End of Season Awards and Celebrations

Sunday May 8th 2011, saw the last function of the current season for the Parkonians Junior Rugby.

The section has gone from strength to strength; we now have over 115 registered members in just three seasons.

All the children have played exceptionally well and the improvement is noticeable . We entered 5 teams into this years Cheshire Festivals who all did very well, especially the under 8s who got through to the final! Hopefully next year we will be able to field every age group from under 7s to under 14s.

The Presentation afternoon was a great success with all the children being presented with medals. The President of the Association, Kenny Cooke , presented the specific awards for Players Player and Coaches Award for each age group as follows :

Under 7s	Players Player	Rhys Hulse
	Coaches Award	Daniel Macaskill
Under 8s	Players Player	Miles Hughes
	Coaches Award	Louis Tyson
Under 9s	Players Player - Tigers	Edmund Ibie
	Players Player - Lions	Jenson Mackie
	Coaches Award	Nathan Green
Under 10s	Players Player	Luke Hillan
	Coaches Award	Tom Williams
Under 11s	Players Player	Josh Morris
	Coaches Award	Alistair Logan
Under 12/13s	Players Player	Luke Robinson
	Coaches Award	David Flynn

After a most enjoyable buffet, the afternoon rounded off with a touch rugby game between the coaches, parents and the girls from the kitchen.

Click on a picture to see the full sized version. You can use your left and right arrow keys to go backwards and forwards through the collection.

Under 8s vs Wirral ~ Sunday 20th February

Max (Capt.), Ellis, Jack, Julian, Reece, Matthew, Chris and Oskar.

Wirral travelled to Holm Lane on Sunday to play a great game of Tag on a particularly cold morning. Wirral could only field 5 players so we decided that we would play a friendly game and swap some of our players and play six a side. We kept the pitch full size so it was a really tough but incredibly exciting game.

Full score: - Parks (22) Wirral (14) of which 4 of the tries were scored by our loaned players!!!

I will write the report in full as I had my debut venture into refereeing and therefore was not making notes as such, just following the game as the Ref. It was a tremendously spirited game and really good fun. The teams were very evenly matched so the tries came thick and fast. We began to experiment with some longer passes from the start (not always successful) and some dummy passes too…well done boys. Support play was excellent (see photos on fb site) and once we were going in the right direction FORWARD… my voice was a little hoarse shouting that the run of play and great passing was a privilege to watch.

It was noted again that Wirral like Waterloo were protecting the tags…I did warn them but it appears that they have been shown this as the whole team were using the ball to hand off and pirouetting away from the defenders…against the rules.

I must congratulate all the boys who volunteered to play for Wirral…great additions to their team as quoted by their coach who said they were excellent.
Another victory over a very well established junior squad-let’s keep it up Parks we are incredibly proud of you.

Tries: - Julian (1), Oskar (6) Ellis (4) Reece (2), Jack (6), Matthew (1), Max (1) and Chris (1)

Thanks once again for your support, Lorraine

Under 8s vs Waterloo ~ Sunday 13th February

Chris (Capt.) Louis (vice Capt.), Oskar, Miles, Ellis, Matthew, Bradley, Max and Jack

We travelled to Waterloo last weekend for an excellent game of tag rugby. There was excitement from the children about the stands and they thought that having a rather large audience was brilliant…like being at an international (well almost).

1st Quarter Waterloo (5) Parks (5)

We set off at a fast and furious pace scoring three tries very quickly-well done Miles, Oskar and Ellis. The referee was very strict but was not pulling up his players for using the ball to hand off…our boys realized what was happening and just added extra pressure gaining numerous tags and forcing the turnover ball.

2nd Quarter Waterloo (4) Parks (4)

More tries for Jack, Ellis, Jack and Miles. Excellent defensive play from Bradley who is our resident power house and makes up ground leaving the opposition wanting. The boys kept pace with a good Waterloo side and held them to another draw…their coach was not very happy and it was noted by our boys and indeed the parents how very aggressive he was when his team were not pulling away from us (made Steve and I look like pussy cats)…our boys perfect gentlemen and were enjoying themselves (see fb photos for evidence) even when sitting out during substitutions (well done boys).

3rd Quarter Waterloo (4) Parks (5)

We were getting a little tired and it had begun to rain and the temperature plummeted but that did not deter the lads with Max and Mathew scoring in this third. Excellent support play and passing throughout on a very large pitch…only realized how big as I was running touch. All the boys played excellently to edge ourselves into a narrow lead-could we maintain it in the last quarter as the rain began to fall more heavily!!!!!

