Midland Tigers Regional Squad Training

If you are a resident within the Midlands Boundary and interested in being selected to play in one of their squads at this year’s Touch Nationals, which runs from 27^th-29^th August 2016*, then please read the information below which gives details about Midlands trials selection and squad training dates.

See the ETA maps for more details on regional boundaries: http://englandtouch.org.uk/wp/index.php/regional-boundaries/.

*The U18s will be playing on 27-28 August only (Sat and Sun). The other divisions will be playing on all 3 days.

Midlands management/coaches

Regional Lead – Colin Hulett

Regional Manager – Adele Langlois

Treasurer – Sue-Ellen Godde

Men’s Open Coach – Colin Hulett

Women’s Open Coach – Simon Clare

Mixed Open Coach – Jo Howson

Mixed U18s Coaches – Gene Macdonald, Jo Whitehead and Kat Daniels

Men’s Seniors Coach – Soul Phoenix

Midlands squad selection

Selection for the squad will be via open trials on Sat 12 March at Comberton Sports and Arts, West Street, Comberton, Cambridge, CB23 7DU.

What to bring:

£10 entry fee
Playing kit (we will be on astro and/or grass, depending on the weather)
Food and drink
Completed parental consent form, available here (if under 18 on the day of the trials)

Please register in advance at this link. Each player will be given a number to wear on the day.

The trials will begin promptly at 10am and consist of both skills/drills and game-time. Please arrive by 9.30am, to give yourself plenty of time to receive your number, get ready, etc.

If you wish to be considered for the squad but are unable to attend the trials on 12 March, please contact Adele at adelemidlandstouch@gmail.com to request an exemption.

Midlands team selections

There will be 2/3 training sessions for everyone selected for the squad before final team selections are made (16 players per team). There will then be at least 2 further training sessions before the Nationals in August.

Selection for the teams will be based on the following criteria:

Individual ability, speed, agility and talent
Understanding of the game
Ability to learn and listen to concepts presented by the coaches
Attitude at training and ability to work with the team and the team structure
Attendance at training

EligibilityResidency

You must live within one of the following counties to be eligible for the Midlands. Note that the different divisions have different regional boundaries:

Opens: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk
U18s and Men’s Seniors: as above minus Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, which fall into the North

Age

Opens: 16+ on 27 August 2016 (no maximum age)
U18s: 15-17 on 31 December 2016
Men’s Seniors: 30+ on 1 January 2017

Nationality

You must meet one of the following criteria:

English born
Hold a UK passport
Ancestry visa, having been resident for at least the last 2 years
A UK resident for the past 3 years

If you are under 18, an exemption may be sought if you will be eligible for selection into an open team once out of the juniors.

Training dates

Provisional training dates are as follows (these have been chosen to take account of the DTS/CTS/NTS and England training dates as far as possible):

Sun 24 April
Sat 7 May
Sun 19 June
Sun 24 July
Sun 7 August

All training will be in Cambridge, as it is the most central county in our region. To reflect differential travel costs, players from outside Cambridge will pay a reduced fee for training. (NB U18s may have further training/warm-up tournaments.)

ETA membership

If you do not have individual membership of the ETA you will need to purchase this if you are selected for Nationals (£15, or £10 for U18s or full-time students U23).

Nationals

The entry fees set by the ETA are as follows: