A HUGE WELCOME to all members, new and old. 2019 will be the greatest year at Hampton Rovers yet.
600 members was a pipe dream five years ago: we started 2014 with 260, we are officially 4 members short of 600, with new members arriving daily.
170 registered Auskickers, 30 of those are girls, the future at Rovers is blue sky and sunshine.
A massive shout out to all Volunteers, Coaches, TMs, Trainers, Committee and the stars of the show, the children.
Huge hours have gone in over the last 3 months. Our Pres, Jase Nicholl and his Committee were optimistic the 600 barrier could be reached in February this year, loads of planning and shuffling numbers sees us maximising game time and encouraging coaches to run skinny at times to encourage participation and development, this might not mean we are super competitive from time to time but rostering off and having children bored on the bench creates unsettled minds, I encourage all coaches to sing the praise of all players always.
I would like to acknowledge Kabel Davis’s contribution to the Committee in the last 3 years, his hard work goes unnoticed but not by me and the committee, thanks Kabes.
The newest and shiniest, as Lisa Beavan calls the U8s, are up and about. They will be the first to officially use the new club rooms Sunday at Castlefield, no doubt excited and raring to go. Welcome to Steve Hart and Damian Gill the two coaches, your role within our club is vital, the best of luck to you and your teams.
Our Under 9 squad is in great hands, all coaches are back and the reports are positive for numbers and attitude of players and parents alike.
Sean Brady is coaching our U10 Girls this year, welcome Sean, watching your little roses bloom over the next few months will be a treasure.
Emma Nicholl, Fi Gathercole, Sally Stewart and Amy Stokes are four ladies that have pulled together some large hours across all ages particularly the girls teams, 1 x U10, 2 x U12, 2 x U14, 1 x U18 – 120 girls members and getting larger each year.
A great response from Chris Leeds, Di Thomas, Dave Burton and a handful of loyal members from U13 and U12 squads showed me again the kind of spirit we have within the Rovers to get the second U13 team up and going, I look forward to watching these lads Sunday.
Matt Touhey, Brad Langdon and the committee at Zebs support our merge age groups from U15-17, our communication between clubs is vital in allowing all community people to play the best game there is.
Paul Golding and Sean Crisp are two guys that have done a tonne of work with the U15-16s and need to be recognised.
OK, less than 48 hours and the proof are always on the faces of the children come Sunday. To say I am excited is understatement, the wait is almost over, it’s better than Carlton kicking 100 points.
The sport that pulls our community together more than anything else is BACK.
GO ROVERS, never forget, PASSION TEAMWORK FUN RESPECT
Cheers
Caggs
