Christmas always brings forth the opportunity to reflect on the events of the current year and to consider the successes and achievements.
I’m enormously proud of what we have achieved as an Association, not just throughout 2023, but also over an extended period. We now have over 300 players and its expanding each season. Our growth has been particularly pleasing given that we had to overcome the challenges and obstacles created by the pandemic - but through our resilience and commitment we have endured and extended our provision
This year has seen us introduce a new Development Pathway. Through this pathway we have opened up our provision to boys and girls from Under 7 upwards. This is such an important moment for the Association as we seek to broaden our offering to more Primary School age pupils. This addition along with our new Primary 5s format has the potential to reinvent our engagement with Primary Schools across RCT
On the pitch this year we have achieved many milestone achievements with a range of our county squads reaching national semi final and final stages. It is always such a thrill for a county the size of ours compete with much larger Associations and go toe to toe. The valleys spirit is something to behold!
We celebrated our collective achievements at our Annual Presentation Day in June. I was particularly pleased and humbled to see the Association award our inaugural winners of the Chris Davies Award; a fitting tribute to our much cherished colleague who sadly passed away in 2022. Also this year we were able to further mark Chris’ legacy through the renaming of our Secondary Schools competitions in his honour.
To see our Association make a mark at National level always makes me proud. It is further evidence of our progress as an Association of impact and scale. Again this season we had significant representation in both the boys and girls WSFA National Squads and on the field our players played their full part in some terrific performances and results.
We could not function or deliver our provision without the leadership and support of our staff and committee. They all go the extra mile to provide pupils and students with the opportunities to participate at county level. This year we did see a significant change at Committee level, with our long standing Secretary, Brian Hughes, stepping down after four decades in the position! We all owe Brian a debt of gratitude for his outstanding service
Whilst 2023 posed some specific challenges for me on a personal level, I always take huge pride and satisfaction from seeing our impact and success; the opportunities that we provide young people are just remarkable. We help so many create lifelong memories.
In closing, I would like to thank all of our sponsors, partners and stakeholders for their continued support. We are very grateful for the sterling and unstinting support of our local authority who provide us with our top class playing facilities- we are really blessed in RCT with so many all weather facilities.
Please do enjoy your Christmas break with family and friends; I look forward to a busy 2024 as we seek to continue our great work on and off the pitch with the outstanding support of our parents and guardians.
Ceri Jones
Chair
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