Lions Weekly Round Up

Dear Players and Parents,

Here is your Millwall Lions weekly update!

In this newsletter:

STRATEGY WORKSHOP
FUNDRAISNG QUIZ
UNDER 9 MIXED-TAG
RFU GRAND DRAW
PARENTS SOCIAL NIGHT
FACEBOOK
UPCOMING FIXTURES



STRATEGY WORKSHOP

The Youth Section Committee met for a long old strategy workshop last
Sunday (4 hours!) to define our future.

Whilst it was hard going for some parts as we talked about our big issues,
mainly inadequate facilities, some very positive things came out in terms
of where we want to be in 2, 5 and 10 years time.

Here are some notable points from the day:

In 2 years, we want to...
* Achieve Mini & Youth Seal of Approval (Club Mark)
* Have Qualified Level 2 coaches leading all teams, with all/most
assistants being Level 1.
* Fully develop an 'Under 9s' non-contact, mixed, tag-rugby team.
* Have some age groups competing in Essex leagues (or other)
* be seen as the 'best practice' club for safeguarding youth rugby in the
eyes of Essex and/or RFU

In 5 years, we want to...
* have teams in every age group, from under 7s up to under 17s
* have at least half of those teams competing in Essex leagues (or other)
* be seen as the 'best practice' club for all aspects of youth rugby: first
aid, safeguarding, coaching and playing, in the eyes of Essex and/or RFU
* have a minimum of two players representing Essex County

In 10 years, we want to...
* have all teams in Essex leagues (or other) and competing for promotion
* have full squads in every age group with some 'A' and 'Development' sides
* Regularly see ex-Youth players playing for the Millwall 1st XV
* have the senior sides rely on the youth section to provide their core
playing base
* be visiting every single school in Tower Hamlets at least once per season
(currently there are 64 schools in LBTH)
* have at least one player represent England (at any level)

What happens next?

Our Youth Chair will be putting the above (and other) ambitions into an
action plan. Each objective will be broken down into activities that need
to be completed in order to achieve what we want to.

Once agreed, we'll publish the plan so all our players, parents and
volunteers know exactly what we are doing, why and what objective it is
contributing to.

Whilst there is still massive scope to change our direction, we hope that
being open and transparent with our ambitions will inspire not only our
volunteers, but also our players and parents to stick with us, and perhaps
get more involved in our great plans!

We'll keep you updated as we progress, but if you have any questions or
concerns, please direct them to youthchair@millwallrugby.com



FUNDRAISING QUIZ

To help the club in raising some much needed funds, we are holding a
fundraising quiz in the Clubhouse on Friday 25th February, starting at
19:00pm.

Bring the kids along and let's have a laugh!

Add the Facebook event to your calendar here



UNDER 9 MIXED-TAG

The Youth Committee identified the need to promote tag-rugby to ages 7, 8
and 9 in order to ensure we have a steady stream of players coming through
into contact rugby when they reach Under 10s.

One of the issues we face is the constant perception and fear of rugby
being a 'violent' sport. In order to address this, we are going to go on a
promotional 'offensive' to grow our mini's playing base.

We're looking for keen parents to get involved in this initiative - from
coaching, managing, seeking fixtures and even just helping get the word out
in the community to recruit players.

If you want to get involved, email youthchair@millwallrugby.com



RFU GRAND DRAW

Also don't forget that we are still selling RFU Grand Draw tickets and the
club keeps 90% of the sales - this is a great easy fundraiser for the club!
So see your coach or team manager to buy yours now! First prize is £10,000
cash and there are 40 other great prizes.

Tickets are £5 for a book of 5.



PARENTS SOCIAL NIGHT

We want to get to know you, the parents! And we've organised a special
event just for YOU!

Come down to our Parent's social night in the clubhouse on Friday 25th of
March, 2011 from 7pm. We'll give you a drink 'on the house' if you're a
parent of a playing member of Millwall Lions as a way of saying thank you.
Plus, all of our youth volunteers will be there so you can ask any
questions, give us ideas or raise any concerns.

It promises to be a great night, so please do make every effort to come
along.

Add the Facebook event to your calendar here


FACEBOOK

You'll have noticed by now that Millwall Lions are BIG Facebook users. This is by far the easiest way for us to keep you up to date with what's going on at your local rugby club.

If you are a parent of a Millwall Lions youth player, 'like' us at
http://www.facebook.com/millwalllions and http://www.facebook.com/millwallrugby to see our status updates in your news feed.

We regularly post training and match details along with any upcoming social events and news.

Since our desire is to be seen as 'best practice' in child safeguarding, all Millwall Rugby Club volunteers are not able to be 'friends' with anyone under the age of 18.

However, it is ok for our young players to 'like' and follow the Millwall Lions facebook page, since this is carefully administered.

We appreciate that not everyone is into 'social networking' so we are also working on other additional ways to keep you up to date as well.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the use of Facebook, please direct them to our Child Safeguarding officer, Kerry Attwood at safeguarding@millwallrugby.com




UPCOMING FIXTURES

30th January - Under 15s away to Bexley
13th February - Under 15s away to Hackney
20th February - Under 12s away to Dagenham
6th March - Under 12s home to Shoreditch

All Millwall Lions home games are played on Millwall Park, with kick off
usually at 11am. We require lots of vocal and enthusiastic supporters to
come down and cheer on our young players - they are, after all, the future
of Millwall Rugby Club.



Let's go to work!


Matt Shorrock
Youth Chair
Millwall Rugby Club