Management Team

The Tournament Committee is comprised of:

• Martin Beardmore (Committee Chair)
  Martin has been associated with the Tournament since his first away tour in 2000. This is his second year as the Chair of the Committee
• Simon Miall (Tournament Director - Kit)
• Raj Sood (Tournament Director - Finances)
• Neel Sood
• Ian (Oz) Osborn
• Bex Miall
• George Kenworthy-Brown

We are also grateful to the support provided by the Cowell family (especially for providing a venue for our Committee meetings!)

Tournament Supervisory Team

Those who will be accompanying the Colts this year are:

• Martin (Tour Leader)
• Neel (Boys Coach)
• Oz (Assistant Boys Coach)
• Bex (Girls Coach)
• Claire Edgerley (Assistant Girls Coach)
• Taz (Medic)
• George (Girls Welfare Supervisor)

The team above will provide a ratio of 1:4. This is much better than the recommended ratio of supervision recommended by the Department of Education for foreign school trips (1:10). Although both Taz and Claire are not members of the Club, they have been in the past and have also been on previous away tours. Taz is a trained Paramedic with London Ambulance Service, and both Claire and George are secondary school teachers.

A word about “Risk”

There is no such thing as absolute safety or zero risk. Despite the impression the media tends to portray, risk assessment is more than simply identifying hazards and applying standard risk controls on a form. It’s about structured decision-making.

The prime concern of the Tour Committee is for the health and safety of the players. We understand the importance of identifying the significant risks associated with travelling to Krimpen (especially the relatively young average age of the girls squad this year). The Tournament Committee have discussed and agreed several control measures to ensure safety and welfare, including:

• ensuring appropriate resources for supervision,
• making changes to the method of travel (we have deliberately cut out the traditional stop in Bruges as we concerned that supervisory team would be unable to adequately control the activities of the players, but will add in two shorter rest stops)
• identifing emergency procedures and lines of responsibility to follow
• identifing those at increased risk due to allergies or other medical issues. Taz is fully prepared for almost all eventualities, including bringing his comprehensive paramedic kit with him
• ensuring appropriate levels of insurance - transport provider’s & holiday insurance (it’s recommended that in addition to the European Medical Card or E111, players have holiday insurance which includes playing sports)