Final Quarter Waterloo (3) Parks (4)

With the freezing rain chilling us to the bone we were determined to keep our lead and we were not disappointed as Waterloo’s defense started to crumble as it became apparent that we were out playing them..Their heads went down and we made the most of it…finishing them of in style with Jack, Miles and Oskar scoring the final tries.
An excellent game to watch and amazing to see how the boys are growing in confidence as a ream-well done everyone and once again a big thank you to the parents for getting there (I got lost!!!) and your wonderful support-much appreciated.

Lorraine

Waterloo v Parkonians ~ Sunday 13th February

Team: Jenson Mackie,(capt) Tom Bayley, Will Shaw, Matthew Hassall, Luke Mitchell,Ben McSherry, Tom McSherry,
Kyran (snake hips) France, Freddie Greaves.

The First game was played at a frantic pace with Waterloo taking two tries in quick succession, our tackling had to improve just to stop Waterloo. Our tackling was immense, we stopped a good few certain tries. The maul was our biggest weapon; we pushed Waterloo back and gained the advantage in the mauls. Everybody tackled out of their skin to the point that Freddie and Luke tackled each other and squashed the player in the middle! Waterloo had some very good runners who once they were in space, could turn and side step better than me , hence scoring another 3 tries. Half time we knew what we had to do ; tackle tackle tackle!

We recycled our own ball from a ruck, Tom B picked the ball up and headed up the pitch ,an excellent tackle from a Waterloo player put Tom on his backside, but quick thinking Tom got the ball out in the offload to one of our speedsters until the breakdown again. Matthew Hassall's immense strength proved too hard for Waterloo at times and Will Shaw on his support play was always on hand to collect a ball and run at the opposition.

A pile up of players appeared and when everyone got up, who was at the bottom of the ruck but the twinnies, who had tackled everyone in sight! Jenson made two stretching runs and was the closest to us scoring, but to no avail. Waterloo got a penalty and scored again. Kyran made a tackle to stop a try - well done. Final result was Waterloo eight us nil. Waterloo may have scored the tries but we out played them in the ruck and mauls.

The Second Game

This game was a bit more evenly matched we played our own game plan and stuck to the tried and tested tackle, ruck and rolling maul. The twinnies had their own competition on who could tackle most people! Luke Mitchell tackled one bloke round his ankles.The monster trio pushed everyone round the pitch and took more balls off people in mauls than I can remember. Freddie and Kyran both made important tackles that would have certainly been tries. Jenson made some excellent tackles non as big as the Caldy one, but never mind.

There are a few things we need to improve on but bring on Wirral!!

Anselmians v Parkonians ~ Sunday 6th February

Parkonians set off to Anselmians on Sunday morning hoping for a playable pitch and an enjoyable day, thankfully we got both. A special note of thanks is for the support and numbers that we had at the game. We arrived at Anselmians with 17 players and loads of great support so thanks to everyone.

The warm up, however, almost wiped out two players following a bang of heads between Declan and Jack, lots of TLC was administered though and they were both declared fit. The game started in sterling fashion with a great run down the wing by Anselmians only to be tagged by one of our players, who was actually standing on the sidelines. He had responded with great enthusiasm to the coaches’ cries of ‘get his tag!’

Not quite within the rules but he was just following orders!

The first game was end to end with Parkonians running out winners by 6-3. Great running from all concerned and tries scored by Declan Potts (x2); Alex Bradshaw; Rhys Hulse, Sam Thomas and Alfie Brown.

A well deserved break ensued to be followed by our next team of nine willing triers lead by Captain Cara Hillan. Anselmians again started strongly but Old Parks responded well with scores from Jacob Kirkham and Alfie Brown. Most unlucky were Cara Hillan (couldn’t quite get the ball down over the line) and Daniel McCaskill (bumped into touch whilst over the try line before he could get it down). Again some great end to end running but Anselmians triumphed narrowly 3-2.

The final game was a frantic affair with subs running on and off on a regular basis. Again some great running but we lost by the odd try 3-2 again.

A brilliant morning’s rugby and it was particularly satisfying to note the number of different try scorers. Everybody managed to get their hands on the ball and contribute something. The support of parents and the number of players made it a vibrant and enjoyable experience.

Same again at Waterloo everybody.

About Junior Rugby

Tony Burton coaching Tag Rugby

We now have a thriving Junior Rugby section which involves those aspiring players from the age of six and includes both boys and girls.

