Team Page
Welcome
New for the 2011/12 season the U14s will be taking part in the Staffordshire league. This means that we will be playing fixtures fortnightly, at a standard of rugby more challenging than in previous years. In order to meet this challenge players are expected to be ready to warm up at 10am sharp for both training sessions and home matches. Coaching will commence around 10.10am following team warm up managed by themselves. Late commers will be expected to warm up with several journeys up heart break ridge at pace!! For away fixtures you will be expected to be warmed up ready for pre-match coaching at 10.30am (or half an hour before kick off).
With the higher standard of rugby we will be experiencing, players will also be expected to attend to their own fitness during mid-week sessions at the club, school or even on their own. I would expect you to be doing sessions of around an hour at least twice mid-week. For those working by themselves or in non-organised groups, you should include stamina exercises such as repetitive 20m jog, 20m run, 20m sprint, 20m jog, 20m run etc for 10 minutes without a break but building up to 20-30 mins without a break, . This will simulate match conditions and get your body tuned into what will be expected of it. Jon and I will not be working on fitness on Sundays, but will be watching closely as players who are unlikely to last a full game will be prime candidates for the subs bench!!
As always, Jon and I will be continuing to pursue our coaching ethic of an all inclusive approach. This will mean all players will usually get a run out in a match, unless there are health and safety reason for not doing so. We also expect all players to enthusiastically play in the positions we ask them to for the overall benefit of the team.
Also new for this season we are hoping to have a first XV player working with us which should bring an extra dimension to our match strategies, training exercises, and spatial awareness. This will help us build upon our successes last year.
Many thanks to Julian Withers for his input as Team Manager over the last couple of years. However we now have a vacancy for this important post which allows Jon and I to concentrate on the coaching side of things. So any offers will be gratefully appreciated!!
And finally, players should remember at all times that we are ambassadors of Newport(Salop)RUFC and direct their conduct accordingly. I am happy to say this has never been an issue for us in the past either with players or parents, and I would like to think that we will continue to make our mark with other clubs, even if we don't take the silverware.
Here's to a successful season
Steve Jackson