RichardHowells posted on May 05, 2010 17:17
Development
Despite being a small club with limited time and space, we try to cater for everyone’s needs:
- Individual players with varying experience and ability (from beginner to NVL level, from juniors to 50+)
- Developing 3 teams (especially when a match is approaching)
- Indoor in winter, outdoor in summer
- Leagues, tournaments and tours (Germany this year).
|
Nr of sessions (min 1.5 hr)
|
Everyone
|
A-team
|
B-team
|
Ladies
|
Juniors
|
|
2009-10
|
23
|
7
|
6
|
6
|
4
|
|
2008-09
|
15
|
4
|
6
|
5
|
3
|
|
2007-08
|
13
|
12
|
11
|
3
|
3
|
We believe our members get a good deal, though it’s hard to balance
everyone’s differing needs and we’re always happy to receive feedback
and ideas to help us improve. I would like to thank everyone who helped
to organise and coach all this activity – and new volunteers are always
welcome!
Some of our members play higher level competition with Wiltshire
Mavericks (women and men) and Newbury (men). Congratulations, and thank
you for remaining loyal to your local club.
Each year I suggest at the AGM that we should ask what kind of club we want to be? Friendly,
welcoming, participative, competitive, social, small, large? Our
women’s team are keen to improve and play a higher level, so they have
entered the SW Championship weekend in May (as the Aces have in previous
years). They would also like to enter the SW League next season, as a
Wootton Bassett team rather than a Wiltshire Mavericks (all-comers
team). This move would allow our club to retain, attract and cater for
an even wider range of members. However it’s a big commitment and will
be debated at the AGM. So long as the players can achieve the necessary
level of organisation and commitment, I support this move and I urge the
whole club to support it.
Performance
It’s been a great year, with all our teams reaching the top 2 in
their leagues! Our nearly all-new Ladies team gelled remarkably quickly
to achieve runner-up in both cup and league, despite missing one of the
league dates. The Bees had their best season for many years, winning 9
of 12 matches to take the runner-up spot in Division 1.
After three seasons of finishing second, the Aces finally regained
the premiership title. Again it was very tight at the top, and we would
have slipped behind if a 26-24 set against Devizes had gone the other
way. Hardened by the regional league, Devizes proved even tougher than
previous years so it was a big achievement to beat them in the return
fixture and in the cup semi-final. Naturally we aim to win the cup final
and end-of-season tournament to claim the treble!
Congratulations to all our players and teams!
Phil Heads, 12th April 2010