We train on Sundays with sessions starting at 10:30am, lasting for an hour - please note that attendees should arrive ready to start training at 10:30pm!

Details of the 2010 / 2011 fixtures are at the bottom of this page.

Click here to see the highlights of the 2009 / 2010 Seasons

Supervision of training and matches is undertaken by qualified coaches and parents are welcome at both the on field events and the off field socialising.

Click here for an Application Form in PDF format

The details below give information about the Junior Section activities, who to contact for further information and pictures and match reports.

The RFU Framework for Mini & Junior Rugby

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the governing body of Rugby in the UK and has an extensive framework covering the intoduction of young people to the game. This covers the way in which the game should be played by different age groups with safety and enjoyment while helping to develop sportsmanship, respect for officials and opponents and other ideals.

The following links are to RFU documents that provide further information:

For further information on any aspects of Junior and Mini Rugby, please contact any of the officials on this page.

Junior Rugby Coaching

We welcome any girls and boys aged between 6 and 13 to join us between 11 and 12 on a Sunday morning during the Rugby Season - under 9s play non-contact tag.

All coaches are fully RFU qualified and their contact numbers are:

Age Group	Coach	Mobile	Home
Under 7 -	Peter Bradshaw	07771672279
	Carl Handley	07808771515	608 6093
	Sue Hillan	07941863168	652 7767

Under 8 -	Steve Williams	07896589725	334 5866
	Lorraine Prescott	07791085126
	Tony Burton	07930113043	608 9254

Under 9 -	Tim Hassall	07799233107	513 1430
	Jimmy Mackie	07989776719
	Jo Hillan	07817905217

Under 10s-	Mark Hillan	07720636692	652 7767
&	Derek Prescott	07812208916
Under 11	Steve Roper	07950341490

Under 12-	Martin Varley	07873245983	608 4238
&	Ian Westwater	07930404643
Under 13	Eddie Flynn

We are still looking for other volunteers to help with the coaching, in the kitchen and with the clothing so feel free to contact Mark, Tony or Jane.

Seal of Approval

Parkonians Rugby Club has achieved RFU Seal Of Approval accreditation thanks to a lot of work from Junior section coaches Tony Burton and Mark Hillan.

The RFU has worked with Sport England to integrate the Mini and Youth Seal of Approval accreditation with the Sport England Clubmark Scheme to ensure that safe, effective, child-friendly club standards are met, with stringent policies and procedures adhered to by all club coaches, officials, members and supporters.

Any club awarded the Community Rugby Mini and Youth Seal of Approval will also have achieved Clubmark accreditation.

Club coaches Tony Burton & Mark Hillan with Matthew Burton & Luke Hillan
and the Seal of Approval Certificates & the Coaches, children and Certificates
Click a picture to see the detail

Junior / Mini Rugby Fixtures ~ 2010 / 2011

The current fixtures are as follows:

Date	Under 7	Under 8	Under 9	Under 10	Under 12
05/09/2010
12/09/2010
19/09/2010
26/09/2010
03/10/2010	Helsby Home	Helsby Home	Helsby Home	Helsby Home	Helsby Home
10/10/2010	Caldy Away	Caldy Away	Caldy Away	Caldy Away	Caldy Away
17/10/2010				B Park Home	B Park Home
24/10/2010	Wirral Away	Wirral Away	Wirral Away	Wirral Away	Wirral Away
31/10/2010
07/11/2010			Waterloo home
14/11/2010
21/11/2010		Hoylake Away	Hoylake Away
28/11/2010	Helsby Home	Helsby Home	Helsby Home	Helsby Home	Helsby Home
05/12/2010
12/12/2010	Anselmians Home	Anselmians Home	Anselmians Home	Anselmians Away	Anselmians Away
Mid Winter Break
30/01/2011	Anselmians Away	Anselmians Away	Flint Home	Anselmians Away	Anselmians Away
06/02/2011
13/02/2011	Waterloo Away	Waterloo Away	Waterloo Away
20/02/2011	Wirral Home	Wirral Home	Wirral Home	Wirral Home	Wirral Home
27/02/2011	Helsby Away	Helsby Away		Helsby Away	Helsby Away
06/03/2011	Caldy Home	Caldy Home	Caldy Home	Caldy Home
13/03/2011					Chester Home
20/03/2011
27/03/2011	Cheshire cup	Cheshire cup	Cheshire cup	Cheshire cup
03/04/2011
10/04/2011		Hoylake home	Hoylake home
17/04/2011
24/04/2011