Team Kingdom information 2016

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lesley thirkell
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Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 9:47 am

Team Kingdom information 2016

Unread post by lesley thirkell »

Fife AC is part of a composite team called Kingdom Athletic, with Pitreavie and Dundee Hawkhill, for U17 and U20 athletes. We compete in the Northern Premier Division of the UK Youth Development League Upper Division – a grand name for what used to be called National Junior League. There are 4 fixtures each year – 3 in England and one in Scotland.

The 2016 dates and venues are
Sunday 1st May Pitreavie
Sunday 29th May Gateshead
Sunday 26th June Leeds
Sunday 24th July York

The 3 English fixtures involve us in travelling south by coach on a Saturday, staying overnight in a Premier Inn, competing on Sunday and then travelling home on Sunday evening. There is a full programme of events and so for each fixture we need 2 U17s/event, male and female, and then 2 either U17 or U20/event, male or female. This means we need a lot of athletes! Our aim is to make this a development league which helps athletes move up a gear as they are competing away from home and without parents/usual coaches. It’s excellent practice for athletes who aspire to representing Scotland or even Team GB. However most athletes will not become elite athletes and we are very clear that this league also offers development opportunities for all athletes. On paper we have a very strong team when we combine the best athletes from the 3 clubs but it is inevitable that illness/injury/exams etc take their toll and so there are generally opportunities for everyone over the whole season.

Everyone on the bus, athletes, coaches and officials, pays £20 as a contribution towards the overall cost of the trip. Kingdom pays for the bus, bed and breakfast. In addition, everyone must pay for their evening meals and lunches. On the way south we stop for lunch at a service station so athletes can bring food with them or eat at the service station. In the evening we generally eat at the Premier Inn and athletes must pay for that themselves. On the day of the competition, athletes must bring/buy their lunch and evening meal on the way home. Athletes will share rooms in the Premier Inns, either twins or triples. We have a buddy system so that older athletes can chum new or younger athletes. Every year some athletes come to the first fixture knowing almost nobody but by the end of the weekend have a good collection of new friends.

Kingdom has a strict no alcohol and good behaviour policy and any athletes who misbehave will not be invited back.

We really need some more adults to come with us as helpers at the match. This involves nothing scarier than raking a long jump pit or holding up a high jump bar. We need to have 9 officials for each match and so we’d be very grateful if parents/carers could come and help. It’s also a whole lot of fun! If parents/carers like more details, please contact me and I can fill you in.

Please could you get back to me and let me know if you’d like to be considered for the team and which, if any, fixtures you can’t make. If you are aware of any U17 or U20 athletes from Fife who’ve not heard from me recently, please pass the information to them with my apologies. If you need more information, have any questions or can think of how we can raise money to cover the costs of this, feel free to contact me - by email (lt@st-andrews.ac.uk), mob 07771794984 or landline 01337 858038.
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