U8

Sorry to keep bothering everyone about festival registrations, but we are being asked to confirm all the remaining festivals very soon. Please let me know ASAP if you want to register you child for any of the below festivals where you haven't yet. I understand the low numbers for the Sevens showcase due to needing to have tickets, but it appears we don't have as many as normal for the HKFC festival on 11th March. As this is not at Kings Park I will not assume people want to play unless you tell me. I will only enter enough teams to cover those registered, so please let me know to avoid disappointment.

I still have a few places left for the Valley Fort festival later this month as we are quite tight for numbers for the teams I have put in.

Kung Hey Fat Choy to you all!

I trust everyone enjoyed their Chinese New Year Break and are looking forward to rugby again this weekend.

Training

Training continues this Sunday 29th Jan at King's Park from the usual time of 8.30am sharp. I will be on business in the UK for the next 2 weekends, so training this week will be taken by Simon again.

There will be a few changes to the teams from this week onwards. As previously advised, we are separating the girls into a group of their own. They will still train the same as the boys in preparation for next year, but start to play together as girls in the remaining tournaments and hopefully they will be more comfortable with this arrangement as we start to introduce elements of contact towards the end of the season. As a result, we have consolidated the boys into 4 teams. Most have stayed in the same teams. Players from the old "Cheetahs" team have been shared out equally amongst the remaining 4 teams. Please see the attached new team listings for your child's team going forward. Don't worry if your child's name is listed under "Floaters". This just means that they have not been attending quite so often as the others and so will be allocated a team depending on numbers on the day.

***LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR VALLEY FORT FESTIVAL***

Today is the last opportunity to register for the above Festival on 12th February 2012 at King's Park.

The following 29 players have been registered which will allow us only to field 3 teams instead of the normal 5, so if you want your child to play, please tell me so I can register enough teams.

Hi Everyone!

Well done to all those who turned out and braved the nasty weather for last Sunday’s Tai Po Festival. DeA U8’s had some fantastic results. Overall we had 9 Wins, 4 Draws and only 2 Losses out of the 15 games we played. Whilst the results are not THE most important thing at this stage, it does help us compare our progress against other clubs and certainly makes it more fun for the kids! Special mentions go to DEA4 (Pumas) who won all their games and DEA2 (Lions) who remain unbeaten in all of the festivals so far this season.

TRAINING

Please be reminded that there is NO TRAINING at King’s Park this coming Sunday 22^nd Jan due to Chinese New Year. Training recommences on Sunday 29^th Jan at 8.30am as usual. Unfortunately I will be away for 2 weeks on business in the UK so training will be taken by other coaches.

As we move into the latter part of the season and with half an eye on the big changes that the kids will be making as they progress into U9’s and the real business of contact rugby starts, we will be making some changes to the way we structure the teams and training from 29^th January onwards.

Firstly, we will be separating the girls from the boys so that we can more easily increase the contact elements of training (the festivals will remain non-contact).

Hi Everyone!

Tai Po Festival at King’s Park on Sunday 15^th January 2012

Please see attached team sheets for the upcoming tournament this Sunday. Please ensure your child knows which team they are in and who the coaches are for that team. Whilst the majority will be in their regular team, due to an imbalance in numbers I have had to randomly assign a very small number of players into other teams to help out. The teams are likely to have a bit of a reshuffle after this tournament anyway so I do not anticipate this will be a problem for those asked to help out.

Also attached is the schedule for Sunday.