Moderns Under 7s
2009/10 End of Season Report
The season started in September and, as is the case with u7s, we waved goodbye to half of our squad and half our coaches with 10 players and 2 coaches moving up to u8s. However, this still left us with a core of 10 players, such as Dylan, Max, Sam and Jack Grantham, who had been playing together for the best part of a season. With a couple of open days, natural ageing and a little bit of arm twisting on the sideline, we soon dealt with the mass exodus, building a squad of 21 players and the support of 4 coaches by the end of the season.
After 4 weeks of training, we got our season off to the best possible start with a win away at Boots Corsairs. This could easily have been 2 or 3 wins, but a number of Boots Corsairs players had a party to go to, so we missed out on our perfect start.
However, this first fixture paved the way for the season as a whole – highlights of which included:
· Finishing top of the round robin tournament at West Bridgford, with another victory over Boots Corsairs and a draw against West Bridgford.
· Being unbeaten at the NLD tournament with 4 draws. Unfortunately, the lack of a win meant we finished 3rd in our group missing out on the knockout competition
· Achieving second place in our pool at Boston on the back of 2 wins and a questionable loss (due to lack of score keeping – a harsh lesson learnt); and
· Ending the season on a high with a fantastic performance at the Matlock festival where we won all 6 of our pool matches and made it through to the final on the basis of tries scored (17 to 16) before losing to Leek A
On the playing side, we finished the season with a record of 20 wins, 7 draws and 7 losses having scored 172 tries to 145. We also secured the first silverware of the Nottingham Moderns Junior section (in the modern era).
More importantly, we built a squad of players who have played their hearts out, giving everything for the club and their team mates and, hopefully, having a great time along the way.
So, at the end of the year, what can we look forward to ?
First the good news – we have a strong, established squad of 19 players and 3 coaches moving up to u8s. On the back of this depth and the performances this season, they have the ability to be a formidable team for seasons to come.
And the bad news – with 19 players moving up to u8s, we are left with an initial squad of 5 eligible u7s players. Also, currently we have 1.5 coaches (myself and Rob Smith). Whilst this is a challenge we have faced before, we are losing a greater proportion of the u7s squad.
So, we need everyone’s help to spread the word and help us recruit both new players and new coaches to continue the successful growth of Moderns Junior section. With this in mind, we will be running an Open Day in early September and we would appreciate it if you can continue to promote Nottingham Moderns within your schools.