Happy New Year everyone and welcome back to as close to a normal Hong Kong as we have had for a couple of years. It’s so nice being able to walk into venues without the check in system being in place anymore. Now just these masks!!
The club certainly hits the ground running after the break and in the lead up to some exciting events in the next few weeks.
All our age groups resumed training last week with the U16 and 18 boys playing important league fixtures last Sunday. The minis also returned to HKIS on Sunday and SIS on Friday night whilst the contact minis resumed with preparation for this week’s Richard Hawkes and Kim Lam competitions for our U12s.
The youth girls were able to register for the Rugby Magic program run by the HKRU and will now prepare for the Sevens competition beginning in a couple of weeks.
Congratulations to our Representative players who gained selection in teams for the New Years Day fixtures and the Hong Kong U19s that were successful in Malaysia recently. There continues to be a clear pathway for players at Valley Fort to represent at a higher level. The HKRU are working towards a revamped pathway program that caters for more players with improved talent identification providing a valid and appropriate pathway program at a number of age levels.
It was a tough return for the U16 and U18 Boys last Sunday with both teams suffering defeats against Tigers and Kowloon respectively. The attention of both teams now turns towards there final regular season fixtures this Sunday which will determine their positioning for the semi finals on January 29. Our U13/14 boys also resume their very successful season leading also to semi-final.
The club is also planning for the huge Mini Festival which we will be hosting at Kings Park on March 5th. It will be all hands-on deck to assist with planning and preparation for what is a massive day of mini competition.
Finally Valley Fort resumes international competition on the weekend of February 24 with five teams travelling to represent the club in the Bangkok 10s Tournament. It is fantastic to be able to enter these competitions again and touring overseas will once again become part of the Valley Fort offering in the seasons ahead.
The Valley Senior Club also resume this Saturday with a big Club Day at Kings Park. arch-rivals Sandy Bay will be out to continue the men’s challenging season in what should be a great game. The women take on Causeway Bay at 6:00pm in another important match up.
As usual so much going on in and around the Club and so much to look forward too as we head towards the back end of the season.
Yours in Rugby
Justin Carroll
Director of Rugby
Valley Fort Rugby Football Club