Valley Fort schedule for Sunday 28th February and other DeA Minis matters

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Dear Minis Members

I have just today received the final programme for the Valley Fort festival, to be held at King's Park on Sunday. The full programme can be found on the DeA Minis website at: www.deatigersrfc.com or at: http://www.deatigersrfc.com/files/Valley_Fort_Minis_Festival_Programme_3.pdf

The organisers of the festival have asked me to inform all members that:
1. HK Marathon - one of the cross harbour tunnels will be closed and there will be further road closures around Causeway Bay. Please allow extra time to travel to Kings Park.

2. Parking - there is no parking at Kings Park except by special prior arrangement. Taxis and buses - passengers should get out on Wylie Road to avoid congestion outside the ground entrance.

3. HK senior players - will be there to sign autographs etc. around lunchtime.

4. Under 12s and under 11s trophy presentation - will be at the end of the afternoon, around 5.30 pm.

5. Programmes - we will NOT be printing hard copies of the programme so please send to those who need it by email and they should print what they need.

6. St Johns Ambulance will be on hand to take care of any injuries.

 Therefore, please print off your own copy of the playing schedules, as appropriate.

DeA Minis schedule for March and April:

7th March - training as normal at KP. Rowan Varty will be coaching the U11 and U12 age groups this week. Monthly badges/awards will be presented. As the number of kids registered has increased by over 50% this year, which is tremendous, we will split the award ceremony into 2. The U6-U8 age groups will receive badges at 10.30 and the U9-U12 age groups will receive badges at 11.00.

14th March - HKFC festival, at HKFC ground, Happy Valley. (No training at KP).

21st March - training as normal at KP. Rowan Varty will be coaching the U9 and U10 age groups this week.

26th-28th March - The HK7s at the HK National Stadium. (No training at KP).

4th April - this is Easter Sunday, but there will be training as usual at KP for those who have not gone away for a holiday, like me!!

11th April - training as normal at KP.

18th April - training as normal, but followed by the DeA Minis Annual General Meeting (AGM) at 11.00. It is hoped that all members can attend the AGM, in the clubhouse. We hope that we can turn this day into a social experience for everyone and would ask all members to bring along a dontaion of food on that day, so that we can set up abuffet area after training and the AGM. AGM will last from 11.00-11.30, followed by food and socialising!

25th April - final day of training for DeA Minis. The U10s will hold a Mini festival on pitch 1, against 5 other clubs. The other 2 pitches will be available for training, as usual. This is season's end!!

HK7s Ticket distribution:

Brenton an I will collect the HK7s tickets tonight and these will be distributed to members who have ordered them on Sunday 7th March and Sunday 21st March, in the clubhouse at KP. Please bring along your receipt for the payment/order and your HKID card. Please be patient with the volunteers who will be distributing the tickets.

For members who may not have tickets yet and may still want to purchase some, then please apply by emailing to Brenton Judge at: 7stickets@deatigersrfc.com

Some members may not want their full 3 days allocation of tickets, so other members may wish to purchase these. Please send details to Brenton, who has kindly agreed, in a moment of weakness, to coordinate this!! There are no guarantees, but a fair process will be put in place to accommodate members as best we can. For sale of tickets to other members, I would suggest the following prices:

Child tickets - Friday = HK$50, Saturday = HK$100, Sunday = HK$150

Adult tickets - Friday = HK$150, Saturday = HK$450, Sunday = HK$650

However, this is only a suggestion and it is up to members to coordinate this by themselves.

Qualifications of DeA Minis Members:

 Many of our DeA Minis coaches/parents have already undertaken courses to improve their knowledge of rugby and to help them in coaching/refereeing. It has been decided that we will try to record which coaches/parents have attended which courses. Therefore, Helen Adams (parent of Saul - U10s and Louie - U12s) has kindly agreed to coordinate compiling a list/record for the Minis, so she will seek this information from all members. At some stage prior to the end of April, it is hoped we can have a database of qualifications of all Minis members.

Finally, let's hope DeA Minis have a really successsful festival on Sunday and I hope that support for the kids can be very vocal, but also fair. Please do not abuse referees on the day, as they are doing a tough job and are volunteers who also want to enjoy the day. We are all passionate about seeing our kids play rugby, but at the end of the day the spirit of fun and fair play must prevail!!

Go Tigers!!

Peter (DeA Minis Chair)