Welcome to 2014 Season

‘improving our Club and Players to maximise our potential in contributing to rugby league and the community’

Firstly, let me welcome our new players and families to Toowoomba Valleys Junior Rugby League Football Club and welcome back those from last season, for the 2014 season. I hope you all enjoyed your off-season and are looking forward to another season of fun and footy in 2014. Valleys has a long and proud history in the Toowoomba Junior Rugby League and our recently developed vision is ‘Improving our Club and Players to maximise our potential in contributing to rugby league and the community’. The development of this simple vision reflects what our committee and club members are wanting our club to deliver. We hope that you and your family are able to help us deliver this, as well as benefit from it.

This year we will host 8 home games in total as well as a Mini Carnival on the 17/5/2014. This will provide plenty of opportunity to create a great home ground experience for our young Roosters, so please help out where you can to contribute to your child’s fun.

During the year there will be ongoing communications with players and families and these will occur in numerous ways (eg. text messages, phone calls, newsletters, emails, club website). To ensure you stay well informed please ensure you keep all your contact details up to date with our club registrar or via your team manager. As well, I would highly recommend you familiarize yourself with our club Web sites as it will hold all information regarding the club and should be able to answer most of your questions. It also has all details regarding your Committee, 2014 Coaches, their contact details, and the Season Draw. We will use it on a majority of occasions to update you on what is going on. The Web Addresses are:

• www.valleysjuniors.com.au
• www.facebook.com/ValleysJuniorRoosters
• Twitter @valleys_juniors

In this newsletter I will let you know about some of the key upcoming events, as well as provide you with some important information about the club. As always at this time of year there is a lot to get through.

The Coaching Director in 2014 will be our Senior A Grade Coach Dean Bosnich. Dean has played in the NRL and overseas, as well as holding numerous coaching positions since his playing retirement. Robert Fenwick (Stinger) will be assisting and also has a lifetime involvement in both playing and coaching rugby league. We are very lucky to have Dean and Stinger on board in these roles and they are accredited ARL level 2 coaches, who will assist our junior club coaches maximise your children’s fun and development. They will be working hard to ensure basics in the younger teams are taught properly, and to also spend more time with the 13’s, 14’s, 15’s and 16’s, teaching them the style of play that has made Valleys so successful in the senior ranks. To view the Coaching Directors role description, please go to our Juniors web site.

Your team coaches for 2013 are:

Under 7 still require a coach, please contact Josh Allen if you’re interested

Under 8 Tim Muggleton

Under 9 Andrew Clem

Under 10 Kenny Diment Assist Josh Hill and Greg Whittingham

Under 11 Steve Manteit

Under 12 Rob Fenwick

Under 13 Todd Morgan

Under 14 Josh Allen

Under 15 Scott Brunner

Under 16 Kris Whale

We are also looking for coaches for 11/12 Dev cup and 13/14 Development Cup, contact Josh Allen.

Coaches contact details are available on our website.

As a coaching team please remember our objective is to create a happy, safe environment for your children to participate in a team sport, improve their fitness and create friendships. We put a significant amount of our time and energy into this because we enjoy it, but please don’t hesitate to let us know if you ever have anything you would like to discuss. Also, our coaches and managers will always be grateful for assistance from people, so please let them know if you can assist when you introduce yourself this season.

Training for all grades begins on Tuesday the 4th February and regular training days will be Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Under 7s to Under 12s train from 4.30 through to 5.20pm and Under 13s to under 16s from 5.30 to 6.30 pm.

Our first Trial game in 2014 will be held on the 15^th of February and all teams will play against West Mitchelton JRLFC. We are establishing what we hope will be an ongoing annual trial with the Panthers, in which we will alternate which club ground we will play at each year (i.e. our turn to host in 2015).

On the 1st March our under 13 & 14 teams will play a game at Oakey. These will be a TJRL sanctioned and organised trial, which will also double as a Clydesdales representative trials.

Also on the 1^st of March our under 15 & 16 teams will play in a 9 a side competition at Pittsworth.

The season proper gets underway on the 15^th of March this year and finishes on the 16^th of August. Semi-finals will be played after this, with the Grand Final being played on the 6^th of September 2014.

The season draw has already been completed, is available on club web site, with a majority of games played on Saturdays.

Please remember our football club is a community club run by volunteers who devote a significant amount of their time so you can enjoy time with your child and friends. To achieve this we need as much help as possible to ‘share the load’.

In particular, assistance is required on our game days and remember we only have 9 (including trials) this season. These game days require help from parents to ensure their child and their club are organised well enough to allow the day to flow smoothly. A majority of these jobs take only a small amount of time and none are complicated. The more people that help, the less we all have to do. All you need to do is give the Game Day Co-ordinator or any Committee Member your name and mobile number, and you can be allocated some jobs during the year that you are comfortable doing. Also, these jobs will be listed under Volunteers on the Juniors Website and a role description attached so you know what is needed.

Keep an eye out for our Volunteer Sign-On Stand at our Sign-On Day. It will be managed by our 2014 Club Captains and Princess, who will gladly take details of anyone who can help.

One thing we are hoping for is for you and your family to stick around a bit on game day, have a chat with friends both new and old, and ensure this club builds into the future. We are a very proud club, and are very pleased to have your support.

