TRC News 31 August 2010

Dear Members

Well, almost every first training session back that I can remember has been impacted by rain and last Sunday was not going to be the exception but we were able to train.

Training in the Rain

Particularly for the benefit of our new members, we train during the rain! The exceptions to this are when the pitches are too water logged or there is a presence of lightning. Whilst I appreciate that some of you set off early to reach training, it is not practical to be able to communicate a firm decision too early. I usually arrive at Turf City around 9am and if training is definitely going to be cancelled then I will cascade this message to head coaches for onward communication with you. Usually, there is a chance that the rain will either pass or will not waterlog the pitches so we try and avoid early decisions as there have been many occasions where torrential rain and lightning at 8.30 has been followed by beautiful sunshine by 9.30 – this is Singapore weather. I can only recall cancelling a couple of sessions in the last 2-3 years but if we had reacted earlier we would have cancelled many more. Going forwards we will be looking at ways to issue more direct communication to you.

Pitch Maintenance and Litter

We will be embarking on some serious sand laying on the fields so there may be a temporary deterioration but hopefully we will reap the benefits going forwards. We will also be making the Operations tent more level, laying gravel under it and replacing the canopy so this area should be much more practical in the next week or two – it was a mud bath last week. Please bear with us while we expedite these works.

You can help by ensuring that you do not leave litter on the fields and pick up litter that you see lying around. A small and familiar group of people work tirelessly to set up and clear away at training and it is disappointing to see large amounts of litter that has been discarded by our members. We all need to help with this.

Registration

A reminder to all new members to submit the signed waiver to the Operations Tent next week if you have not already done so. After a couple of weeks, if no signed waiver has been received we will not allow your child to train so please help the coaches by complying with this.

Legends Shirts

Due to the rain, I was unable to circulate these shirts to the contact age groups last Sunday and will do so in 2 weeks time (I am away this weekend).

Tour to HK

A reminder to all parents to ensure that you respond promptly to your coaches regarding this tour with any information or payment that they request.

I would also remind parents that this tour is targeted to be a squad tour for children and coaches, which is slightly different to our family tours to KL. Whilst parents and siblings are welcome to travel to HK and support, we would prefer the children to be together in the same hotel with their coaches. If they are staying elsewhere with you then they will miss out on the experience of touring together as a team.

Best Regards

Phillip