Gladiators wrap up 2009
The Colchester Gladiators completed their highly successful season on Friday evening with their annual general meeting and the announcement of a new partner to sponsor the upcoming end of season awards evening.
The AGM was held at Sir Charles Lucas Sports Centre and a new committee was elected. Interim Chairman Nick Foxley stepped down from the position and the mantle was taken over by Tom Burridge. Matt Excell took the role of Secretary and Treasurer Paul Bovingdon was re-elected for a further year.
The awards evening on December 11th, at Candi Bar in Colchester, is to be sponsored by Colne Classics,
a family run business based in Wivenhoe, specialising in the restoration of classic cars, particularly MG and Jaguars. Colne Classics will put their name to the four most prestigious awards on the night, Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, Player’s Player of the Year, and Coach’s Player of the Year.
Also finalised on the night were the team’s recruitment plans for the 2010 season. A “Come and Try” session is scheduled for Sunday 13th December at 10am where anyone who wants to have a go at playing the sport is welcome. Tryouts for the senior team will be going ahead on the day, and anyone interested in joining one of the junior sections, for the cadet flag team (age 10-14), junior kitted team (age 14-16), and the youth kitted team (age 16-19) who will be hoping to build on a highly successful first league schedule where they reached the national post-season playoffs, should contact the team via their website at www.colchestergladiators.com. The Gladiators’ Dance Team will also be looking for new recruits and take dancers from age 13 and up.
On Saturday 5th December, five products of the aforementioned youth team will be representing their country in a “friendly” game against Filton Academy, Bristol. On 31st October, AJ Crabbe, Curtis Bourke, Sam Bingham and Ant Burton played for the GB youth team against their Polish counterparts and all performed well in the 42-2 win. Next month they will be joined by Fabian Ortiz-Barrs for this warm up game, part of the build up towards the European Championships next year.
New Chairman Tom Burridge was part of the GB Lions coaching staff for the trip to Poland and was impressed by the contribution the Gladiators’ youth players were able to make to the overall team performance. The young rising stars are eager to build on their playing time in the forthcoming fixture as they look towards next year’s tournament.