Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline, Sportsmanship

TEAMWORK, RESPECT, ENJOYMENT, DISCIPLINE, SPORTSMANSHIP. Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club - Mini & Junior Section Doc: 0c6d38e78585304765a1eb75cbfab382.docx Printed: 02:45 Tuesday, 08 May 2018

1 Welcome Welcome to Minchinhampton rugby club (MRFC). This note is designed to give you the bare details needed to ensure that we can get you and your child into the club as quickly as possible and to answer any initial questions you may have.

The club is registered with the Gloucestershire and National Rugby Football Unions. We are an RFU accredited club and have an RFU seal of approval and we adhere to the RFU rules governing junior rugby:

 Providing a pathway for young players to gradually acquire the skills needed to play Rugby Union  Consider all matches to be an extension of training to enable players to test the skills they have acquired in a game situation  Promotes the Core Values: Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship. Our website http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/minchinhamptonrfc/ includes a juniors and mini section with full details about the club and the juniors and mini section as well as documents, fixtures, contact details and our policies. The season normally runs from the 1st weekend in Sep and finishes on or around the 1st of May.

2 Age Groups A player’s age grade is determined at Midnight on 31st August. MRFC do not allow children below the age of 5 to play or train. Children may join the U6 squad as long as they were already 5 on or before midnight on the 31st August each year (equivalent to year 1 at school). Occasionally we will allow a child who turns five before Dec 31st to join the U6’s on their fifth birthday. However this has got to be on a child by child basis and the U6 Manager and coaches will make the decision. U6’s do not play competitive matches. Until children reach the U9 squad we exclusively play tag (non- contact) rugby.

3 Registration We want you to join our club but we recognise that this is a two way thing! The club allows new players to play for three weeks without paying subs, an opportunity to check that your son or daughter enjoys Rugby. We then require you to fully register with the club and to pay subscriptions. Fees and registration docs are available from age group managers, from the club website or the club membership secretary. Until your child is registered they cannot play in any matches. Therefore, if the age group teams are scheduled to play matches and you have not registered then your child may not be able to play Rugby that weekend.

We operate a hardship policy to help those less able to afford membership. Details are available from the website, from managers or any member of the committee and all enquiries will be dealt with confidentially.

Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club Ltd, Downfield Cottage, Bulls Cross, Sheepscombe, Glos, GL6 7HU TEAMWORK, RESPECT, ENJOYMENT, DISCIPLINE, SPORTSMANSHIP. Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club - Mini & Junior Section Doc: 0c6d38e78585304765a1eb75cbfab382.docx Printed: 02:45 Tuesday, 08 May 2018 4 Staying in touch Until you are fully registered (for your first three weeks) we ask you to let your age group manager have a contact email address and phone number. Please use the attached sheet to record your child’s details and give it to your age group manager so that we can keep in touch.

Once you are registered your age group manager will let you know about the age groups preferred method of communicating. In the main age group managers prefer to communicate by email, it is cheap, instant and saves on paper. Each week the age group manager will communicate with their age group to ensure that players and their parents are fully briefed prior to training or matches on Sunday:

 A mid-week warning email to all parents – This will let you know where we are playing, who we are playing and will request any confirmations we may need.  An email later in the week, usually on Friday nights confirming arrangements  If adverse conditions (weather, sickness, closures etc.) mean that training or matches are cancelled this will be done by email at any time up to 08:30 on Sunday; please check your email inbox before you set out for training.  If we need to cancel after this time we will do it by phoning your emergency contact number (mobiles are therefore best).

5 Coaches and Managers The club is run by volunteers who provide the club management committee, age group coaches and managers and many other roles. We are always looking for help to run the club especially for experienced Rugby players to act as coaches (we provide and fund qualification via the RFU) and age group managers. There is no compulsory requirement for you to take on a club role but we will need at least one manager per year group and one coach for each 10 or so children. Volunteering is great fun and very fulfilling. We are one of the fastest growing clubs in the UK and I believe this is, in no small part, due to our brilliant team of managers, coaches and volunteers.

We do however insist that you help out with some simple weekly jobs, allocated to age groups by rota. The duties are not arduous and therefore we do insist that you help out (like making tea and coffee, selling raffle tickets, manning a BBQ) once or twice a season.

6 Fixtures We issue a fixture list. Please ask your age group manager for a copy or download the latest version from the website.

7 Your responsibilities as a parent or guardian All our coaches are CRB’d or are pending CRB approval and coach under the close supervision of a CRB’d coach. We are not however baby sitters and therefore if your child needs a hug (when they get hurt/cold/upset), needs to go to the toilet (you’d be surprised) or is asked to sit on the “naughty turf” then we ask you to take control.

Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club Ltd, Downfield Cottage, Bulls Cross, Sheepscombe, Glos, GL6 7HU TEAMWORK, RESPECT, ENJOYMENT, DISCIPLINE, SPORTSMANSHIP. Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club - Mini & Junior Section Doc: 0c6d38e78585304765a1eb75cbfab382.docx Printed: 02:45 Tuesday, 08 May 2018 Once they are older they may get injured or need to be disciplined, we need you or a designated adult in charge of them and therefore we do insist that you remain at the training ground throughout training and for fixtures.

