Hi All
I hope you are all having a great year and enjoying whatever activities your kids are participating in at the moment.
With the 2010 season approaching we as a club have come to a crossroads. We have grown the club and enjoyed some great participation over the past 5 years. With growth comes the inherent challenges faced by most fledgling youth organizations. Our challenge is that the load of continuing to serve the needs of our members cannot be adequately handled by only a handful of parents. Without a broader commitment by more parents to get involved, as coaches, assistant coaches, division representatives , team moms, admin support etc, our ability to continue growing and maintaining the organization is in jeopardy. Just like the kids, the parents go on to other activities and without a broader base of parents to help run the club , we are left with a skeleton crew.
Our other challenge is deciding on the level of competition we want to participate in. The club was founded as an educational and entirely recreational program. Kids could participate at any level they wished. No commitment was required. As we evolved, we started playing contact rugby and playing against other clubs. The other clubs have and are taking their programs more seriously and with contact , the need to have the kids be in better shape, and be at the training sessions is critical. Both in terms of imparting the fundamental skills of the game, but also in preventing injuries. This will require a bigger commitment from the kids and parents if we decide to take that route. With a more competitive program will come the desire to play other clubs. With this we will have to join the league which runs through the end of April. We historically lose a lot of kids to baseball at the beginning of March, and this may be a challenge if we take that route.
With RUGBY having been added to the Olympic Games, youth participation in the United States is going to grow exponentially and the opportunities for these players who start at a young age are limitless. Having had the honor of representing the United States at the Rugby World Cup, I can only imagine what a thrill being an Olympian in Rugby could be. This being one of the World's most popular participation and spectator sports. Our kids could be future Olympians. This will take a great deal of work and dedication.
watch video
http://www.irb.com/rugbyandtheolympics/index.html

We have choices.
1. We can be a purely recreational non contact program. This will allow the kids to get a taste of the game without the requisite commitment and need for higher level training and coaching. We would have a two month season, January through February with intrasquad games and scrimmages.
2. We can get enough parent commitment to take the club to the next level which will require a much more structured and professional approach
Either way we will need more parental involvement.
This being said, we will be having a parent's meeting on Wednesday October 28th at Casa De Pizza in West Hills at 8pm.
Based on the outcome of this meeting, we will decide the path that we will embark on for the future of West Valley Wolverines.
Best Regards

Shawn Lipman