M&J committee
The M&J committee team would like to end the season by first sending our greatful appreciation to all our coaches, who have yet again delivered loads of outstanding quality coaching , lots of player development and some really scintilating rugby to watch. Without their hardwork and dedication to the teams, the Minis and Juniors just wouldnt be the same and take our hats off to them for turning up every week , come rain or shine getting the players motivated and excited about the game.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to say what a genuine privilege it has been to help support them as a parent and a volunteer, whether through working with a great bunch of parents on the committee , or around the club on match and training days with parents and volunteers alike - it's brilliant to see the end result of the players playing for Aston with such enthusiasm and smiles.

The team of Staff and Coaches has again grown in experience and numbers - Additional Coaching qualifications have been gained this year , through taking part in the RFU courses as well as welcoming new members to the committee - Kelly, Robbie and Sallie . Our thanks also goes to Naomi who is standing down this Year as Junior Girls Chair for her work with the team recently , with the hope and expectation that Julius will be standing for the position next year to drive the Junior Girls section forward even further. Also , a big thanks from me to our other invaluable committee members - Tristan for the smooth running of the Minis Section and Frank for forever dealing with the Fixtures chaos and making sense of it , keeping teams and coaches in line with the schedules! Lastly, a big thanks to Julie for taking care of the Clubhouse And Sophie for giving us a constant presence online , both being an ever present and brilliant support of the Minis and Juniors.

For the season review - whilst numbers have remained steady overall , this year has been a tale of the teams consolidating nicely into winning games against good opposition and standing tall against local rivals. Congratulations also to the u13’s team who took part in the Worcester Warriors development player program where all the players had a fantastic tournament and played to their highest standard all season , also to the three players selected to represent Aston Old Ed’s in the Warriors academy program as a result.

With the season cut short , understandable and essential as it is , the normal end of season Festivals and Season awards which are the highlight of our year will not be able to take place - however we hope to bring you social events, news and touch rugby over the summer if possible and will keep you all informed and involved - ready for the restart whenever that may be.

Hoping everyone has a safe break and would love to see everyone back well at the club soon.

Matt Pape
Junior Boys Chairman

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Junior Boys[b]

Although this season has been truncated by Covid -19 and inhibited by some freakish weather systems, I am pleased to report that our U13’s have shown that they are a determined, tenacious and intelligent set of young men. With each fixture the coaches have seen the fundamentals of our coaching strategy falling into place. This season Kim Furlong, Paul Glenn and I looked to pass the on-field decision making to our boys, with a simple set of three options: Beat, Off-load and Present, or BOP. The BOP strategy has allowed the U13’s to understand that in open play, the attacking game is quite simple. In any given situation with ball in hand (for most of a game) they just have three options. We have encouraged them not to worry about a dropped ball or a pass that sails into to touch, but to simply to rely on their training and enjoy the game.
With the increased academic and social pressures that that exert themselves on our young people today, we are looking for rugby to be an antidote to this, a release valve, in which our boys minds our aren’t focussed on the outcome or what happened last week, but simply playing in the moment, where the past and the future are irrelevant. In short, we are trying to develop rugby mindfulness!

With this in place, we have seen our U13’s produce some excellent results, notably against Kings Norton, Pershore and Earlsdon. These victories were the result of strong, straight running from our forwards and centres, huge efforts at the breakdown and some real pace out on our wings. But just as much as the boys need to win, they also will lose. Our loses have mostly been narrow, with huge defensive efforts against Camphill and Sutton worthy of mention here. In fact, Sutton away was the best defensive effort I have seen from our boys to date. In a pulsating encounter played on their 1st team pitch Aston were toe to toe (two tries a piece) with our local rivals for the whole match only conceding a late try (scored by my sons best mate!) in the dying moments of the game. Following this result, the boys and parents were devasted, as our u13’s had given everything and were only running on vapours in the last few minutes. There were some tears, but also a huge amount of pride, in fact two of our boys told me that that was the best game they had ever taken part in. At Bishop Vesey the following Monday there were quite a few pupils from the AOE v Sutton fixture with various parts of their body strapped up, much to the annoyance of Brian Davies, their school coach!

Our U13’s are drawn from a wide catchment across the city and midway through our season, that catchment area was increased when we welcomed eight Old Yards U13’s boys to our squad, who joined us from our friends in south Birmingham due to their junior team folding. The Old Yards boys were an excellent compliment to our squad and fitted in seamlessly.

Towards the end of our shortened season the AOE U13’s travelled to Worcester Warriors selection tournament, here we played some of the best teams from around the Midlands and the south of the country. Although we were winless in this tournament, the boys gave an amazing account of themselves, catching the eye of the Worcester coaches resulting in five of our boys being asked to train with the Worcester Warriors academy (this was an outstanding achievement as there were over 250 boys at the trials).

It’s been a hugely enjoyable season and I would like to thank all the U13’ and their parents for all their hard work and commitment, along with the huge amount of help we receive each week from Matt Pape who is a true servant of the club. My thanks also to fellow coaches Kim Furlong, Matt Park Davis and Paul Glenn who willingly donate their time and energy into this great Mini and Junior section of ours.

Rob Green
U13 Junior Boys

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[b]Junior Girls
It’s been a challenging start to the 2019/2020 for the U13 girls given the efforts to kick start a ‘new’ team. It’s been great to see the group of girls grow into a team, a small one, but still a team! We’ve welcomed some new arrivals throughout the season as well seen a handful transition from U12 mixed rugby. The girls skills and commitment have surprised me as we have seen true dedication and development each week. It’s a shame we were let down on many occasions with games but fingers crossed for next year we can get some game time and grow the team. Here’s to next season!

Julius Hunt
Junior Girls

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Minis
This season, Aston Old Edwardians Under 7s and Under 8s joined forces and trained and played together. We were low on numbers throughout the season, but on reflection this had the advantage of being able to coach and develop the team at a more intimate level than would have been possible with a larger squad. This resulted in a great team spirit and the players really started to know each others strengths and weaknesses and by the end of the season started to organise themselves when talking through moves etc.

This year we focused heavily on passing drills, moving away from the games we played in the previous seasons, but always keeping the old favourite "Sharks and Swimmers as our warm up for the sessions. We practiced really simple passing in pairs and in groups of four, progressing to more complicated drills, such as passing down the line, being behind the ball etc, always making sure our hands were out ready, and very importantly, knowing each others name and calling for the ball. Although they were not the most exciting activities for the players, the drills worked really well and the players took this knowledge into the games we played with great success, receiving very positive comments from the opposition coaches.

The end of the season was unfortunately marred with bad weather and injury, with Elijah Owens breaking his leg (playing football!!) and Daisy Lord breaking her ankle. This made training difficult, but the team showed great spirit and joined either the micros or, when possible , the U9 training sessions and still enjoyed the sessions.

The end of the season highlight was the Lichfield festival, with Daisy returning from injury and joining Luke, Evan and Mason to attend the event. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the festival so Paul Glenn went along to support the team. Paul was really impressed with the attitude displayed by the team, with amazing pace and footwork showed by Mason and Evan, charging runs by Luke through the middle and great off loading and passing by the Captain Daisy. A great day had by all and a great, if not untimely, end to the season.

Overall, despite all of the difficulties of the season with the bad weather, injuries and the early close of the season, we have seen some great rugby by our squad and each player has made massive improvements in their game and have hopefully enjoyed it in the process. throughout the season, the parents have always been their support the players and helping out when needed. Their support is greatly appreciated and does not go unnoticed. It has been a pleasure to coach the U7/8 team this season and we very much look forward to seeing them all back in September.

Reg Owens and Jacqui Bull