitness as this is a key feature of all successful rugby teams at any level of the game. From the players' perspective, improved fitness will make the game much more enjoyable as well as being a valuable asset to carry into adult life. Coach Lizzie, ably assisted by Coach Nick and Coach Lynsey, ran a bleep test which is a universally recognized standard in fitness assessments.

There were some outstanding results and congratulations to the top three; Riley A, Finlay & Thomas Ruan. We will continue to focus on fitness by making the results available to all players, setting individual targets and providing support and information on how improve. There will be another test soon where we hope to record scores for those boys who were unable to participate yesterday, as well as monitoring progress for those who did. Please support the coaching team by discussing these results with your children and encouraging them to work on this area.

Home Festival Information
The coaching management team will be hard at work this week preparing for next Sunday's big event. Full information will be provided later in the week but please note the following key points:

• We will be entering two streamed teams, one in each of the two festival pools and selection will be confirmed early this week.
• Parking is a nightmare at these events so you will need to arrive early to have any hope of parking on site. This costs £5 per vehicle and will need to be paid in cash. The free off-site alternative is Sycamore Road car-park in Amersham, which is 10-15 minutes walk away. My advice to everyone is that if you do not aim to get there very early you will end up being very late. Latecomers will not be dealt with sympathetically, especially if this disrupts team preparation.
• The festival will commence at 1000 but players will be required to warm up and be briefed beforehand. Please make sure you arrive no later that 0900 for this important preparation.
• Home festival days are fantastic and it is amazing to see so many kids (over 1,000 expected) enjoying themselves. However, these cannot be run without volunteers. We will need lots of help on the day to marshal the pitches, operate the timing klaxon and set up/break down the tent from which we will need to administer the U12 section by collecting, recording and publishing results. I will assume that the family of each participating player will be prepared to volunteer for one hour during the day unless you contact me to the contrary. I will publish a rota for each role later in the week. With a bit of careful planning and parental flexibility I do not expect that any of the volunteering roles will prevent parents from watching their boys playing on the day.
• Our U12 philosophy follows the RFU's TREDS core values; teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship. We expect all players, coaches, referees, parents and other spectators to observe these fundamentals during the festival. Please ensure that as parents, you positively encourage the boys, applaud good rugby by both teams, respect and support the referee (even when he or she makes a mistake) as well as our opponents and their supporters, refrain from coaching from the touchline, and never, under any circumstances, enter the field of play (unless invited to do so of course).

Coaching WhatsApp Group
This is the last call for contact details for boys wanting to participate in this group.

Half Term Rugby Camp
There only have 4 weeks to go to the A&C October rugby camp and places are filling up fast. The camp will be running on Monday 23rd to Wednesday 25th of October 0930 - 1500 and in the next few weeks Matt Allen will be announcing some more outstanding coaches that will be working on the camp. The camp is a great way for your child to develop both their core skills and fitness and have fun with their friends. If you have not booked you’re a place on the camp yet and were interested in doing so, or had any questions, please email Matt.

Look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday for the last pre-festival training session.

Regards,

DC
U12 AGO
A&C RFC
07929 019133