Oxfordshire
(RA34) delivered its first junior coaching day on Saturday 25th October 2014 and
it was a hugely enjoyable and successful day.
Charlie
Holyfield, a member of our region, who is also a bailiff at Horseshoe Lake,
Lechlade, Gloucestershire, approached me some time ago about holding such an
event there. Although the venue is owned and run by the carp society, they have
mutually beneficial links with both the PAC and The Tenchfishers and having
attend a couple of Mick Brown events, as well as our own regional fish-ins
there, I knew it was an ideal venue, with all facilities on site and a large
lake with a good head of pike in.
A date
was chosen about 8 months before to allow plenty of time for all the arrangements
to be made and just as importantly to advertise, as we wanted to get as many
juniors as possible to attend. The date strategically being the last Saturday
in October before the clocks went back.
No RA (34) members have an angling coaching qualification yet, so contact was made with Eric Edwards who heads up the PAC development and coaching team. Following telephone conversations and email exchanges I could see the format in which the event would be delivered. I started advertising locally, firstly by sending posters to the county's tackle shops, a couple of local schools and making contact with Angus Campbell who lives nearby and who is a qualified L2 coach himself. He also runs a young anglers club. Meanwhile, Eric was busy getting a number of coaches on board who would be the main tutors for the day.
No RA (34) members have an angling coaching qualification yet, so contact was made with Eric Edwards who heads up the PAC development and coaching team. Following telephone conversations and email exchanges I could see the format in which the event would be delivered. I started advertising locally, firstly by sending posters to the county's tackle shops, a couple of local schools and making contact with Angus Campbell who lives nearby and who is a qualified L2 coach himself. He also runs a young anglers club. Meanwhile, Eric was busy getting a number of coaches on board who would be the main tutors for the day.
We set
a target of 20 juniors between the ages of 7 to 16 and on the day we had 16
juniors aged 8 to 14, which included 4 girls which was great. During the week
leading up to the event Martin Allen, one of our regional members, very kindly
offered to sponsor the catering for the day, whilst Predator Angling in Kidlington
supplied some deadbaits. Our sincere
thanks to both.
When I
arrived on the day at the venue I was met by two of the coaches, Mick Crisp and
Phil Wilkinson and their enthusiasm was
very evident. The registration table was set up whilst Miles the fishery
manager set about cooking bacon rolls for everyone on arrival. Eric Edwards,
Karl Devlin, Alex Fraser and Angus Campbell completed the coaching team whilst
a number of RA (34) members, who had all signed disclosure forms, assisted when
and where required. Quite a few of the parents stayed as expected and were made
welcome as we split the juniors, roughly based on ages, into five groups named
Team Minnow, Team Roach, Team Dace, Team Grayling and Team Gudgeon.
The
structure of the day was then that each group would spend one hour with each of
the coaches in the following activities before moving on to the next discipline:
Trace
Making (in the lodge with Karl Devlin)
Lure
Fishing (bank side with Eric Edwards)
Static
Deadbaiting (bank side with Phil Wilkinson)
Wobbling
Deadbaits (bank side with Alex Fraser and Angus Campbell)
Float
Fishing (bank side with Mick Crisp)
With
the juniors actually setting up rods and rigs during each hour, fishing time
was limited, however it was not long before young Kai Firth brought a smile to
the face of his dad Mark and his tutor Eric Edwards with a nice lure caught
small jack.
Soon
after and with floats cast out Mick Crisp’s group saw a double landed and this
was quickly followed by a 14lb pike to Tom Bartrip on the static ledgered baits
in Phil Wilkinson’s swim.
With pike on the bank the juniors were shown how to handle and unhook the pike and all were excited with the captures. Each coach had their own style of delivering, this along with the different tactics ensured that the juniors were kept interested.
Everyone returned to the lodge for lunch, it was quite funny to see them picking their lunch bags based on their team names ahead of their actual names. Soon they were back out spending the afternoon completing all activities. We concluded the day with a group photo, closing words and giving everyone a goody bag which included a copy of Pikelines.
With pike on the bank the juniors were shown how to handle and unhook the pike and all were excited with the captures. Each coach had their own style of delivering, this along with the different tactics ensured that the juniors were kept interested.
Everyone returned to the lodge for lunch, it was quite funny to see them picking their lunch bags based on their team names ahead of their actual names. Soon they were back out spending the afternoon completing all activities. We concluded the day with a group photo, closing words and giving everyone a goody bag which included a copy of Pikelines.
I
think it’s fair to say that everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day with the
coaches and adults getting as much satisfaction as the juniors, who learnt so
much and were all very well behaved. It cost one father £170 on the Monday, as
he had to go and kit his son out for lure fishing and I know of others who have
been out pike fishing regularly since. Point in case being Jess
Styles who has since upped her PB to 11lb 1oz and is out fishing with her dad
and brother most Saturdays.
