Senior Mixed - NTL 2010

Senior Mixed Training Calendar 22/02/10  



Senior Mixed Training Scorecard 01/03/10 

Senior Mixed Training Reports 01/03/10 

Sun 27th Feb - TG Millner:  The annual Scorpions Day provided the backdrop for our penultimate training session and by its end, the Senior mixed were looking pretty good. Starting the day with a solid warm up, it was noticed that only Kalmsy was missing in action. Unconfirmed reports suggested his float from the night before had taken a wrong turn, but hopefully he should return by this Friday. We were matched up to play the Mixed Opens team in two 20 minute games and the first game was possibly the best we have played. The defence was excellent and the attack showed real promise. The 2-0 scoreline was indicative of the quality touch on display. Once again Karina lead by example and every time she touched the ball you could hear the crowd roar…turned out it was just Andy, but boy can he make some noise!  After oranges, the second game commenced and while we dropped a bit of ball, the effort was still very good and is most encouraging with only a week to go. I’m not sure of the score in this game (probably hinting that we lost 2-3), but there were a lot of pleasing aspects to take out of it. Special mention must go to Katrina’s little boy who tried to steal the match ball when we were leading and then ran onto the field to stop an opposition break. This sort of commitment may lead him to landing a spot in the team if we ever fall short!!  With only a week to go, the excitement is building and the team is heading in the right direction. Stay fit and stay healthy. See you Friday!  Report by Beaks

Wed 24th & Fri 26th Feb – TG Millner:  With Sheriff Cracker totally overlooking his duties of appointing a reporter for the past two sessions the Scorps Spy has "stepped up to the plate" (quoting the PM there if you watch the news not that you have time to with this teams training schedule!).  After a weekend off due to Junior State Cup commitments and a big congratulations must go to team Grommet Craig Beacroft (see I do my research) who's Penrith 18's girls won their division (there has to be a fine there Sheriff?  Penrith, Scorps, Mets?  What the?) the team met up for their version of the Aussie cricket playing calendar of 3 games in 3 days (or close enough). With constant questions in the media and within the squad being asked about the BGTIE, the team started with words of wisdom from the Supercoach and then got into some rucking patterns, defence, line attack and then were summonsed by the Men's 30's to "get it on".  A good hit out prevailed with the 30's looking very sharp and scoring some nice tries out wide.  The Supercoach and the Team Mgmt entourage of 20 were happy with the run with things going to "plan".  It's rumoured that "plan" is a PDF document now 459 pages in length.  It seemed 4 hours had passed and the team were back, this time to front up against the youthful Mixed Opens.  Some highlights from the game included:
- nice dual player/refereeing by Edith (whenever we needed a penalty she just asked and it was given)
- Doodie's heart rate hitting 200 when his witches hats/cones were sabotaged by the kids
- Once again Doodie in the space of 30 seconds dropping the ball over the line after beating a 20yr old only to get snapped up the other end when playing fullback
- Michelle motivating the troops at every opportunity
- Karina calling a Monday on a Friday and setting up Andy (President of the KHFC) in the corner
- The Supercoach admitting Mixed was tough
- The cat is outta the bag... The Haddin that is Karina holds hero status amongst at least one team-mate, will this grow as the tournament gets underway?
- No truth to the rumour the training absentees met up to discuss new names for the rucking patterns

Until Sunday when the Scorpions Day gets under way, the only question that remains is will the Sherriff start performing his duties?  Report by Scorps Spy

Wed 17th Feb – TG Millner:  The grass at TG Milner was long, damp, festooned with dog yuck, still no lines, and the lights never came on....but that didn't stop the the Snr Mix taking on the All Stars team that even had to borrow a player or two from our side. But any game practice for the Green Machine Team is appreciated. As a team we seemed to have learnt the rules policed by the Sheriff and the Deputy Sheriff....names stated, hand shakes completed on arrival, explanations given for arriving late or being absent.....but the challenges of learning our settling moves appeared to be the biggest challenge. Aarrrgh seemed to be heard by players on and off the field. Baz the coach is often heard saying It's just bread and butter". For those of you have yet to hear the words of the Chef Baz you will hear him stating "Hitting a hole is bread and butter" "Second phase it's bread and butter", "Spread the middles/dump on the middles, it's bread and butter". I feel we should change the names of our moves and start calling them by sandwich toppings to go with the bread and butter theme. For example, "Target" should be called "Tomato". This was the first training that all were present and playing, it was good to see Edith finally being able to run with the team, some injuries evident....sign of being a senior side trying to play like an opens side. Enjoy the week off and take the time to continue with your own personal fitness and come back Wednesday next week refreshed, moves learnt, and ready to play mixed touch football.  Report by Michelle

