Protocol for Junior Involvement with Senior Sessions – April 2019
When considering a junior for involvement within the senior squad training, the first step would be for the relevant junior coach to recognise that they felt that the player was ready to make the step up, not only in terms of technique but also physical development.
Once the junior coach has satisfied themselves that in their opinion the player is ready – BEFORE MENTIONING IT TO THE PLAYER, the junior coach should pass on the recommendation to one of the senior coaches ( Mike Short, Steven Davidson (Taff) or Simon Baker)
Once one of the senior coaches has received this recommendation, one of the senior coaches would attend a junior training session to make a personal assessment of the player
Following this assessment the coach would make a recommendation to the head coach (Mike Short) and following that, a decision would be made on whether to extend the invitation to the player
It is important that until a place is offered that the player is not informed of the intentions as we do not wish to disappoint and de-motivate any players that are not offered the opportunity to train with the seniors. A ‘no’ at any stage may just mean that the player would benefit more from a longer period with their age group before joining the senior set up
Once a decision has been made and a player extended an invitation to join the senior sessions they must understand that this is an invitation and it will invariably be at the player’s discretion on whether they choose to accept or not
If / when a junior is invited (and accepts) a place within the senior sessions then they will be required to pay the appropriate monthly direct debit. This direct debit will be set by the committee and will be a contribution towards the pool hire costs incurred by the senior section and will be subject to annual review – currently in 2019 this is set at £12 / month. This direct debit takes the whole year into consideration (as pool hire must be paid for 50 weeks of the year). It is understood that due to the squad size some players may not be selected for matches which fall on a Tuesday (either home or away) but this is taken into consideration when calculating the direct debit amounts.
The offer of a place to a junior within the senior section is by invitation only and is dependent upon the player maintaining a regular attendance at training sessions. As numbers are limited within the senior section, should a junior player fail to attend the majority of training sessions then it is at the coaches discretion to withdraw the offer of a place within the squad and to offer this place to another player.
Once a junior member becomes ineligible for the juniors due to their age – the above mentioned direct debit would cease (along with their junior direct debit) and the full senior direct debit would be required to be paid