Toowoomba Valleys Junior Rugby League Football Club is a not for profit volunteer organisation, where all funds raised are reinvested into the club. However, the club does have costs to meet (over $25,000 in 2014) to provide an opportunity for families to enjoy the game of rugby league and the community it creates. Some of the financial commitments we have this year include, but are not limited to:

• Insurance costs for players and grounds
• Registration costs for players
• Training equipment
• Ongoing general maintenance of clubhouse and ground facilities
• Promotional and ongoing costs to TJRL and QRL
• Training costs to support FAO’s, Coaches, League Safe, Referees
• Support of representative players, trophies, presentation/sign-on days
• Administration costs (eg. Photocopier, filing cabinets, stationery, etc)
• Contribute to ability to offer discounted merchandise
• Supply of Jerseys

We will appoint a Fundraising committee which will consist of our Club Captains and Princess and as many parents as possible to ensure we achieve these goals. But without your assistance and support we will not be able to meet our obligations – so please help us help your club and keep it financially viable.

Below are some of the initiatives we have planned for 2014, to assist with these costs.

Thursday Night BBQ’s

Thanks to the support of Westridge Meats, who will again be supplying us with discounted meat, every Thursday night the club will be putting on a BBQ. We all realize organising Thursday night dinners at the end of a busy week is a battle for our parents, so this gives you another option. As well, we will open up the clubhouse and have the coffee machine available every training day.

So rather than sit in your car you can take a comfortable seat, talk to other parents, or even just to get out of what can be a very cold night out there. Sausages on bread and sauce will be sold for $2 each, and we plan to have drinks available for $2 as well. All funds raised will go back to the club and help keep registration costs to a minimum, so why not buy dinner here instead of take-away. We are also doing this to build club spirit and there are big benefits to us all when we can hang around the club, and mingle with other families and coaching staff.

Fund Raisers

For 2014 our 3 major Fundraising initiatives are:

1. Cadbury Chocolate Raffle – If we sell 150 boxes we will make $4800.
2. Toyota Monster Raffle – We will receive 1000 tickets to be sold at $5 each. From this we will receive the full $5,000 back.
3. Cookie Dough sales.

These will also be complimented by:

• Game Day Breakfast BBQ’s and Drink Sales
• Game Day raffles (eg. meat trays, money boards, etc)
• Thursday night BBQ Sizzle and Drink Sales
• The Coffee Machine in the clubhouse
• Cake Stall

So don’t forget, by supporting the above initiatives you are assisting minimise costs for the club that allows the children to play in the TJRL. It’s as easy as buying a couple of burgers, sausages on bread, drinks and selling/buying a few raffle tickets.

Merchandise

As you will see on sign on day we have merchandise from last year that we want our players to be wearing and will be selling at discounted rates. We want as many in people as possible, both players and parents to dress in Valleys gear on game day, to create a genuine home ground advantage and sense of club pride for our players. Our committee is committed to ensuring our club keeps up with demand for players clothing and training gear so please have a look at what’s on offer.

Hoodies

Due to popular demand, we are again taking orders for Valleys Hoodies. Cost will be $35 for adult sizes and $30 for junior sizes. We only need to receive requests and payment for 100 before our first order will be placed. Stock will be available for all sizes from now until Easter, so you can try them on before ordering. This way we can have them ready to go for our first game.

Free Footy Gear Box

As many junior players grow out of their footy gear before it is no longer useable, we are going to have a ‘Free Footy Gear Box’ at the club house. If you have any old gear that is still useable, please bring it down to the club and leave it in the Box. Then any families who want to save the cost of buying new gear (especially handy if the kids are going through growth spurts or aren’t sure if they want to play more than one season) can come down and help themselves.

Sign on fees for 2014 will remain as they were since 2012 (i.e. $140 for first child and $10 discount for each subsequent child, if more than 1 child is registered).

This year we also have the ability for players to register online, by simply visiting the below website https://reg.sportingpulse.com/v6/regoform.cgi?formID=9010#sthash.pPFnG3Eh.dpuf

You will also be able to pay your fees on line as well using Visa or Mastercard.

Due to legal and insurance reasons, all sign on fees will be required to be paid before players can take the field in round 1.

Our website also includes information for assistance availability for these fees. If you have any questions regarding payment of these fees please contact John Stenzel (club treasurer) or Melissa Handley (club registrar).

If you pay the full payment at our sign on day.( 2/2/2014) you will receive a free family pass to all Valleys RLFC Senior home games for the 2014 season.

As a club another important role we need to support is referees. Anyone who is born in 1999 or before is eligible to referee in TJRL games. Valleys JRLFC is happy to pay for the referee training course and will provide training opportunities with TJRL qualified referee trainers. If you are interested in refereeing in 2014 details of how will be on our website, or alternatively please contact our Club President.

Cheerleading is another activity the club is providing an opportunity for in 2014. This is a fun activity for any children 5 years old or over and the group will be supporting our teams at home games this year. Information for those interested is on our website.

Please remember all contact details for the committee, coaches, managers, etc are available on our club website. Below are mobile numbers of some key contacts:

• President: Joshua Allen 0404575330
• Vice President: Ian Doig 0417774986
• Secretary: Vicki Thompson 0418169229
• Treasurer: John Stenzel 0417616035
• Registrar: Melissa Handley 0400392929
• Coaching Director: Dean Bosnich 0431402328
• Asst Coaching Director: Rob “Stinger” Fenwick 0421333786
• Game Day Co-ordinator: TBA

In signing off for our first newsletter in 2014, welcome again to the season and to the mighty Roosters club. Please do all you can to help us with our club vision ‘Improving our Club and Players to maximise our potential in contributing to rugby league and the community’, as it will need the contribution of many, not just a few.

Also, thank you to those of you who continue to help the club and create opportunities for our players and families.

Go the Roosters in 2014!!!

Josh Allen, Toowoomba Valleys JRLFC President.