Sunday 14th Feb – vs. Hornets Mixed Opens at the Central Coast:  Scorps SMX packed their bags, food rations and hopped in our boats to paddle north this weekend into the heart of the Hornets nest, on arrival everyone seemed in good spirits despite the rain. We donned on our boots and got ready up whilst our opposition warmed up with a 15 min run against our future NTL SMX opponents.  We kicked off the first 15mins with a shakey start against our younger opposition who hit the ground running, I'm glad BAZ isn't here was mentioned at the break, we spoke about our training and the game plan we had been working on from the start, our running game and second phase.  The second 15 min was a different game we ran a lot harder, got our settling patterns working and started to work there middles which opened up some second phase opportunities and we scored some good touchdowns.  After another break and a bit more talk we played a final third, this period of play was a positive finish for us with the team relaxing more into our style and becoming more comfortable with the mixed form of the game.  Now on to Wednesday our next session back at the BGTIE with work to improve areas of our game that will take us to NTL glory!!!!!  Report by Wayne

Thurs 11th Feb – TG Millner:  Handshakes all round and once again we were off and running at BGTIE. Tonight Baz let our fitness take a back step to work on our settling techniques. What a relief!!!  6 on 6 we learnt how to make our way down the field, to our box (once they were sorted) and how to flow into our line attack. Words such as 'target' and 'shot' were thrown around so many times anyone would think we were armed with guns!!!! Well maybe we are.......one of our guns Stuey was absent tonight leaving a wound in our side and then Andy and Kalmsy toddled off to leave us with 6 on 5 and a good opportunity to 'work that middle'. One and a half hours into training Baz felt we needed to warm up again and had us in 3's catching, sprinting and passing in that order before we finished off with some competitive beach touch. I must say Edith did a fantastic job at refereeing with Team A winning convincingly 6 - 0.  Looking forward to a good hit out against the Hornets Mixed Opens on Sunday. Lets hope the rain holds off as it did tonight and I promise not to wear my Hornets shorts or socks!!   Report by Karina

Wed 3rd Feb – TG Millner:  Maybe it was the text from Dudie on the way to training saying 'meet at bowling green at TG aka house of pain' that kept a few of the team away, this we will never know! So yes, it was back to the unkempt & retired bowling green at TGM starting with 10mins on the decrepit old bikes for those who dared!  We then split into 4 groups of 3 with each leader having to wear...yep, you guessed it, the bright orange vests (had to find a way of using them somehow). Baz put us through 5 short & sharp drills however during these Cracker, aka Sheriff, decided he would try his luck with the truck tyre & mallet - what prize he was actually trying to win was unbeknown to us.   It was also bought to our attention there could be a huge kitty of fines building up as all were guilty of infringement #3 (not shaking hands). Fitness over with we all strolled up to the top fields where the Colts Rugby side had taken over the main field for what looked like a gruelling session - lucky Baz didn't see this first & get any ideas for us or we may have been in even more of a world of hurt. We proceeded to go through our line defence strategy with Stuey taking great control....then we put our attack & defence into play where once again, Kat put her body on the line....does this little energizer bunny ever slow down??  Darkness then hit & we finally called it quits for the evening....train well on Sunday team, I will be thinking of you :)  Report by Kez

 

Fri 29th / Sun 31st Jan – TG Millner: Friday: Undeterred by the sudden venue change (due to the unveiling of a statue in honour of Baz, at the Barry Gibson Touch Institute of Excellence wrongly known as T.G Millner) the Senior Scorps were on time and ready for yet another challenging and at times painful session brought to us by Baz, Dudie & Beaks. After a quick hour & half stretch, run by Stuey Syron, we were introduced to a "get to know" passing drill, which challenged some with certain surnames, a little tricky to pronounce ,while catching a bullet to the chest. Next we moved onto some fitness work, but wait....first we would listen to Dudie's 14th speech (and counting) delivered in just the first 3 training sessions. The fitness involved a lot of running with some of Baz's favourite party games thrown in, including his all time favourite "Plyometrics". It was then swiftly onto some line attack, where once again it was the the Orange Vests vs T.shirts and once again the T-shirts came out on top. This was mainly due to some good attack but also due to those massive orange vests! Not only are they hard "not" to touch, they seriously could be taken on board our flight to NTL's as back up for emergency parachutes!  The picturesque sunset signalled the end of another successful session, we began to head off, but wait.....Dudie had prepared some additional reading material to add to our bulging school folders.  Sunday: In what only seemed like a few hours since we had last saw each other, we were back for our Sunday morning session at the familiar B.G.T.I.E grounds. The routine stretch pretty much fell by the wayside due to some badly fatigued arses! All thanks to the "Plyometrics"  two days before. It was on to some passing drills, gladly delivered with no drop balls, especially pleasing considering the drizzling rain conditions. The Senior Scorps were then introduced to lawn bowls "Barry Gibson style" which does not involve the bowling of any type of ball, but in fact involves doing 450 laps of a retired bowling green. Closely followed by a gruelling boxing session and limited time on the bikes, for which Katrina McIlwraith flatly refused to participate in!  With our backsides dragging on the ground it was then time to head back to field 2 to be put through some driving patterns, followed by some crisp line attack. Taking into account it's only our 3rd training session (together with the ball) the side had a solid hit out with further improvement to come.  See you all Wednesday.  Report by Curly

