Skills Development Sessions
Don't forget that the Skills Development Sessions continue! The next session is on Monday 21st April at Brighton RFC between 7.30pm and 9pm. The last session was extremely well-received, which shows that girls' rugby in Sussex is heading well and truly in the right direction.
Get yourself along and make the improvements to your game that will make you a better player next season.
Sussex v Surrey 2008-2009 Confirmed
!NEWSFLASH!
The successful experiment last season which saw Sussex take on Surrey in a floodlit Friday-night match will continue this season with confirmation that Sussex will play Surrey under lights on Friday 28th November 2008 at a venue in Sussex still to be confirmed. Put it firmly in your diaries!
Skills Development Sessions
A great turn-out of over 40 girls ensured that the first Skills Development Session was a massive success. With coaches new and old taking part and a large proportion of the girls new to Sussex rugby, it was inspiring to see. For the first time, we were also able to run an U12 girls session too!
Comments on the quality of the coaching and enjoyment of the session were good too, with the U18s reckoning that the session led by Community Rugby Coach Mick Orton was "awesome!"
The next session takes place at Brighton RFC on Monday April 21st between 7.30pm and 9pm. Come and enjoy it ...
Sussex Awards Dinner
Wednesday 12th March saw the first Sussex Girls' Rugby Awards Dinner take place. Hosted by Brighton Rugby Club, it was superb to see so many players enjoying the evening - all but unrecognisable in flowing dresses and with hair done and make-up worn.
Coaches Matt Kemp, Anthony Beckett (also Chair of Girls' Rugby in Sussex) and Hayley Kemp spoke, mentioning the impressive efforts of the players and coaches in what has been a successful season off the pitch and increasingly on the pitch, before Anthony Beckett, MC for the evening, announced the winners of the season's awards:
U15 Awards, presented by Bill Coleman.
- U15 Captains: Molly Byrne, Phoebe Hale, Debs Harwood.
- U15 Players' Player of the Season: Nina Crowther.
- U15 Most Improved Player: Cassie Larcombe.
- U15 Development XIII Player of the Season: Megan Rees.
- U15 Player of the Season: Debs Harwood
- U15 Champagne Moment: Victory over Hampshire.
U18 Awards, presented by Hayley Kemp.
- U18 Captains: Sián Clarke, Molly Probert.
- U18 Players' Player of the Season: Alex Finch.
- U18 Most Improved Player: Sián Rees.
- U18 Player of the Season: Alex Finch.
Sussex Girls' Rugby continues with monthly skills training sessions. Read on below.
Sussex Core Skills Development Sessions
Starting on Monday 31st March, girls from across Sussex will be able to access high-quality Core Skills training - free!
Players' skill levels are developing but there's always room for improvement so coming along to these sessions is sure to have an impact.
The sessions will focus on intensive handling, passing, tackling and contact skills and will incorporate a large element of game-play too. The main aims will be FUN and improved skills.
The sessions are open to all girls across Sussex, regardless of whether or not they've played for Sussex this season. The sessions are not County sessions - they're open to everyone!
The sessions will take place on the ATP at Brighton RFC on the following dates:
- Monday 31st March
- Monday 21st April
- Monday 5th May
- Dates to be confirmed in June and July.
Please contact Lead Coach Matt Kemp if you would like more information.
Ardingly Camp 2008
The Sussex Rugby Development Camp takes place at Ardingly College this August, Wednesday 6th to Friday 8th. Planning is now getting to an advanced stage and we have some interesting developments regarding coaches and activities.
21 players have been accepted onto the course and have paid deposits. The remaining £55 is due by 30th April either in full or in a payment of £25 by March 30th and a final payment of £30 by 30th April.
Please forward payment (making sure to add the word 'Ardingly' and your daughter's name to back the cheque) to:
Sussex Rugby Development Office
Ardingly Camp
Brighton and Hove Council Offices
Grand Avenue
Hove
BN3 2ST
If there are any concerns, including the total cost please contact Mal Chumbley, the Sussex Rugby Development Officer in the strictest confidence.
Watch the video of Ardingly 2007 below:
Sussex Awards Dinner 2008
You are invited to the Sussex Girls' Rugby Awards Dinner 2008. The dinner will be hosted by Brighton Rugby Club on Wednesday 12th March 2008, 6.30pm for 7pm. Dress will be formal: prom dress for ladies, dinner jackets for gentlemen.
You are requested to RSVP to Anthony Beckett as soon as possible.
The dinner is intended to be a celebration of the successes we've achieved within girls' rugby this season and will allow us to present awards to the players whose performances have been exceptional.
Sussex Season 2007-2008 Review
The coaches and managers met on Friday night to look over the feedback received from players and parents via the online survey and to think about what we need to improve and what we've done well this season. We're really positive about things - we know there are things we could do better, and we're going to work hard to improve those, but we also know there are things we've done well. We're pleased that the feedback we've received shows that the County programme this season was a success, that players and parents have enjoyed it and that most players will come back next season.
We looked really carefully through all of the comments made on the website and decided that we need to improve on the following things:
- We need to help you as players get to know each other better. We'll try to add a social event early in the season.
- At the moment the season just ends. We'll add an awards evening at the end of the season.
- We wrote a TEAM book but didn't really use it. Next season it will be a more important document and we'll make sure all players have a copy.
- We need to make it clearer what purpose County rugby serves. We'll add information on the Player Pathway in the TEAM book.
- We didn't make it clear to parents what County rugby is all about. We'll provide information for them so they know.
- We promised to provide you with regular feedback on your performance. We didn't always do this. We'll make sure we do next season.
- You wanted more time together as a squad. We know this makes sense. We'll run the County trial earlier in the season and will try to add more training sessions.
- Skill levels are improving but they're not there yet. Despite this, we'll make our training sessions more game-based.
- Watching yourself play is useful. We'll video matches and some training sessions and watch them with you so we can learn from them.
- There may be a need for teams to train together before matches. We'll think about how we can do this and get back to you.
- We need to help you improve the quality of your skills so we'll look at how we can run Core Skills training sessions after Christmas. This also means that the County season doesn't just stop and it means that there is still County rugby for those not selected for Regional rugby.
- We don't play enough games. We'll arrange more games before Christmas and some games after Christmas for players not selected for Regional rugby.
- We'll make enquiries about a tour.
- We'll make sure that Ardingly keeps running.
That's a lot of stuff to improve but because most of the things are quite small, we're happy we can achieve it. Here are the things we did last season that we want to keep.
- We're going to keep most things but try to make them all a little bit better!
- Our TEAM book was a valuable resource and we think that it made a real difference to how successful we were.
- The way we worked as a whole squad was fantastic. We really enjoyed it and will keep the same ethos.
- We may not have won every game we played but we won every time we went into the clubhouse. Everyone made a massive effort to look really smart after every match and it made Sussex Rugby look awesome. Well done!
- As we said we've really enjoyed things this season and will make sure that we keep heading in the right direction.
Many thanks, Matt and the coaching and management team.