Minutes of East Youth Competitions Committee –Youth held at the Quy Mill Hotel Cambridge on September13th 2006.

Present: F. Wheeler Acting Chair and secretary, ,K.Boulter Suffolk (B and G), K.Edwards Norfolk(G) A.Greaves Cambs D.Hill Norfolk (B), D.Menear Essex (BandG), J.Pagliaro Beds (B), Sally Tippen Cambs, G.Welch Herts (B), J.Wood Herts (G) and J.Lowten Umpires representative.

Apologies were received from L.Bant ,Chair, B.Barr Lincs (B), and Andy Ricketts Lincs (G).

Joint Meeting

1. The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed and signed.

Matters arising. The U21 tournaments were discussed. These will be friendly tournaments only as there is to be no England tournament for the regions. The East would not have entered as a result of the problems that occurred last season. A date of April 22^nd 2007 was suggested and counties were to confirm with F.Wheeler by September 30^th if they were going to enter. Dereham was prepared to host the tournament and would confirm the availability of pitches as soon as possible.

2. Correspondence. Several counties had received correspondence about the selection of the

East squads this year. At the East AGM it was requested that a selection policy be published. However, there seemed to be no clear pathway for selection and this had

caused many parents to be unhappy with proceedings. An U17 girl who was unable to attend the East Camp at Culford and who had represented the East last year as an U15 received no notification of the trials. An U17 boy who was at Culford and not invited to the first assessment received an invitation to the second assessment. This confused his parent! Many of these concerns would be addressed by a selection policy. The Chair of the Committee to pass on these concerns to the Chair of the Performance Committee.

3. Information from England.

From next season, the Boys age group Competitions date of eligibility will be January 1^st

whilst the schools competitions will remain at September1st.

Indoor. The England policy on the eligibility of players who might be asked to represent

both a club and a school says that schools may have priority over clubs providing schools

give sufficient notice to the clubs.

4. Umpires. There was no report., but the Competitions Secretary had circulated the

Committee members with the details of the allocation of umpires to the competitions.

Jane Lowten has taken over from Norman Hart as the person in charge of the junior

umpires although the official hand over had not yet taken place.

5. Date of meetings: November 9^th2006., February 22^nd 2007was put forward but it will need

to be changed to Feb 8^th 2007 because of varying half terms. and April 19^th 2007. The

venue will return to the Arthur Marshall Room at the Cambridge University Sports

ground for November9th

AOB. Contact lists for each county’s personnel to be e-mailed to all members of the

Committee. Please add mobile numbers to the list. FW to e-mail updated contact list to

all representatives.

The meeting finished at 8.45pm

Girls Representatives’ Meeting

The Competitions Secretary gave out the latest version of the programme with the venues attached. She noted that there had been problems with some venues. The U17 finals day had to be moved from February 25^th 2007 to March 11^th 2007 as the Kent pitch was unavailable.

Indoor. It was thought that Culford would be unavailable as there is a climbing wall being built in the hall close to the pitch. Various other venues were to be considered such as Aldenham, Coopers’ and Coborn and Kimbolton. FW to follow up.

Nov 5^th U16/U17 Friendly. Essex offered to host this but only one pitch and an afternoon was available. Cambridge was able to offer longer hours at nearby pitches. However, FW needed to check which counties wanted to enter and who would run this tournament and the other date on March 18^th 2007.

Reports from Counties

Essex. A written report from Essex gave details of their development days and reported that their Hockey development officer had been funded for a further year. Coaches and managers had been given packs which included job descriptions, selection policies and other information. This had been much appreciated.

Cambs

U15 and u17 squads already selected and U13 and U14 nearly completed. The Cambs hockey web site was back running.

Suffolk. Suffolk had had some problems with squad personnel but otherwise everything was in order.

Herts U15 and u17 trials had been held at the end of last season with 2 coaching sessions in the summer. U14 trials had been completed and the U13 development squad set up.

Norfolk Trials are underway and coaches are all in place.

The acting Chair would like to thank J. Wood for taking the minutes.

Boys Reps’ meeting.

The latest version of the competitions with the umpires responsibilities and venues was circulated. Lincs had withdrawn from the U17 competition. After much discussion it was decided to reduce the competition to 2 Sundays using double pitches on both occasions. FW to inform the umpires.

Reports

Bedford said that U14 and U15 squads had been selected.

Essex circulated a written report as above.

Cambs were worried about the request for Cambridge umpires needed for October 1^st as they were short of personnel.

Herts. A written report detailing arrangements for this years’ competitions and the officers responsible for the squads was handed out.

Suffolk and Norfolk said everything was in order.

A list of Lincolnshire’s officers had been sent to the Secretary and was given to the reps.