Sun 24th Jan – TG Millner: Our first training session following team selection saw us back at TG Millner and nervous about what fitness drills Coach might have in store for us today. A wet one to start with, but after 40 degree weather the day before, no-one was complaining. The session warm up lap kicked off in typical Aussie BBQ fashion: Girls out front talking about the kids ; Boys lagging behind throwing the ball around. To our amazement, Dudie did manage to find us a hill and so the sprints began: Albeit, cleverly masqueraded in a bit of a get to know you session. We ran up and down whilst attempting to learn the full names of our team mates....” Kerrie Who?”... “Katrina McILWHAT?”...Anthony Dudd-ek?...Is that right?”....Let’s just stick to first names from now on shall we? The remainder of the session saw us play the Scorps Mens 30s. Off to a great start with a nil all first quarter. Unfortunately a few hiccups in defence and missed opportunities over the line saw a less successful second half. Gutsy nonetheless with Stewart and Karina both putting their bodies on the line and coming off second best...Maybe if the referee wasn’t on the phone we might have got a penalty. Overall a fantastic first hit out. Congratulations to Andrew Windsor, our leading try scorer! See you all Friday. Report by Kat

Tues 19th Jan - TG Millner:  After a couple of sessions on the road, the Senior Mixed at last settled in to their new home base at the Barry Gibson Touch Academy at TG Milner (in Eastwood not Putney). The new venue got a tick of approval from all concerned - more central than Manly, more grass than Parramatta, and no *$%&#! huge flights of stairs to be seen. After Dudie's usual eccentric warm-up routine (sit-ups?), Chopper was on hand to run the team through some skills, a 6 min fitness drill that lasted at least half an hour, and then some intricate line attack patterns. A few collisions and a lot of ordinary passes later it was decided that we'd definitely get them right next time, so we could safely move on to some game time. Orange vs. colours, and for the colours it seemed that Curl was everywhere - defending, scooping, hitting holes, fading out to dump for Curl - huh? Safe in the knowledge that bald guys in hats all look the same Curl and Wayne had cunningly come dressed identically in an attempt to fool the selectors about their real work rate. Will Dudie fall for it? The final team selection will tell. With the light fading and the colours clear winners it was time to call a halt. Chopper's summary was a nice backhander - "There's no heroes in this side". I don't agree - you're all my heroes. On to Sunday and another ruined sleep-in. Report by Windsor

Sun 17th Jan - Balmoral Beach:  After two hours of driving, 200km on the odometer, $750.00 in tolls and a parking fee requiring a second job, some senior mixed players arrived at the designated training venue. At 8.00am on a Sunday the team looked surprisingly ready to go. And go we did! The session started with some middle distance running, some of which even the Kenyans would envy. Some stretching was completed and it was into the stairs. The stairs looked harmless enough but by the time we all reached the top, most players had found it challenging. Half a dozen stretches, 58km of road running and a thousand stairs later, we began some ball work. The drills were completed and then (you guessed it) more road running until we descended quickly on the stairs back to where we started. A final stretch was had and the traditional walk toward the esky made it all worthwhile.  A good training session today. Good numbers, good enthusiasm and a big effort was shown. The stairs were tough but learning everyone's name seems to be tougher. We're getting there. Good luck with your recovery.  PS. Winner of the oldest touch shirt challenge was Karina. Well Done!! (**Editor Note:  Dudie has put in a protest on this - 2nd against 1st - more info to come**Dismissed by Sherriff Cracker**). Congratulations to all participants, particularly those wearing some old Hills gear. See you Tuesday.  Report by Cracker

