YVETTE BAKER FINAL

[awk]

One of the early British Schools Champs was in Glasgow, so it obviously was/is intended to be British, not English. So yes, it does seem at first glance to be a bit unfortunate that the other home nations aren't included in the cycle of events; there may, of course, be good reason. There is a Scottish Schools Champs.

Scotland has sent a separate team to the World Schools a few times now. Whilst the the other team is an English team, it has included Welsh children in the past, although this has needed permission. I think (if my recollection from the days of being a selector is right) this was because there is no recognised schools association in the ISSF for Wales, but my memory about the whys and wherefores is a bit fragile.

[PMG]

When we discussed this SOA and WOA were given the option to make a bid for any year that they might want to stage the Schools Events.

I will get this added to the next version on the minutes. Pleased people are reading. them

Peter
Fixtures Chairman

[Gonzo]

Well Hocolite didn't get a huge response! We found out that DVO, Southdowns and Aire will be there and that WCH, LEI, NOC and Sarum won't but who is actually going? Hopefully more than 3 clubs!!! Is there a definitive list anywhere?

[seabird]

This is the list of qualifiers thoughtn likely to attend at the start of the month

SOC (SWOA); SO (SEOA); HOC (WMOA); AIRE (YHOA); OD & WAOC (EAOA); CLOK (NEOA); DEE & WCOC (NWOA): DVO (EMOA)

[djc]

SOC was still in SCOA when I left home...

[Simon]

djc - SOC qualified in the south west qualifier.

[Tatty]

That's because the SWOA heat was nearer than the SCOA heat

[geomorph]

Interesting how WMOA dispersed clubs (WCH,OD) across the Midlands/East Anglia. Was it a tactic to dominate the final with WMOA clubs or just a travel distance response (the latter is a bit dubious in OD's case as I would have thought LEI's Bagworth was closer)?

[Stodgetta]

We went to the LEI event because of distance & timing - the WM round was the weekend after 5 of our juniors went to uni and we knew they wouldn't make it back instead of freshers weekend (just a shame more of them couldn't make it back to go to Bagworth ) and it was too close to the start of the school term to get the information into schools.

Don't know why OD went to WAOC - I heard on the grapevine that was a timing thing, too.

[distracted]

I've asked before - why isn't there a single weekend, as for the Compass Sport Cup, on which all of the Yvette Baker qualifiers take place? Clubs wouldn't then (a) have to find out when they are and (b) be able to pick and choose which heat they go to. Vaguely recall a response of "differing half-term dates" but that doesn't really hold up when I reckon there were 6 or 7 different dates for qualifying rounds this autumn...

[D,J,J&Ms Dad]

OD went to the EAOC round because the WM round clashed with the Caddihoe Chase where a number of our families were competing. And also Milton Keynes (that well known East Anglian town) was closer for the majority of our members than the WM round at Croft Castle.

[awk]

I've asked before - why isn't there a single weekend, as for the Compass Sport Cup, on which all of the Yvette Baker qualifiers take place?

The original reason was that the whole YBT (including final) was held at district events, rather than having special events put on. Whether that should apply now is something that could be reviewed. Whatever, I do feel the YBT is well overdue a substantial think. If was responsible again, I'd try getting rid of the qualifiers and open up the final to any club that wanted to attend a la original. (Oh the joy of just being able to get on and do something without the shenanigans of committees! Organising this competition for the first few years was great fun).

[alcumbria]

Why not have a single weekend with Qualifiers on the Saturday and an A and B final on the Sunday it would take more effort by the clubs to arrange accomodation etc and look after children for 2 days but it would only use one weekend of the year.

[Marco Polo]

We went to the LEI event because of distance & timing - the WM round was the weekend after 5 of our juniors went to uni and we knew they wouldn't make it back instead of freshers weekend (just a shame more of them couldn't make it back to go to Bagworth ) and it was too close to the start of the school term to get the information into schools.

Don't know why OD went to WAOC - I heard on the grapevine that was a timing thing, too.

As far as I can see, HOC had a fairly easy passage on the WMOA round?!

[HOCOLITE]

Yes. Very easy but only due to other clubs declining the invitation to attend the regional round. It did rather disillusion club members who had put in a lot of effort to get the event on.
I would agree to the idea of a two day set up if it could be accommodated in the calendar. But you would still get the travel problems and some clubs would probably not bother to enter at all. We have found it very difficult to get youngsters to travel. Distance and December don't make YBT coordination easy