mission statement.
Time
Training starts at 10am prompt and we’ll aim to finish between 11.15 and 11.30am. It really helps us if you’re there on time. Having children arrive at 10.30am and beyond can make it difficult to properly run the drills we’ve prepared. We know many of the children would like us to play to lunchtime and then some, but we have the cut-off as we’ll have been on the Downs since 9.15am for set-up and it can take a while clearing away and packing up and we all have other commitments on a Saturday. Fixtures - we’ll let you know if the opposition’s routine is vastly different to ours eg. a later or even an earlier start, likewise for tournaments.
Help
Thanks to everyone who helped in various ways last season. We’re all busy people and would welcome, indeed encourage, any and all offers of help; whether with coaching, setup, pack-away or admin & organisation. We can’t all three of us be there every week and, as has already been explained, we will be down a coach for large parts of this season. If you’re watching from the sidelines and have skills to share, please don’t be shy. We also welcome any feedback you might have.
Fixtures & selection
During the first part of the season (basically between September and Easter), our fixtures are largely friendly and we'd ordinarily field mixed-ability teams as we have in previous seasons. However many of the teams we play against now stream their squads; so, in order to ensure that our fixtures against them are as evenly matched as possible, we need to look at doing something similar in those games. In the second half of last season we were already splitting our squad like this in some training sessions. Don't worry, the streamed groups will not be set in stone - players will move between them as and when appropriate.
Please remember that on match days we can usually only accommodate a maximum of 18 - two teams of 7 plus substitutes. We will do our best to be fair and inclusive and, as we did last year, we’ll make sure everybody who wants to gets some game time over the course of the season.
As well as our Friendly League fixtures, we're also going to try to arrange other friendlies with teams like St Valliers in Filton (who we had a great game against in June) and this will help us to do that. However this will exacerbate our need for more help with coaching - please think about whether you can help. When selecting teams for fixtures, consideration will also be given to attendance and subs records (see below). After Easter we enter a number of competitive tournaments and for those we will pick ability-based teams.
Subs
Subs for the term/year are due at the start of the term/year. They are £10 per old-style term or £30 for the year. Your subs pay for the kits, training equipment and balls etc and enable us to enter tournaments. Please pay us (cash or cheques payable to Westbury Park Foxes) as soon as possible. It would be great if we didn't have to chase anyone for subs this season.
Discipline
We have a large number of children to deal with on a Saturday and there’s no time for poor discipline, it spoils things for everybody. Can we please remind you what it says in the Foxes’ Mission Statement: “The coach may also feel the need to ask a child to sit out for part (or the remainder) of a session if that child is misbehaving.” Please also remember that the Mission Statement also says: “We need parents to stay on the Downs during training sessions or nominate another adult to keep an eye on their child. Coaches cannot be responsible for all children at all times and may need to send your child to you if they are upset or injured. Parents should also make sure their children have a drink, suitable foot wear and shin pads.”
Training starts at 10am prompt and we’ll aim to finish between 11.15 and 11.30am. It really helps us if you’re there on time. Having children arrive at 10.30am and beyond can make it difficult to properly run the drills we’ve prepared. We know many of the children would like us to play to lunchtime and then some, but we have the cut-off as we’ll have been on the Downs since 9.15am for set-up and it can take a while clearing away and packing up and we all have other commitments on a Saturday. Fixtures - we’ll let you know if the opposition’s routine is vastly different to ours eg. a later or even an earlier start, likewise for tournaments.
Help
Thanks to everyone who helped in various ways last season. We’re all busy people and would welcome, indeed encourage, any and all offers of help; whether with coaching, setup, pack-away or admin & organisation. We can’t all three of us be there every week and, as has already been explained, we will be down a coach for large parts of this season. If you’re watching from the sidelines and have skills to share, please don’t be shy. We also welcome any feedback you might have.
Fixtures & selection
During the first part of the season (basically between September and Easter), our fixtures are largely friendly and we'd ordinarily field mixed-ability teams as we have in previous seasons. However many of the teams we play against now stream their squads; so, in order to ensure that our fixtures against them are as evenly matched as possible, we need to look at doing something similar in those games. In the second half of last season we were already splitting our squad like this in some training sessions. Don't worry, the streamed groups will not be set in stone - players will move between them as and when appropriate.
Please remember that on match days we can usually only accommodate a maximum of 18 - two teams of 7 plus substitutes. We will do our best to be fair and inclusive and, as we did last year, we’ll make sure everybody who wants to gets some game time over the course of the season.
As well as our Friendly League fixtures, we're also going to try to arrange other friendlies with teams like St Valliers in Filton (who we had a great game against in June) and this will help us to do that. However this will exacerbate our need for more help with coaching - please think about whether you can help. When selecting teams for fixtures, consideration will also be given to attendance and subs records (see below). After Easter we enter a number of competitive tournaments and for those we will pick ability-based teams.
Subs
Subs for the term/year are due at the start of the term/year. They are £10 per old-style term or £30 for the year. Your subs pay for the kits, training equipment and balls etc and enable us to enter tournaments. Please pay us (cash or cheques payable to Westbury Park Foxes) as soon as possible. It would be great if we didn't have to chase anyone for subs this season.
Discipline
We have a large number of children to deal with on a Saturday and there’s no time for poor discipline, it spoils things for everybody. Can we please remind you what it says in the Foxes’ Mission Statement: “The coach may also feel the need to ask a child to sit out for part (or the remainder) of a session if that child is misbehaving.” Please also remember that the Mission Statement also says: “We need parents to stay on the Downs during training sessions or nominate another adult to keep an eye on their child. Coaches cannot be responsible for all children at all times and may need to send your child to you if they are upset or injured. Parents should also make sure their children have a drink, suitable foot wear and shin pads.”