Junior Update - December 2023
What a start to the 2023/24 season we’ve had!
With the exception of U18 girls we now have all age grade teams. This means that as a club we can offer rugby to everyone from 2 to 102 (yes, we have a vets team too!) We’ve even got a mixed ability rugby team and hopefully next summer we’ll have a touch team too! (u18 girls can play senior rugby, so we can cater for them too).
In September Mini and Junior rugby took delivery of some 70 plus new playing shirts for our ever increasing teams. This covered our U14 boys, our U12 girls and spares for new players in the rest of M&J. Whilst playing shirts should be returned at the end of season or if a child leaves before, we have found it easier if children take responsibility for their own playing kit. All teams now have sponsored shorts - a huge thank you to our wonderful sponsors for your continued support (some shorts are arriving in January). All players also have their own pair of playing socks courtesy of our mental health work with Papyrus. Our club boot swap continues to prove popular, if anyone is getting new boots for Christmas please consider donating old boots to the swap to help everyone have a try at rugby for minimal cost. If you’d like some boots from the boot swap please ask your coach, the boxes are easily accessible to them all.
In October all teams took part in a Papyrus Hopewalk, being sponsored to walk laps of the pitch, with the aim to get people talking. This was taken to the next level by our U11 team who were challenged to carry a 16kg kettlebell between them on a walk. The weight represented the weight of our troubles and whilst you can carry the weight for a short time it’s easier to share it with others. The M&Js were invited to the planting of our Hope trees, 2 cherry trees on the banking over looking the pitches. The end of the month brought Halloween and some wonderfully spooky fancy dress from coaches and children alike.
November saw the girls have a coaching session from the Sale Sharks women’s coaches and a player visit to the club and the organisation of a trip to the women’s training ground, to watch a match and much more. Unfortunately the weather turned and the winter cancellations started (we were so lucky last season) Parents are asked to please help preserve pitches by not walking across the pitches and only standing on the touch lines or dead ball areas of the main pitches whilst watching children play or train. We have secured Longdendale High School sports hall for mid-week training in January (we’d have had December too but they had exams). From January 8th all M&J mid-week training will be on the same day but at Longdendale High School, Spring Street, Hollingworth, SK14 8LW. Your coaches will give you full details.
December has seen the introduction of our U15 and U16 boys team with coaches Jack and Brandon and has finished with a fantastic bring and share party where each team received a festive styled ball to give away as a prize or keep to train with. Many of our U14 boys have been to the Sale Sharks Academy Trials (DPP), they’ll find out how they did in January.
This half of the season we’ve also delivered flyers to all primary schools in Glossopdale and had 23 new players get in touch via email to give rugby a try and numerous others come along with a friend. We’ve signed up to Instagram @glossoprufc_m_j. We’ve started the updating the M&J section of the club website to make it more user friendly and aimed at parents wanting to introduce their child to rugby. If you want to provide us with a recommendation we can publish please email it to us at grufcmj@gmail.com please have a look, www.glossoprufc.com, but remember it’s a work in progress. If you’d like to get on board and write some content please get in touch via the email address above.
Continuing the theme of asking for help, we’re the brilliant club we are because of the volunteers we have. There’s only so much we can all do and we need your help. We have a few small roles that would really help ease the burden.
Match meals coordinator – to collate numbers from home and away teams playing at home (our coaches have them all) put them in a spreadsheet and send it to the kitchen staff each week. This can all be done remotely via messages and/or email.
Pitch delegator - to liaise with chair of House and Grounds to check if any areas are out of bounds and then allocate training/playing areas to each team for Sunday. This can be done remotely via messages.
Minis Fixture Sec – this is a slightly larger role which involves liaising with our coaches and other clubs fixtures secretaries to organise fixtures for our teams, in line with the RFU code of practice. This is mainly done via messages but needs inputting to a spreadsheet and sharing with coaches. Full training will be given and Carlie will still be doing Junior fixtures and will help at any time.
You may have noticed that or player of the week trophies are mismatched and held together with more glue than I don’t know what. Well, we’ve got brand new ones all ready for January! Also in January our girls will be mascots for the Sharks women’s home game against Leicester Tigers on Saturday 20th January. Any girls wishing to take part should contact their coach, there is a small cost for being a mascot. Tickets for parents are £10 and children under 16 are free. Then, on Sunday 21st, there’s a training session for girls at the club lead by the Sharks women with some fabulous freebies – see your coach to sign up. You may even get to meet our England and Ireland international player Jo Brown!
I hope you have all enjoyed the rugby so far this season and seen your child grow and develop as a player both on the pitch and off it. I know I really enjoy reading their training and match reports on social media.
In the meantime I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If there’s anything you need to get in touch about please email me grufcmj@gmail.com
Hannah James
Chair of Mini & Junior Rugby
Glossop RUFC
