WELCOME BACK
We hope you all had a great summer and that you have been back running and gradually building up the miles over the past few weeks, as requested in our last Newsletter in July and so are all coming back 'Fit to Train'. Our first Cross Country events are coming up very quickly, with Round 1 of the XC League for U8-U15 on Fri 15th Sept in Roundwood and the County XC Champs at the beginning of Oct.
RETURN TO TRAINING
Training for Groups 1 & 2 (7-8.30pm) will resume on Tues. 5th Sept, with groups 3-6 (6-7pm) returning on Fri. 8th Sept. & Little Athletics returning on Tues. 12th Sept. This allows our younger athletes a chance to settle in to school before starting back. All athletes who are changing training times have been notified of this.
In response to requests from a small number of parents, we are offering an alternative means of paying the weekly sub this term. Athletes have the option to pay €30 at the beginning of this term, which will cover the subs for the remaining 15 training weeks of 2017. This will be recorded on the check-in sheets, but athletes will still need to check-in each night, as we must keep a record of attendance. Prepaid fees will not be refunded where athletes fail to attend training. The usual option of paying €2 once a week will still be available to those who prefer to use this method, however we appeal to everyone not to run up bills, as it is very time consuming trying to collect these. Weekly subs are used to pay for track hire, entry fees and replacement equipment etc.
COACHES & HELPERS
Greystones AC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of all the coaches, helpers & committee members, who volunteer so much time each week to help make Greystones AC such a successful club. We have a very dedicated core group of coaches & check-in personnel, but as always we still need more if we are to continue facilitating the large number of athletes we have in Greystones AC. There is a natural turnover of coaches as their children pass through the club, but obviously we need replacement volunteers for these as they leave. If you are in a position to help out as a coach or an assistant, even occasionally, please let us know, as we are always in need of additional help. We will make sure you get training. If this doesn’t suit, maybe you could give a hand with the check-in at either time on any of the training nights. This only takes about 20 mins when you are dropping your athletes down and is a great help indeed. The more volunteers we have the less the burden on all. We strongly recommend that 2 or more parents buddy up to share the slot to support your athletes in the club whether it be to assist, coach or check-in. The number of volunteers determines the number of athletes we can facilitate and the number of nights we can hold training. As we return for the new season, we find that we are very short of coaches, particularly for the 6-7pm groups, so if you have not already given your time to the club then it's probably time you did!
OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW CLUB POLICIES
Greystones AC is currently reviewing our Policies & Procedures and we are offering parents & members an opportunity to contribute to this. Please forward any suggestions you may have to greystonesathletics@gmail.com, before our next meeting at the end of Sept. If there are any amongst our members/parents with relevant experience in formulating policies, we would be delighted to have your assistance. Current policies can be found on our website under “Training Times & Club Info”