East Youth Competitions Committee

Minutes of the Committee meeting held on April 25^th moved from April 19^th 2007

Present: L. Bant Chair, F. Wheeler Secretary, K. Boulter Suffolk (b&g), N. Unwin

Essex (g), S. Tippen Cambs (b&g) K. Edwards Norfolk (g) and

G. Welch Herts (b).

Apologies were received from B. Barr Lincs (b), J. Pagliaro (b), D. Hill Norfolk (b),

D. Thom Essex (b), and J. Wood Herts (g).

1. The minutes were agreed by those who had been present at the previous meeting

and signed.

2. Matters arising. A reply had been received from Donna Gibling at the UEA

Sports park with regard to the U15 girls finals day, promising to improve the

conditions. This had been shown at the U21 tournament which had taken place at

UEA on April 22^nd where all the problems had been resolved.

The England programme ratification had not been found on the web-site and it was

hoped that there had been no changes.

3. Correspondence. Thanks had been expressed to the Committee for the smooth

running of the Minis by Old Loughtonians and Woodbridge school and U13 boys

festival by Bedford and Lincs.

4. Reports. No news from England was reported.

East. Details from the last management meeting were given:

Concern was expressed at the late notification of the confirmed dates as

parents needed this earlier to arrange their holidays. The Camps are not

part of the selection procedure for the East representative teams.

Boys Schools. It was emphasized that these were to be mid week so that

boys did not have to make choices between schools and clubs. We are

only able to have a finals day next season as there was a space in the

calendar.

Umpires. No report. There had been difficulties with the provision of umpires for the U11 Minis and U13 festival. There have been some changes in the way England wants to run the development of umpires next season. The Umpires Committee will be sending details of what is possible next year. Some counties did feel that they would be able to help next season to avoid the problems that had arisen this year.

The East Coaches for next year will be on the website shortly.

5.Minis. The dates for the minis were confirmed as the week-end of April 26^th

and April 27^th . The Youth panel would help in the choice of venue.

6. AOB 1. The new constitution requires a vote to be held for the Chair of the

Committee. L. Bant was re-elected unanimously.

2. The wording of the league rule regarding the non appearance of a

county on one occasion was to be revised with regard to the score of

games previously played with that county in the event of these scores having a bearing on the winner of the competition It was also felt that a discussion on possible financial penalties for the withdrawal of teams should take place at the September meeting.

Girls’ Representatives meeting

The competitions report was discussed with a recommendation from Essex that the county umpires should help to avoid the difficulties that occurred this season. Thanks were given to P.Watts, Jo Davey and Mandy Brookes and all the coaches and managers who helped with the umpiring. Later the Secretary had been told that N.Hart would be in charge of the Youth panel for next season.

All counties would be taking part in all competitions.

U21 Girls Three teams had dropped out and it was agreed that they would pay towards the expenses when these had been finalised. It was thought that Easter time was a better time for this but that the previous week-end would have been better as the students would still be on holiday. This date is to be considered at the September meeting when the university dates are known.

U13 friendly competitions. The first date was thought to be too early so it was moved to February 3^rd 2008. It was thought that it may be possible to play an A and a B team from the counties. The competitions would be held at two venues, one in the north and one in the south of the East. As it was a development competition there would be no medals or trophies.

U16 /U17 B first friendly to be on November 4^th 2007

Reports from the counties K. Boulter reported that David Walsh would be stepping down as Secretary of the Suffolk Youth. He will be sorely missed by all of us. A letter is to be sent to him by the Secretary.

Cambs reported on the U16/U17B competition on March 18th which was won by Suffolk and regretted the withdrawal of the U21 Cambs team. Their county coaches meeting is to take place on May 9^th .

Essex reported that preliminary trials for the u14s had taken place with the U15 trials to take place in May. The U13 date was thought to be too early and the date has been moved. They apologised for dropping out of the U21s.

Kent reported that their U13 development group had been selected.

Herts that trials for U15 and U17 teams had taken place.

Boys’ Representatives meeting

The Competitions report was discussed.

The dates for the Indoor competition were discussed. It was felt that the boys would be unable to play on a Saturday due to other sporting fixtures. The other options to be investigated were Sevenoaks school on Dec 2^nd or January 13^th at Colchester. It was felt that umpires could be a problem on Dec 2^nd as there were already 2 junior indoor competitions.

Reports from the counties

Beds. Unfortunately, the Beds representative was unable to be present but had corresponded with the secretary. At a Beds coaches meeting it had been decided that the only competitions that Beds would enter next season would be the U16, U13and U12. This means that in the U14, U15, and U17 competitions the counties would have only one match on the second fixture.

Cambs The U15 team won the League without dropping a point .

Essex reported their success in the U13 festival and the U21 competition.

Herts reported that their coaches meeting was in May.

Lincs. Barry Barr who is retiring from representing Lincs on the Committee sent his apologies and a report on Lincs coaching. At a meeting of the coaches it was decided that Lincs would enter all the girls and boys competitions next season. Barry will still be the Lincs secretary for the girls and boys fixtures, so we shall still be in communication! He was also happy to host the U11 boys’ competition A letter of thanks is to be sent to Barry by the Secretary.

Norfolk reported on the season’s results.

Suffolk reported on the success of Ipswich school in the National Championships in the U14 age group. With the retirement of David Walsh, Sapphire Cutting and Charlie Farrow are trying to sort out the posts for next season.

Dates of meetings for next season are Thursday September 13^th and Thursday November 14^th 2007 and Thursday March 6^th and Thursday May 1^st 2008.

The meeting closed at 8.30pm.