Update from our Chairperson, Lourdaiz Ah Chong
Dear Members, Supporters & Friends,
2024 is shaping up really well with our Director of Rugby Sean Horan leading a highly-engaged pre-season programme which is attracting huge numbers to the sessions at Evans Bay Park.
Marist St Pats - the Club of choice with players joining from all over the world
One standout feature of this year is the large amount of overseas players that are joining the Club for the upcoming season. At last count we had: 6 from England, 3 from France, 3 from Canada, 3 from Fiji, 2 from Australia and 1 from Italy.
These overseas players are certainly adding a bit of enthusiasm to the trainings as too are all the New Zealand based players who are joining the Club for the season ahead – be they school leavers (both local and from colleges outside the region) or players moving from other Clubs to join the Red Machine. It is great to have them all on board at Marist St Pats for the 2024 season.
Of course, all these new players are joining a strong base of players returning to Marist St Pats again this year. It is great to see so many faces from previous years down at the training and to see them warmly welcome the new players and support them through their move to Wellington, teaching them how the Club operates along with living our Marist St Pats values for 2024:
Excellence - Achieve excellence in all our playing & off the field areas.
Respect - Respect all club members and officials who manage club rugby; ensure our teams display on and off the field qualities that earn the respect of the MSP and general rugby community.
Welcoming - Welcome and embrace new playing members to our club and increase our focus on growing our Honorary Membership numbers and attendance at Evans Bay Park club games.
It is pleasing to see everyone getting on so well and working hard together - the energy, camaraderie and competition that is building towards the start of the ’24 season is exciting and all the coaches and managers are looking forward to a fantastic year ahead.
If you can, please do volunteer off the field also in whatever capacity. We always need new volunteers and the rewards in personal growth and building our community are worth it. Our sub-committees include Finance, House and Assets, Senior Rugby, Junior Rugby, Sponsorship and Fundraising, Special Projects, Communications and Membership Engagement and Pastoral Care. Thank you to all of our current committee members and volunteers for the effort which you put in.
I would like to invite Club members to join us at Evans Bay Park on Tuesday 26 March from 6:00pm for our final Marist St Pats Pre-Season Training BBQ. All are welcome.
Finally to Natoli, Higgins Concrete, SWP, our Back or Jersey sponsors and Shamrock Club we continue to be enormously grateful. It would be incredibly difficult for the Club to function without your continued support.
Regards,
Lourdaiz Ah Chong
Chairperson
MSP Supporters
Shamrock Club