8 Welfare Accidents can happen. The club works hard to keep children safe by training our coaches, adhering to RFU and IRB best practice and generally taking care. We train our coaches in first aid. However as with most sports injuries can happen. If your child needs medical attention we need you to be with them or for them to have an authorised adult with them.

Please note that weather conditions can change dramatically on Minchinhampton Common and at Hollybush. It is essential therefore that parents, particularly of small younger children, bring suitable protective clothing (hats, gloves,etc) for this eventuality and ensure that your children are adequately dressed for all (cold/hot/wet/dry/windy/snowy) weather. Nothing is more likely to put a child off rugby than getting miserably cold and wet.

We do not insist that the children wear club colours for training but we do for matches. The club operates a kit swap on the first few weekends of each season, for a small donation you may swap boots and other club kit in the pavilion. Batemans in Stroud carry a full range of MRFC club kit. But honestly warm and dry is a priority over looking good or uniform!!

9 Be prompt – Not too early, not too late Training normally starts at 10:30 please try to be relatively on time rather than too early as we try to set up the pitches from 10:00 to 10:30, this is easier if we are not overrun. U6 to U8 age groups should normally finish at 11:30 and other age groups at 12:00. Match days (U7’s+) tend to start earlier at 10:00 for registration with kick off at 10:30 and children must register on match day to play in matches.

10 Supporting the club and the team We understand that it is sometimes difficult not to take rugby very seriously!!! However we would ask that you read through the following codes of conduct with your children and abide by them:

10.1 Code of conduct for young players The Players’ Code of Conduct is an important part of the fabric of the Minchinhampton RFC. We owe it to ourselves and others, to play within the rules, enjoy the game and develop the skills necessary both playing and socially. We expect our players to:

 Recognise the effort made by coaches, parents and match officials in providing the opportunity to play the game and enjoy the rugby environment.

 Understand the values of loyalty and commitment to adults and team mates.

 Remember skill development, fun and enjoyment is the most important parts of the game.

Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club Ltd, Downfield Cottage, Bulls Cross, Sheepscombe, Glos, GL6 7HU TEAMWORK, RESPECT, ENJOYMENT, DISCIPLINE, SPORTSMANSHIP. Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club - Mini & Junior Section Doc: 0c6d38e78585304765a1eb75cbfab382.docx Printed: 02:45 Tuesday, 08 May 2018  Be attentive at all training/coaching sessions, and equally work hard for yourself and your team.

 Recognise good play by ALL players on both sides, being a sportsperson, win or lose; we always shake hands with our opponents.

 Play to the rules; always accept the referee’s decisions, without question.

 Control your emotions, verbal or physical abuse towards your team-mates, opponents or officials IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

 ENJOY PLAYING RUGBY.

10.2 Code of conduct for parents and guardians Minchinhampton RFC’s Mini / Junior have gone from strength to strength. The Club acknowledges that parents / guardians are an integral part of the club, which ensures that young players can enjoy their rugby and experience a safe, inclusive and enjoyable environment. We actively encourage our Parents/Guardians to:

 Recognise the efforts made by coaches, and match officials in providing the opportunity for our children to play the game and enjoy the rugby environment.

 Be aware of the club has a duty of care, therefore assist the caches with supervision

 Be involved with the Clubs activities, share concerns with coaches and club officials.

 Be familiar with our Child Protection Policy and our Code of Conduct for Coaches, Players and Conduct Procedure

We expect Parents/Guardians to :

 Encourage, rather than force young people to play, remember, they play for their own enjoyment not ours.

 Focus on fair play, the efforts of the young players, rather than just winning or losing.

 Provide positive verbal feedback, both in training and game situations.

 Young people learn by example, please remember not to use loud, coarse or abusive language.

 Always show appreciation of all good play by ALL young players from both sides.

 Most importantly, we are here for the players, let’s enjoy rugby!

Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club Ltd, Downfield Cottage, Bulls Cross, Sheepscombe, Glos, GL6 7HU TEAMWORK, RESPECT, ENJOYMENT, DISCIPLINE, SPORTSMANSHIP. Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club - Mini & Junior Section Doc: 0c6d38e78585304765a1eb75cbfab382.docx Printed: 02:45 Tuesday, 08 May 2018 11 Where are we?

Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club Ltd, Downfield Cottage, Bulls Cross, Sheepscombe, Glos, GL6 7HU TEAMWORK, RESPECT, ENJOYMENT, DISCIPLINE, SPORTSMANSHIP. Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club - Mini & Junior Section Doc: 0c6d38e78585304765a1eb75cbfab382.docx Printed: 02:45 Tuesday, 08 May 2018

12 Pitch Plan Pitches are allocated weekly mid-week. As a general rule priority is given to fixtures and in age seniority preference. Please look out for mid-week emails from managers telling you where you will be training or playing.

Will Garrard Chairman MRFC M&J

Tuesday, 08 May 2018

MINCHINHAMPTON RFC (Minis & Juniors)

Minchinhampton Rugby Football Club Ltd, Downfield Cottage, Bulls Cross, Sheepscombe, Glos, GL6 7HU