Please let us know if you are available for training Sunday?

We’ve had a good couple of weeks of friendly tournaments, it’s now time to take our learnings from those games and work on the techniques necessary for a successful season.

Looking forward to Sunday – I’ll even bring the agility ladders!

Well done to all those who participated today in friendlies with Peter Symonds Sabres and the Zombie Horde of Basingstoke.

It was an incredibly cold day but that didn’t stop some great football being played in good spirits. I don’t have the actual scores to hand but the final results stand as:

Horde beat Sabres

Sharks beat Horde

Sharks beat Sabres

(EDIT: Horde 45 – Sabres 20, Horde 20 – Sharks 47, Sharks 13 – Sabres 12 – Thanks Martyn)

Thank you very much to both the visiting teams for joining us today. Hopefully, you enjoyed the day as much as we did. Despite all the shivering!

Special mentions today, go to our 6 new players – Charlie, Ben, Darren, Mike, Alex and Rob. At the start of the day they had 1 training session of flag football between them (Rob), but by the end of the day they all had contributed strongly to the two wins we got today. It’s no small feat to step straight into two games on your first day, and especially to perform at the level you all did.

Alex had a particularly impressive start to playing on defense, making several tackles for short gains on running plays. Rob, Charlie, Darren and Ben made some great grabs and helped keep scoring drives alive. And Mike was a ballhawk in at Safety. Mike and Charlie’s previous experience playing kitted football was very evident today.

What was even more impressive, was that we played – and won – two games where 60-80% of the defense were first day rookies – and on a couple of drives in the last game, it was up to 100%. So well done to you all.

Congratulations to Scott too – winning his first ever start as QB today against the Sabres.

Hopefully we’ll have a few more friendlies before the season starts in April. And with a bit of luck, we’ll see all our new rookies back for more training over the coming weeks.

Anyone not defrosted yet?

Welcome to the last training session of the year – live by the wonders of the iPhone!

We’ve got a good turn out with 12 players in attendance, including former coach Dayle Kirby – who just picked a pass from Martyn and returned it for a score!

This photo shows Neil taking the snap on the drive after the interception – what would have been nice would have been to have taken a photo a couple of seconds later, because it turned out to be a bullet of a pass on the run, which went for a score. Oh well, not the greatest camera on the iphone.

This will come in handy after tournaments next season, as it will give me something to do on the journey back

That’s right, we’ve had a week off to get over the disappointment of no playoffs, so now its time to get back to business. As said in the comments after the tournament, the way the season ended left a bad taste in our mouths.

I for one, don’t want to experience that again, so I’m looking forward to training this Sunday so I can start preparing for the 2009 season. Anyone care to join me?

Usual place, 10 a.m. sharp.

The 2009 season motto…’Finish’.

To compete in the 2008 season as a member of the Chichester Sharks, BAFA require you to become a registered member. The cost of this is £32.00 for the year and includes your insurance.

Everyone needs to complete a form, which has to be sent in as a single batch by our Committee. We gave out a few forms last Sunday, but some of them were missing a 2nd sheet, so we’ll be bringing more this weekend.

We need to get them in before the season starts, so we’re aiming to send them off next Tuesday (25th). This means we need to get all the information sorted this weekend.

If you have not registered with BAFA before, you will need to:

• complete the form on Sunday
• bring a passport sized photograph
• bring £32 in cash
• bring a photocopy of documentation that proves your age (e.g. driving license, passport, birth certificate)

If you cannot get a photocopy, bring the original to training. I will take it and get a photocopy for you. However, in doing so you’ll have to agree that I’m not responsible for any loss or damage to the document.

If you’re been registered with BAFA in the last two years, you will need to:

• complete the re-registration form on Sunday
• bring £32 in cash
• bring your BAFA registration number

I have to stress that all the individual forms go in together as one team submission, so please make sure you attend training this weekend, bringing your cash and a photo and proof of age photocopy if necessary.