Last night the U16s celebrated the end of an era before they move up to the Colts. It was an all-time Oscars awards presentation but so much more than that. The boys said a huge thank you to their coaches for 12 years of hard graft producing coaching plans, taking training, organising fixtures, tours, one on one ‘discussions’, negotiating with referees and managing parents. Thank you coaches! We all dined, drank, laughed and some nearly cried together – one group united by rugby.
The U16s, and in all the preceding years, has been a fabulous group on and off the pitch. The character of organisations is a fascinating subject, and I have always wondered why randomly selected groups can have such different behaviours and values. I am certain that organisations adopt the character and values of their leaders – in this case the coaches, but I think it is often overlooked how important the collective parent group have in this role. The U16s are lucky, their parent group are not shouty, pushy, cliquey, overly competitive or even angry – all behaviours I have observed in others over the years. The U16s parents are relatively quiet, kind, inclusive, caring, supportive and welcoming. That’s not to say they don’t care about winning, but they are sensible enough to realise that is not the main thing. So yes, thank you boys for some great rugby and loads of fun, and thank you coaches for being fabulous and caring so much, but also, thank you parents for having such a great set of values and doing it the right way – well done everyone!
A final thank you to those that helped put the show on last night….
- For the absolutely fabulous food Andrew, Louisa and Jaga
- Neil and Chris for a perfectly cooked BBQ – real pros
- Tiffany for organizing all the boys presents – quite a task
- Camilla and Ria for the decorations in club colours
- Tracey for sourcing and helping present the coaches presents
- Deborah for being the most reliable event Chief Finance Officer
- And finally, Mat for making the Oscar presentations – utterly outstanding
