Juniors News Update...

Hello everyone,

As we begin to prepare for the start of another season of junior activities, I thought that I would update you on a few items of news before we get going.

I want you all to keep your fingers crossed for a dry spell between now and the 17th of February. If it works, we will finally be able to wet a line on the river Stour. Guest coach, Ian Paulley, will be giving an expert tutorial before the session starts in earnest. Ian is hoping to be able to supply those attending with some Sonubaits ground bait curtesy of a certain Mr Des Shipp.

Please note, there will be no ‘Drop off’ facility for this event. Parents will be required to stay with their junior for the duration of the event due to the added risk of fishing on a deep river.

Communication is an important part of any coaching event and sometimes individuals may feel a little shy or intimidated to come and speak to myself or the other coaches.

I have decided to nominate a junior representative to act as an intermediary between the coaching team and the junior participants.

Oliver Smith is one of our longest serving, as well as being one of the senior junior participants in the group. Ollie’s fishing knowledge is advanced for his years, and he has backed this up with his results. The fish that he catches outside of the junior events have been impressive, and his name can be found on most of the junior trophies. But it is not always all about winning that forms character. Ollie has shown that he can take a dip in form with grace and come back with a steely determination that he uses to navigate his way back to winning ways.

I offered the roll as ‘Junior Captain’ which, I am happy to say, Oliver has accepted.

The captain’s roll will take it’s true form if/when we finally get to compete against other clubs in the area or, as is my long term plan, as the leader of a Junior National team. Time will tell if we get to represent the club in this way, But I will do my best to make it happen.

I’m sure you will all want to congratulate Oliver in his new roll as we welcome our new captain to the team.

With an ever-expanding group of juniors, we are looking to expand the coaching team accordingly. Currently we have a coaching team of seven volunteers that have so far managed to cope with our junior events. Our two most senior juniors, Oliver Smith and Jack Copp, will be joining in at venues that they are more familiar with, to help deliver more comprehensive coaching cover. This will obviously ease some of the pressure on the adult coaches, but we are always looking for new coaches to join our team.

The roll as a junior coach does not necessarily mean that you will have to commit ALL of your Saturdays to junior events, however.

We are looking for volunteers to commit to three or four Saturdays a year or be able to attend on the odd occasion that the numbers of juniors require a higher number of coaches. Ideally you will need to have good fishing knowledge, or at least have a good grasp of the basic fishing skills. Men or women can apply to be a coach and, after a few events, we can arrange for you to get a DBS certificate to make you a full time member of our coaching team.

Email me at juniors.sec@d-das.com if you are interested.

The coaches have been the first to purchase some items from our new range of clothing items and I hope that our juniors will do the same. I am very excited about our new look. I worked with Glenn Taylor at Jurassic Embroidery to find some quality items. This is reflected in the slightly higher price than before, but the technology in the materials is far better than the previous range. The ‘Airtex’ material is cooler for the warmer months, despite being black in colour. They also act as a thermal base layer for the colder months because of the air pockets and sweat wicking properties. A smart new black colour scheme is complimented by Emerald green highlights that honours the club’s more traditional heritage.

The new white lettering on the logo really ‘pops’ on the black background too.