Training this Sunday, the Tiger Ball and The Hong Kong Team

Printer-friendly versionHi Everyone,

Season is well and truly winding now with only three more Sundays of training...this Sunday we will be taking photos of the team so it'd be great if all of the people who have been playing for U7s this year could make the effort and come down so that we can have as complete a team photo as possible.  I'd also like to use these last Sundays to start getting the kids used to the slightly different rules for U8s.  This essentially means setting up a no-push scrum but it will give us a head start for next year as we usually don't have a lot of time between the start of the season and the first festival.

Prior to that, we have the DeA Tigers end of Season Ball.  This is a formal (black tie) event which is scheduled for this Saturday night.  It's usually great fun and we get to mix with the club as a whole, something that doesn't happen a lot during the season.  If you'd like to attend I believe there are still some tickets at tables with minis parents, so let me know directly.  Tickets cost $600 and any extra money goes into the Larry Abel Trust fund which the club uses to sponsor rugby players (usually from DeA) to study both locally and internationally as well as other charitable efforts.

Speaking of Larry Abel, his son Jon has just been named captain of the Hong Kong National 15s squad.  Larry Abel was heavily involved in starting both Kai Tak Tigers (as DeA Tigers minis was known) and mini rugby in Hong Kong and Jon started his rugby at Kai Tak Tigers  and has been playing for Kai Tak and DeA Tigers ever since.  Tonight is his first game as captain of the national squad and the first time in the history of Hong Kong rugby that the team will be led on to the pitch by a truly local player.  If you have time please do come down and support Jon (and about 8 other current DeA players) and Hong Kong as they face New Zealand Universities.  Kings Park, 7:30pm tonight.  I'm sure Jon'll be happy to sign autograph's after the game!!.  This is also a lead up to the Asian 5 Nations which Hong Kong will start with a match against Japan next Saturday.

On May 3rd, there will be a touch festival for parent's and the bigger kids.  I'm planning for us to train as usually although we may only have a 1 1/2 hour session due to pitch constraints.  If any parents would like to join and play touch (no experience necessary) let me know and I'll get your name down on the team list.  This is probably your best chance to show your kids how it is supposed to be done, or in my case, embarrass your self in a big way.  We hope to have three parents/coaches teams so there are lots of spaces.

Finally, the club is planning to have a fun day on May 10th.  If you could start planning to bring a plate of food (like we did for Christmas) that'd be great.  Christmas was a roaring success as I'm sure you'd all agree and it would be a great way to close the season.  We are also planning to do our AGM at the same time so if any of you would like to help out in the administration of the club, please let either Peter White or myself know.  We work very hard to keep the costs down by having volunteers do everything around the club, but we can only do this if we have volunteers.  Even if you aren't willing to commit on a regular basis (usually only once a month), at least net us know you maybe able to help out on ad-hoc basis for things like membership, kit distribution, etc.

See you on Sunday.