Welcome to a new season at the Old Pats Minis, Juniors and Colts. As always, we approach the new season looking forward to many successes, great matches, friendships and enjoyment as the players progress through the season.

Our Volunteers

I am extremely grateful to all the hard work that the various volunteers do in every age group and at a club level. This ensures that the players have all the necessary match/training sessions, facilities and equipment to get hem through the long season ahead. Without all their efforts we would not experience the success we do at every level.

Our Sponsors

I also need to thank all our existing and new sponsors without whose commitment we would not be able to finance the various aspects of the entire club. So thank you to Emerge, Warner Matthews Asset Management, Edgeworth, Shuttercraft, Ski Tyres and Knight Frank.

U16’s to Colts

On a personal level last season saw the conclusion of the U16’s, who I have coached and managed since they were U9’s. This was a superb group of over 50 players, the majority of whom had been with us from the U9’s. This group are a testament to everything that the club stand for. They now progress into the Colts and I look forward to seeing their continued development. Having some free time on a Sunday morning will now give me the opportunity to visit all the other age groups. I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can and enjoy watching some great rugby.

Our Ethos

At the Pats we do things slightly differently to a lot of other clubs. The club recognised that all players develop at different rates and at different ages. Rugby as a sport has lost far too many players by overlooking their development. Over many years we have developed an ethos of including every player and running mixed ability teams and not selecting A,B and C teams which does not work if you want to develop all players through the age groups. This can be challenging to those who aren’t familiar with the method. However it works. We manage large age groups all the way through to Colts. We see many other clubs struggle at U15’s and 16’s to put out teams. This is mainly due to the demands of school rugby, Gloucester DPP rugby and occasionally County fixtures. At the Pats we have never experienced this. As we do not exclude players and retain healthy numbers.  In fact on many occasions we have maintained fixtures by providing players to the opposition!

I appreciate that to some this may be difficult to accept. Success is measured in many ways, not only by winning on the pitch. We are a community club who value everyone involved. Therefore I ask you to support all the Coaches, Team Managers and volunteers who work within our ethos. Trust me, in the long run we keep more players involved in this fantastic game. A brief version of the Ethos is attached to this message (see image/link to PDF below)

The Season ahead

So looking ahead we can enjoy the firm post summer pitches before we head into the mud of winter ! I know that it will be a great season for all. However we are not just about the rugby. We had a great summer ball this year that raised a lot of money for the club. We will be looking to run another large fund raising event again this season. If you want to help, please let us know.

Finally, thank you to all the parents/guardians that turn out every week to support our players. Please continue to do so. If you feel that you can help your age group or the club let us know…. We always welcome more volunteers.

Have an enjoyable season.

Alistair Armstrong – Junior Chair