Now is the time to strengthen and repair, to get ready for the Spring Play-offs. If you talk to Coach Redmond, one of his main concerns is burn-out, so let’s not get crazy - but, look around you tonight, we can go all the way this Spring!! We all know that there is more to a team than 15 or 20 athletes. We are a Club of around 70 friends that share the common interest of playing and succeeding at Rugby. We need to help each other out off the field by training together, getting people work if they are going through hard times, and build on our team spirit by partying and touring together. Get into Gold’s!! Get out on the road to make the most of any good weather we get, get strong and get focused. We have the whole month of April at HOME (you aren’t going to convince many that Baltimore counts as an away match!). We host the MARFU Play-Offs, and we have 2 months until Savannah, and we have 105 people at our Winter Banquet - this is good stuff!!

We are really fortunate to have some old friends return to the active roster for the Spring. All these players have been major contributors to FRFC’s former glory. In the Forwards we have Media’s Star Radar, Deputy Zang, Hagerstown’s own Jay Bird Reeder, and the speedster Art Hall. In the Backs we have JJ Myles (if he doesn’t put his foot through another window) and Mitch fresh from Frostburg.

Frederick RFC won the bid to host the MARFU Div II Final 4 Championship this Spring. This means that all our MARFU Play-off matches are at HOME!! In addition, Frederick will host the MARFU Div III 8 team Championship. JT, John Fox, Radar and Pete Ireland are organizing this event, if you have sponsors or would like to help in any way - please talk to them.

The following Club mates represented Frederick RFC in regional All-Star matches the Fall. All of these players, Coaches and Referees are here tonight. If you get the chance congratulate them. More players can follow their example and get involved next year either through 7’s or 15’s:-

Tom Angel PRU

Darren Clarke PRU/PRU Barbarians

Jason Delauter PRU

Dave Gentzel PRU/MARFU

Pete Ireland PRU/PRU Barbarians

Tory Ireland PRU/PRU Barbarians

PRU Assassins

Ken Orndoff PRU

John Redmond Ast.Coach PRU 15’s

Ast.Coach MARFU 15’s Head Coach MARFU 7’s Kevin Fraser Head Coach PRU Coll.

Kevin Eagar All-Star Panel Referee

Dan "Moo" Makosy has worked with the Gold’s aerobics instructors to develop a cardio/plyometric program for the Rugby Club. This runs every Tues/Thurs at Gold’s. The session starts promptly at 7:30pm (so get there early or you’ll be up front!!) and lasts for 1 hour. If you are not a member of Gold’s please talk to Jeff Lutton or Moo tonight.

Once again we are going down South for the St Patrick’s Day weekend. Although Al Goetz’s knee really wanted to stop off and play Raleigh on the way down (and Jamie wanted to see Raleigh for the first time!!) we are going to leave Frederick early Friday and drive straight to Savannah. That way we save one night, we need to take less time off work and we should have more than 15 uninjured players taking part in the Tournament!! The bad news is that the cost is a little higher this year $125 per person, the good news is that the hotel is 0.5 miles from the River Walk (nobody needs to worry about driving!!). This was a very good Tournament, for those of you who remember (and Jamie). The tour is set for 24 people (4 rooms/3 vans). Cost is $125. If you want to go I would suggest writing a check SOON, before it fills up.

Under the heading "When it rains it pours", Frederick also won a bid to host one of the 4 MARFU 7’s qualifying Tournaments this Summer. This is a major opportunity for Frederick. Not only will our MARFU Qualifying 7’s team get a chance to improve on their successes of 1997, but the Club should be able to generate some funds from hosting the Tournament. Pete Ireland and JT have

spearheaded this effort, once again John Fox and Radar will be working on getting the best site for this event. If anyone would like to help out with the 7’s Tournament, please talk to them.

Thanks to everyone for buying a ticket and attending the Banquet. In particular thanks to John Fox working with the Red Horse, Jamie Romano for taking care of the Beer (from Evergreen) and Bub for the Sounds. Also thanks to Tommy Grunwell for agreeing to be one of our Speakers and for all his help through the season with Dave Crome and Mike Grunwell in the Commentary box.