"Come & Try" Blitz/Registration Day:

We as a club are hosting a Blitz/Rego Day in conjunction with ARL DEV and St.George Development at Bexley on Thursday the 18th Feb.   All coaches will be needed on board from 4 pm -6 pm to run drills for all the kids from schools in our local area. This is a major recruitment drive for the club and will be one of the only times in the year that coaches will be asked to rearrange their work/ personal commitments for the benefit of our club.

Our NEW Code of Conduct:

For the first time in all the districts that our teams will play in this season the head coaches will have to sit in a designated box which will be inside the ropes/ fence close to bench players and trainers and away from parents/supporters. The positives are self explanatory I think with being close to players and trainers, the draw back for ill disciplined coaches will be that if they call out negative comments or abuse they may be put behind the ropes for the remainder of the match and will not be considered the coach of that team for the remainder of the game. I.e:- not allowed to talk to team at half time if you as a coach have been put behind the ropes in the first half by the ground manager. Our Hurstville coaches also would be breaking their Code of Conduct and would result in further action by the Hurstville United Committee.

The Junior League have taken a great step here and the Committee & I would not expect to hear during the season that any of our coaches have been relieved of their coaching duties by any ground manager in any district. Any concerning incidents at other districts during the year can be reported to the Secretary/ committee of our club and we will make changes through the correct channels.

The second safety change has been the responsibility placed on all managers this year to nominate a responsible parent/supporter of your team for every game to wear a red vest and be a calming influence on your teams supporters, and be the person to calm things down before the Ground manager has to ask anyone to leave the ground etc. Sometimes it is easier to be told by a friend/ mate to calm down a bit rather than be told by a ground manager one has never met before. This is all to stop any escalation of problems before the ground manager has to. Your manager does not have to select the same person every game to wear the red vest.

No games in any district this season will start without the coach sitting in the coaches box and also without a fan/ responsible person wearing the red vest.

Whether we think these are good initiatives all not, we will need to abide by them or our teams will not play.

Pre-Season Training:

Following on from my text message the other day, all teams should be starting their training sessions over the next couple of weeks as we will begin our trials on the 7th March.

As always, the main oval will be off limits for training whilst the cricketers conclude their season. We ask, as always that coaches abide by this, so as not to put our lease of the ground at risk.

There are two lower ovals, Kempt field, Carss park, local gyms, beaches etc etc, and many other pre season training alternatives. It is only a short term inconvenience