RATHBONES NATIONAL SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIP REGISTRATION PACK English Lacrosse and Rathbone Investment Management are delighted to welcome you back to the state of the art facilities of Surrey Sport Park for the 2016 Rathbones National Schools Lacrosse Championships. Through this partnership, English Lacrosse and Rathbones aim to raise the profile of junior girls lacrosse and encourage participation throughout the sport. Rathbones investment has enabled us to increase new players by over 2000 as part of the Rathbones Community Expansion Programme. It is also their support that has allowed us to move the RNSLC to such an amazing venue as Surrey Sports Park, increase the competition to four days and add new age categories. We look forward to working with Rathbones to ensure that lacrosse remains the fastest growing sport in the UK. Enclosed you will find all the information you will need to enter the Rathbones National Schools Lacrosse Championships 2016. Please read the information carefully and make sure you complete and submit the team entry form before the closing date Friday 13th November 2015. Entries will need to be completed by the online entry form that can be found on the English Lacrosse website. If you experience any problems or require any general information relating to the event please contact Abigail Merrill at the English Lacrosse Association (contact information below) CONTACT INFORMATION Abigail Merrill Event Co-Ordinator English Lacrosse Association Floor 2 Wenlock Way Offices Wenlock Way Manchester M12 5DH a.merrill@englishlacrosse.co.uk 0843 6585006
HOW TO REGISTER CLOSING DATE Friday 13th November 2015 Schools should note that it may be necessary to restrict the number of teams entering in ALL age groups. To avoid disappointment you are strongly advised to register your teams as soon as possible. Once the optimum number of teams is reached in an age group, teams will be allocated to a waiting list in order of their registration. ENTRY FEES 1 Team 100 2 Teams 210 3 Teams 300 4 Teams 375 5 Teams 440 6 Teams 495 GUIDE TO ENTERING Entries can be completed online via the English Lacrosse website. Please make sure that you check all information is correct before submitting your entry form. Paper entry forms are available on request a.merrill@englishlacrosse.co.uk Please be aware that an application will only be considered complete once payment has been received by the English Lacrosse Head Office. PAYMENTS Payments can be made by using one of the following options: 1. BACS Transfer (Natwest sort code 01-08-81 Account 15548171) Please use the REFERENCE RNSLC16 + Name of School 2. Cheque Made payable to English Lacrosse Association 3. Online Payment **Entry fees are non- refundable Schools must be affiliated with English Lacrosse to participate in the tournament.(please note affiliation invoices will be issued by Head Office)
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION THE VENUE DATES Surrey Sports Park University of Surrey Richard Meyjes Road Guildford Surrey GU2 7AD Friday 26 th February Under 19A & Under 19B Saturday 27 th February Under 19A & Under 19B Monday 29th February Under U15A & U15B Tuesday 1st March Under 13 & U14 PLAYER PROCEDURES To qualify to play at the RNSLC16, all team members must meet the stipulated age at the start of the tournament and beregistered for the 2016-17 academic year at the school they are representing. Schools may not enter the U19B or U15B tournament unless they have also entered a team into the U19A or U15A tournament. No player can play for more than one team throughout the duration of the Championships. TOURNAMENT MERCHANDISE Tournament Merchandise for the event will be available to all players, staff and supporters. Schools are encouraged to pre- order all team clothing before the Championships, as this will help to eliminate any logistical issues on the first day of the event. Further information will be communicated to you about the garments available via the Rathbones National Schools mail outs. This will provide you with relevant information on how to place orders.
UMPIRING INFORMATION After the success of the neutral umpiring system at the 2014 and 2015 Championships we are pleased to be implementing the same system at RNSLC 2016. The umpiring will be provided for both Friday and Saturday for the U19A and U19B tournament. The U19A and U19B competition will be officiated by a crew of umpires assigned to work together all day on a particular pitch and a senior umpire will lead each crew. The aim is to provide a fair allocation of appropriately skilled neutral umpires on each pitch and consistency of umpiring both within each group and across the board. We hope that we shall have sufficient higher-level umpires available that it will be possible to operate the 3-umpire system on all semi-finals and finals in both tournaments. If possible we will also operate this system on all games in the U19A competition on both days. Once again, support and feedback will be available to the umpires and there will be a central umpiring tent where information will be posted and questions can be addressed by senior umpires throughout both days. In order to provide effective umpiring in this manner schools are no longer expected to umpire a certain number of games on a different pitch. The days of AvB umpired by C&D are no more. Instead, each participating team will pay an umpiring fee of 200 (for the U19A tournament) or 130 (for the U19B tournament), in return for which all games in the tournament will be covered by the independent umpires. We hope this will make the Rathbones National Schools experience altogether more enjoyable for everybody, as proved to be the case last year. We are conscious that some of our best umpires are school teachers and we would very much like to have those individuals as part of the umpiring team. If you have a good umpire (or, indeed, several) on your staff, please do try to arrange things so that they can join the umpiring team. Whilst anyone who is umpiring will not be able to be the principal coach or responsible adult for a school team, we shall do our best to keep them free in particular game slots where they indicate that they wish to be watching a team elsewhere. All umpires will be paid game fees, so it should easily be possible for members of staff accepted onto the umpiring team to earn back the 200/ 130 fee your school will have paid. What arrangements you make as to the way in which the earned fees are then used are between you and your staff member. Sara Benbow will act as the principal point of contact for umpiring matters relating to both the U19A and U19B tournaments. If you have an umpire on your staff who wishes to be considered for the umpire team, please email Sara as soon as possible, indicating their current level of qualification and whether they will need to be assessed or re-assessed for a Level 2 or above prior to the tournament. Finally, please note that these changes only apply to the U19A and B tournaments this year. The U13, U14 and both U15 tournaments will continue to operate on the old AvB umpired by C&D format with schools being obliged to provide their own umpires, you will be hearing further from Abigail Merrill in this regard. As matters stand at present we cannot assist directly with umpires for the Monday and Tuesday tournaments, and you should make your own arrangements to cover your obligations in each of those.
A minimum of Level 1 qualification is required to umpire at any of those junior tournaments, but in the interests of player safety and quality of games we strongly recommend that you try to provide at least a Level 2 qualified umpire for at least the U15A competition. If you have any questions about the umpiring format please contact Sara Benbow. sara.benbow@hardwicke.co.uk copying in Abigail Merrill a.merrill@englishlacrosse.co.uk on any email correspondence.
QUICK CHECK - Complete and return this entry form by, Friday 13 th November 2015. - Applications will only be considered complete once payment has been received by English Lacrosse at Head Office. - Email confirmation will be sent to the email address, which you have provided, to acknowledge entry to the Championship. Three Payment Options: 1. Cheque payable to English Lacrosse Association 2. Online Payment 3. BACS transfer: Account Name: English Lacrosse Association Sort Code: 01-08-81 Account Number: 15548171 Please use REFERENCE RNSLC16 + School Name Should you have any queries or questions about the tournament please do not hesitate to contact Abigail Merrill via email, a.merrill@englishlacrosse.co.uk or by telephone, 0843 6585006.