Forest Girls Rugby 7s – 2017

Hi all and Happy New Year to everyone.

Training

Season 2017 is only weeks away from starting.  Training will commence on Monday the 23rd of January from 6pm up at the War Memorial Playing Field (aka Melwood Oval) up at Forestville and will continue on every Monday.  I suspect a number of people will be still on holidays to start with but numbers should swell as the school year starts.

First Game

The first round of the Girls 7s will be on Saturday the 11th of February.  Location and time to be determined but it will be in the late afternoon/early evening.  This competition will go for 7 weeks.

2017 Season

There will be 3 rounds of 7 weeks for the girls.  Round 1 starts as of the 11th of February.  This round will go up until the start of the school holidays after term 1.  Round 2 will start again at the start of term 2 of school.  Round 3 dates are still to be determined

Registration

We have a new system to setup after Sydney Junior Rugby Union (SJRU) changed from last year.  It will all be done on line. Please CLICK HERE for all 2017 Junior registration information.

Teams

Based on numbers of old players and those that came to the information day I believe the following is true

• U12 (girls turning 11 or 12 in 2017)– this is new age group for 2017.  There were a few girls at the information day for this age group so I am confident we can get a team up and running.  The only other unknown factor is if other clubs will get an U12s team to play against.  We can only focus on getting one setup at Forest and then see who we have to play.
• U14 (girls turning 13 or 14 in 2017) – we will definitely have 1 team in this age group.  There is a possibility we may have enough for 2 teams
• U16 (girls turning 15 or 16 in 2017) – again we will definitely have 1 team in this age group.  There is again the possibility we may have enough for 2 teams.
• U18 (girls turning 17 or 18 in 2017) – we didn’t have any girls for this age in 2016.  There are a couple of girls from 2016 that played U16s that will fall into this age group this year.  However we have a number of girls at the information day that also fit into this age bracket.  We may need to recruit for 1 or 2 more players but I think we are an 80% chance of getting a team up.

The Jersey

For those not on the facebook group* you would not know that in 2017 we have designed a specific Forest Girls 7s jersey for our U14s, U16s, and U18s teams which we expect to have ready before the first game on the 11/2.  It holds the traditional green and white colours but we have added a “hint” of pink with a rather funky design.  The boys will be jealous of the girls!!!

Playing Out of Age

As per above, depending on what age you turn in 2017 will determine what team you fall under.  There are some girls that have a desire to play with their friends that may be in another age bracket.  This is possible but we have to get special permission for a girl to play in a different age group.  There will be a few hoops to jump through to make this happen.  Please call out to me if you/your daughter is wanting to play up an age group or down and age group (this one will be much harder to make happen)

Coaches/Managers

With the growth of the girls we will be looking for some Mums and/or Dads who are interested in giving coaching or managing a go for 2017.  Ali and I are not enough to cover all the girls teams.  I have 1 past Forest player from my 2016 boys Opens team considering being a coach for the girls after some shoulder surgery ruled him out of playing Rugby in 2017 which is great.  If you are interested, please drop me an email.  I’ll pass onto you a link for an up coaching course tailored for Women’s Rugby that will be held on the 22nd of January this year.

Recruitment

We are always looking for more players and are expecting to be bigger and brighter in 2017.  If you have anyone thinking about playing and want to try it out, get them to come to training or send them my email details.  Focus on U12s and U18s.  We also have a player recruitment competition for all Juniors, see details HERE.

Any questions/concerns you may have, please feel free to contact me either via this email address (David.McAndrew@nielsen.com) or my mobile on 0437 407 392

Look forward to seeing you all at training!!!
David

* the Facebook group is called “Forest Rugby Girls 7s” if you would like to join, click HERE.  It is open to all players and their families