Hi

See below message from the club - a letter re our age group from me will hopefully follow at the weekend. Also don't forget the Park Run at the Wimbledon Windmill every Saturday at 9am start (arrive 8.45).

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Welcome back! Training starts 10am, prompt as usual, on Sunday 1st September. We look forward to seeing you all again as we start the new season. Lots of news to share including:

The beginning of the season plans
The Wimbledon B Festival (29 September)
The New Rules of Play
RFU Core Values of the Game and discipline
New Social Membership scheme
Important information for managers and coaches

The beginning of the season plans: For the first three weeks of the season it’s all about getting the boys and girls back up to speed as quickly as possible.

KIT: Serious Stuff will be set-up with WRFC gear for the first three weekends to make it as easy as possible to get kitted out. You can buy online here - http://www.serious-stuff.com/c/22/WIMBLEDON-R-F-C- - you’ll need the passcode 1865 to access our club store; or visit in person - http://www.serious-stuff.com/contacts.

SUBS: A crack team of mums and dads will be helping collect subs over the first four weeks in September. It helps the club massively if we get subs in promptly so if you know you’re with us for the season, please sort yours out swiftly!

The New Rules of Play: There are changes to the rules at practically all levels for this season. U6 to U10s see the biggest changes. The aim of the changes is to increase the kids’ enjoyment of the game and the feedback is pretty positive from coaches and players alike (the majority of the country has been playing to these rules already). Any questions, your head coach or Justin Pascoal-Reynolds (director of minis rugby) can help. There’s a link to The New Rules of Play here: http://www.rfu.com/~/media/files/2012/managingrugby/new_rules_of_play/re...

RFU Core Values of the Game and club discipline: This season the coaches will be emphasising the Core Values of the Game to the kids. These are: Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship. Surrey Rugby and the RFU are seriously focusing on discipline this season and anyone found to be breaking these values will be severely punished. The key part of the Values for parents and coaches is respect of the referee and any parent/coach found to abuse referees and/or match officials will receive a 12 month pitchside ban and sanctions may be imposed on the whole club. In practice this probably means docked points and/or a fine for the Senior First XV that play in London 1 South. Pitchside behaviour at festivals will be strictly monitored. Please help support the club’s aim: zero tolerance of referee abuse.

The club’s discipline policy has been updated and will be available on the website in due course.

New Social Membership scheme: When you sign your kids up for club membership you’ll also get the chance to sign up for adult social membership. There are two key benefits – you can enter the ballot for England rugby tickets and you will be able to hire the clubhouse for free (the hire fee being waived). Details at registration during the first four weeks of September.

Important information for managers and coaches:
DBS CHECK Everyone coaching and managing a Mini’s and Youth team, up to and including U16 will need to go through a DBS (was CRB) enhanced check. This is a mandatory RFU requirement for this season. You will be able to do this during the first three weeks of September. If this applies to you please bring the relevant documents with you (see https://www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check/documents-the-applic...) and see either Georgina or Matt at the clubhouse on Sundays to get these processed.

REFEREES We need to have three coaches per age group up-to-speed with refereeing badges too. Please help your head coach/manager achieve this swiftly if you’re nominated to be one. Ken Millett is the club’s new referee co-ordinator.

COACHING Especially for U9 and above, but all coaches are invited, anyone coaching need to be at least “Rugby Ready”. Justin is organising a session at the club on 8 September (tbc) so this is as easy as possible. Please make every effort to attend as this, too, is an RFU requirement. Every age group will also need at least one coach trained to Level 1 by Christmas.

That’s it for now. Your managers will be in regular touch as normal and I’ll be helping all age groups get age-group newsletters up and running through the season.

Best wishes

Richard Castle
Communications Officer and U8 dad/coach
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