WINTER TRAINING STARTS TONIGHT

With the nights now drawing in, this week sees all squads switch to their Winter Training venues. Managers will confirm your venue and also times as this may differ to your summer training times.

Please can parents ensure kids arrive promptly so they are ready to start training from the off. All sessions must finish promptly (another team will follow on) and we need to be clear of the astro by the finish time. Arriving late disrupts training as managers need to rework the training routines they have started.

As we have a lot of new members in the younger age groups who haven't trained on astro before (and as a reminder to everyone), please can parents be aware of the following:

• STRICTLY NO FOOTBALL BOOTS to be worn on the astro. Please wear astros or trainers. As with Summer training, shinpads must be worn at all times and all earrings/jewellery/watches/fitbits removed (not taped over) - managers accept no responsibility for any items left with them.
• We strongly recommend that all players wear clothes that cover their arms and legs. Base layers, long sleeved t-shirts, jumpers, joggers and tracksuit trousers are all fine.
• Please ensure all players wear enough layers to keep them warm. Kids can wear gloves and hats to training (if at Henwick, it's a good idea for all kids to wear gloves - or at least for parents to ensure that they have a pair to put on). If the kids are cold, they will not enjoy training (hands are usually the first to get cold).
• Parents and sibling supporters: please make sure you wrap up warm too. Henwick has its own microclimate and always feels 10C colder than anywhere else in Thatcham. Thick socks/boots, thick coats, jumpers, gloves, hats all look good when it's cold!! To help keep warm, why not ask the manager if you can help out with the training - running around will keep you warm and your support will be very much appreciated by the managers.
• If you are bringing siblings along to training, please can parents keep an eye on them. They should not be climbing over goals/net/fences and must stay clear of the areas the managers/squads are training in. If a manager feels they are disrupting their training session, children will be asked to move away and we ask for parents to support the managers with this.
• Players - please show the same respect to other clubs/teams training on the astro as you expect when you are training. Please don't kick a ball on the astro before your session has started IF there are other squads training. They have booked and paid for this space (not us). If other team players arrive early for their session and start kicking balls on the pitches, managers should ask they stop and clear the area.
• Parents of our younger members need to remain on site whilst training takes place (or ensure another parent at training is willing to take responsibility for your child). Toilets at Henwick are in the pavilion. A door at the back of the pavilion is usually open to access the facilities, else you need to go around to the front of the building. At Trinity, the nearest toilet facilities are in the Sports Hall (3-5 minute walk away). All managers/coaches need to remain with their squads on the astro at all times.
• If training needs to be cancelled for any reason, your manager should let you know. If we (the webmasters) are informed of any cancellations to training sessions, we will endeavour to post to the main Thatcham Tornadoes Facebook page. At times, we may have to cancel training at very short notice as the managers may deem the surface unsuitable for training when they arrive. If the weather conditions change part way through a session, it will also be stopped early - i.e. if the astro starts to freeze over. Apologies in advance for this - and we thank you for your support. Player safety is paramount in all decisions made.

Winter Training runs from:
- Tuesday 2nd October until Friday 14th December 2018
(Break for Christmas: Tues 18th December - Friday 4th January 2019)
- Tuesday 8th January until Friday 29th March 2019
(Summer Training resumes from Tuesday 2nd April 2019)

NO TRAINING FOR U6s: Thursday 25th Oct 2018 (half term).

Updated 11:25 - 30 Aug 2019 by Thatcham Tornadoes