Tues 12th Jan - Doyle Ground, Parramatta:  After weeks of anticipation and with the festive season now behind us, it was time for training to commence for the Scorps Senior Mixed 2010 campaign.  In typical touch weather (either 45 degree sweltering heat or thunder storms & torrential rain) a good turn-out checked in to the world famous Doyle Ground at Parramatta, really unsure of what to expect.  Would their fitness be tested early on with a rumoured road run to Penrith and back?  Luckily not on this occasion and instead the squad was very fortunate to be under the reigns of Australian Mixed Open's legend Tony Eltakchi, who took them through a number of excellent touch drills, followed up with a game of touch without a ball!  Sure sounded crazy to most however what a great game to ensure all players are 100% switched on, and by the 0-0 score line after 10 minutes it was obvious most weren't! Unfortunately the game lost a player early on with Brad Curly Collins taking an intercept in the first minute and as a result he took his own invisible touch ball down to the near-by Parramatta Stadium - home to his beloved Eels. Latest reports at 10pm saw Curly boasting he was the next Eels version of Hazem el Masri after claiming he was kicking conversions from all parts of the stadium - including a 100 metre drop out resulting in a field goal at the opposite end. Impressive stuff from the Curl Man.  After Tash's session the squad got into a game with both teams trying to shrug off the long holiday lay-off.  Wayne McKenzie was a notable absentee from the back end of the game last seen scrounging through his car looking for any left-over Xmas Mince Pies.  A big thanks to Tashy for taking the session, Beaks for supplying the drinks, and Edith for making the journey from Manly whilst being injured.  Our next session sees the squad meet up for a Sunday morning Balmoral Beach session.  Who will survive?  Let's hope Cracker does as he is next up for training report duty.  Until then!      Report by Dudie

SMX Fines & By-Laws 2010 23/01/10   Cracker Sheriff is now officially in da house.  He has accepted his appointment as team Sheriff with Byrnes' taking up his Deputy role.  His by-laws can be found below: Sheriff: The chief law-enforcing officer of the county Deputy Sheriff: A Deputy Sheriff dumb arse ($2 see below) These are the laws of the land. Don't like them pack your saddle and ride out of town. Some fines will be retrospectively enforced. In other words, if you stuffed up 2 weeks ago, you pay. Fines can be paid to the Sheriff at any time but need to be paid by any random time he may decide. Only the Sheriff can enforce fines. If you have an issue forward your case to the Sheriff or his Deputy - beware of false accusations. Fines can be officially disputed in Kangaroo Court. If successful the fine will be cancelled. If lost fine doubles! (Dodgy "attire" in the Court session may be looked upon favourably by the Sheriff and/or Chairperson and may result in immunity). NOTE: You CAN toss the Sheriff for any or all fines but if you lose the fine DOUBLES. MAX number of tosses = 2 The Sheriff may fine you for ANY infringement at ANY time, including infringements that do not occur on the list below. Absent from training WITH warning / reason $2 Absent from training WITHOUT warning / reason $5 Not shaking hands with all players & addressing them by name at the commencement of training $2 Not having both Scorps training shirt/singlet present at training $2 Not having a water bottle present at training $2 Trying to con the Sheriff or Deputy $2 Doing something dumb $2 Dummy Spit $3 Unaware of these by-laws $2 Late for an official team gathering $1 per minute (max at Sheriff discretion - credit cards accepted) Intercept resulting in a touch down at NTL - Half a case or equivalent Period of time (Sin Bin) at NTL - Half a case or equivalent Dropping the ball over the line at NTL - Half a case or equivalent Subbed by Ref at NTL - 6 pack Each training session the Sheriff will appoint a player to submit a training report to be posted on the website. This report is due no later than 3 days after the session. No summary by the deadline and you pay $5. Financial Levy Payment Info 20/01/10  Please ensure you include your name on the transfer. Account Name:  Anthony Dudeck Bank: Commonwealth Bank BSB:   062 692      Account Number:  1033 9928 Deposit - $150  Now Overdue Scorps Levy/Accom Payment 1 - $200   Now Overdue Scorps Levy/Accom Payment 2 - $200   Now Overdue Uniform/Remaining Payment 3 - $Remainder   Due 2nd March

NTL 2010 Flights & Accommodation 09/12/09  Player costs will be approx the same as 2009, $420 which includes accommodation.

Windward Passage is located on Golden Beach at Caloundra, just an easy one hour drive north of Brisbane's domestic and international airports.  You get on to the Gateway Arterial Motorway from the airport, travelling north for 50 minutes (following the signs to the Sunshine Coast) then take the Caloundra turnoff.  Caloundra is a further 10 minute drive.  The Sunshine Coast (Maroochydore) Airport is located 35 minutes drive north of Caloundra. Sun-air bus service provides door to door shuttle services connecting to all flights.  Caloundra also has a small airport but this is for light aircraft only.

Departing Flights - Sydney to Sunshine Coast (Maroochydore), Tue 09 Mar 2010


Returning Flights - Sunshine Coast (Maroochydore) to Sydney, Sun 14 Mar 2010
 

Coaching Appointments 09/12/09  Sydney Scorpions are pleased to announce the following Senior Mixed team management appointments for the upcoming 2010 X-Blades National Touch League which will be held in Caloundra, Queensland.  The venue for the event will be Stockland Park, Kawana.  The Senior division will run from Wednesday, 10 March 2010 until Saturday, 13 March 2010 inclusive.    Coach:  Craig Beacroft/Anthony Dudeck      Manager:  Anthony Dudeck