As the season heads towards its conclusion, there’s still a lot to do and lots to plan for next season. That planning will begin soon, so please look for an upcoming volunteer event we are planning to hold, both to thank our existing volunteers across the club, plus hopefully recruit a few more. We would be delighted to hear from anyone who might have some time to help us, both pitchside and in club administration. Don’t worry if you aren’t sure about what you could do, we’ll find something to fit! Also look for details of our AGM in the coming weeks.
In terms of onfield updates, the Ladies team had an excellent first win of the season against Aretians, with some excellent performances across the team. Whilst results otherwise haven’t been great, we’ve still been fielding teams and we continue to fulfil our fixtures. We have two league fixtures remaining in April and more support on the sidelines would be most welcome. I’m also delighted to announce that Lisa will be taking on some coaching duties alongside Pete Lodge. I look forward to working with Lisa and supporting her coaching development.
The mens section has continued to train regularly, although maybe not as regularly as we’d like, and I’m pleased that we’ve joined with other local clubs to ensure games are played and players get games. This kind of flexibility will be important to our future for mens rugby as we continue to rebuild. We hope to have further fixtures before the end of the season, including in the Combination Cup, where we have entered the Minor Cup. Please continue to ensure that we know your availability so that we can get fixtures organised. We will discuss options for next season with players shortly. Finally I’d like to pass on congratulations on behalf of the entire club to captain Ollie and his partner Kate on the birth of their daughter recently. Hopefully a future Shark!
The current Sharks continue to develop and I’d like to thank all those who stepped up to take on roles in their new management structure. I look forward to working with you all going forward, helping us continue to offer the best, child focussed and inclusive junior rugby in Cheltenham. Hopefully our recent spot on BBC Radio Gloucestershire will further boost the profile of the club. Our young players came across really well on the radio.
On the pitch, the U12 girls and coach Becky took part in a GRFU festival at Minchinhampton joining up with Hornets from Weston-super-mare, coming away with the Spirit Of Rugby award on the day, congratulations to all of you!. Our U15s continue to develop and offer much for the future, and on a personal note, It was great to join the U13s boys for a recent training session and I hope I’ll get along to some more sessions soon.
Walking rugby continues to have good numbers and is a great way to get some exercise midweek. If you would like to give it a go, come along on Tuesday evenings at 7pm. Finally, we are looking at some potential touch sessions, so lookout for news on those shortly.
#VLS
Jim