Thought that now might be the best time to let everyone know that I will not be continuing in any formal management position with the team from next season. Which many may have guessed anyway.
Why? Well I think if Mel had added "... oh, you do realise that you'll be helping to run the team until practically the end of the decade" to her "Do you know where I can play rugby..." enquiry back in late 2002 I might have been slightly less enthusiastic about helping out at the start!
However my aim from 2-3 years ago was always to gradually step back from things and now seems the best time to step away, more or less, entirely.
More importantly it will also create a small vacancy for someone to work with Mike and Heather throughout what will presumably be their final season next year with the aim of taking over in 2010. So if you will still be a junior in the 2010/11 season now is the time to push a parent forward.
Seriously - this is very important. Such is the way this game works that running the girls team probably requires as much off-field effort as running virtually an entire boys' rugby structure from 6-18. Maybe more. Understanding the rules and the unwritten rules and the Ways We Do Things in women's and girls' rugby requires a bit of an apprenticeship. You need to know what you are doing and who to talk to - without which the team just would not get onto the field. So - and I guess this means our small band of U15s - start badgering now!
Not that its all hard work - it is, and has been, staggeringly rewarding (in the non-financial sense of the word!). Its quite strange to stand back sometimes and watch and listen to you all and remember when we or you first started. This season ends with so many of the girls who started the team moving on - next season only Nikki will remain (plus Ruby, if her back ever allows her to play again) - so its a good time for me to step down as well.
However, I won't disappear entirely. Mike has asked that I carry on managing this blog - which I will - along with the Herts RFU website, which I have just taken over (requires a lot of work!). And I'll certainly come along to watch the games!
But that is all in the future. We still have two months of this season to go, including five tournaments and - in one of them - our 200th match. Any idea how we might celebrate that?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.