[PRG Hockey:161]: Update for the week of Monday 30th July
Dear Maroon Hockey Machine parents and players,
There’s a lot of info in this week’s mail, so I’ll keep the intro short. I have managed to find additional matches for most of the teams not playing already this week for this Saturday – the only thing is that the matches are in Worcester at HTS Drostdy. If you look at the remaining fixtures on our calendar besides Grey College weekend there are not many more opportunities for the lads to play. I know it is late notice and I know it is a bit of a drive, but we’d really like to give them every opportunity. The bus will depart from the Japie Krige at 07:00 sharp.
regards
Neville
SACS & Cape Town International Festival
Once again we must be grateful for the heavens opening, but again on a Friday?! 
We only managed to get in a handful of matches which is sad as it seems this is the fixture we miss every year due to rain! Well done to all our teams and their respective results.
The Cape Town International festival is always a good way to start the 3rd term as it allows our u19A’s to work off some of the holiday rust – this year we reached the semi’s to lose out to the eventual winners Wynberg.
PRG vs York
On Friday 3 August our friends from George will be arriving for the annual Boland / SWD derby. This is the first year that York have got a 3rd team (the numbers are swelling in the SWD region – which is a good thing) and this in turn means that we will have to host all the the York teams for the Friday evening only. As soon as York send through the numbers for hosting you will be informed. Please could I ask all parents that are able to, to host at least one player!
Programme for York
PRG vs York
Next weeks practice schedule
Practice Schedule 30 July – 2 Aug(1)
PRG Hockey Golf Day
Yes, you read that correctly, our own Golf Day! (ja-nee, I thought Neville had come up with a new sport for a moment there… “hockey-golf”!! – ed)
Please see the 2 attached letter regarding our Golf Day. The idea we’re hoping to develop is to have two fundraising events for PRG hockey per season. We want to avoid the usual raffle guilt-and-blackmail-trip and give you the peace of mind that you will only have deal with a maximum of two occasions per season (one this season) when you open you wallet and ask us to help ourselves…
Seriously though – we need some parents to assist in making the Golf Day a roaring success – there are all sorts of roles, major and minor – please let Cyril know if you can help. He’s waiting in anticipation for your call (082 291 5521; linostrading@mweb.co.za).
Boland Issues
A sincere Thank You to all those parents who sent through their thoughts and experiences which you and your sons’ had to endure for the respective Boland hockey tours. We (PRG) are going to table the following proposal to Boland Hockey so that we can assist them (and ourselves) in the future:
1.) Clothing: once the teams have been announced after the 1st weekend in the 2nd term – PRG will call all its Boland representatives together and in conjunction with those parents we will have New Balance attend that very same meeting to try on sizes and establish what the needs our players are. I have the contact details of Jeanne Austin at New Balance – and am certain that they are prepared to facilitate this process with us – which in turn allows them to deliver all their product in a timely manner.
2.) Flights: once the teams have been announced – the parents will be given the dates of the respective tournaments & venues where their boys will be participating and they will be allowed to book their own flights for their boys. In each of this years Boland teams there are at least 8 PRG boys – this would in turn mean they could fly together and wait at the destination (eg. Lanseria airport) for the rest if there are others who are NOT on the same flight. This will reduce the cost dramatically for each individual. This would only apply to the u16 and u18 IPT teams as the u14 and u16 regional teams are much closer venues. The last point I’d like to add about booking flights etc is that parents can then also plan their respective holidays around their kids Boland tours.
3.) Practices: I am currently in discussion with Jenny King (Head of Hockey at Maties) about the amount of astro time we may have for Boland practices in the future – which will only benefit our respective teams preparations. I am hopeful that something positive will transpire in this regard and PRG has the say in booking practices going forward.
4.) Accommodation: this point needs to be seen in 2 separate forms: IPT’s and Regionals.
For IPT’s the accommodation will / should always be very good as SA Schools will never allow a tournament to be hosted with sub-standard lodging. For Regionals we will need to do our own scouting for accommodation in future as this is normally done by each of the regions themselves. This will only really happen for u14 and u16 Pinotage teams.
5.) Sub Committees: it will be rather crucial that within each selected Boland team we have a willing parent/s to assist us in being ’part of management’ so that all of the above can be streamlined through to me. This will facilitate a more efficient end result.
6.) Sponsorship: when we talk sponsorship – the idea is not to get ONE sponsorship for all the Boland teams but maybe to get each team an individual sponsor – this sponsor will in turn be allowed to brand on their respective teams clothing. This sponsorship could also potentially reduce the costs of each player.
If you feel that you would like to express any other possible solutions then please convey them to me as I would like to improve the Boland experience for our boys and that we can go forward with a positive mindset.
Grey Bloem
Daar word `n afsluitingsfunksie van die wintersportsoorte en `n opbou na Greynaweek (GEES) vir die Woensdag 15 Augustus in die Sentrum beplan. Dit gaan `n kerrie-en-rys-aand met musiek wees. Kaartjies gaan by kamer 14 verkoop word. Die idée is om tafels per aktiwiteit te verkoop en vol te maak. Ons wil dit so goed as moontlik bemark, maar ervaring het geleer om 1 of 2 of 3 persone in u aktiwteit / span te identifiseer en hom te versoek om `n tafel of 5 vol te maak.
Funksie: Aflsuiting van wintersporte en “gees bou” vir GREY
Datum: Woensdag 15 Augustus om 19.00
Plek: Paul Roos Sentrum
Kaartjies: R75,00 per persoon (Lekker winterkos en musiek) – Kontantkroeg beskikbaar
Bespreek by Kamer 14 tot en met Maandag 13 Augustus om 14.00.
Group Report: U/14, U16 and U/19 teams
