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Hello lads,

As third year beckons and we wave goodbye to many club stalwarts, the circle of life is well and truly among us. Henceforth, I’d like to put myself forward to be your Club Captain, as I believe I have the characteristics and experiences to carry this great club forward.

This year has been simply incredible, both on the cricketing and social fronts, so credit to all of you for playing your parts. We all know this club is in a seriously strong position, leaving us the dual tasks of maintaining that and having the exciting opportunity to better things further.

Cricket-wise, I have some plans for training and fitness sessions, which I believe would improve things even more. I also would strongly emphasise a pre-season tour to ensure we’re fully prepared to hit the ground running when BUCS matches begin. Socially, I’d continue to fight my arse off to keep socials at £20 and, alongside the committee, would put forward various ideas to improve rollovers, our ball and our charity events. I also want to initiate a more open forum for all club members to have the chance to share thoughts and suggestions for the direction of the club. I look forward to expanding on all this at the AGM.

Why me you may ask - A man with a dictionary of 20 words and an average of even less?

My experiences on the committee and in active leadership roles, such as Dev Sec and 3rd XI captain, give me a strong understanding of how the club runs and how to tackle different challenges when they arise. I believe I am a personable and approachable character which I hope would resonate into creating a positive and enjoyable atmosphere. This is vital throughout the club and in heading up the committee, which I’d encourage to be a collective team effort in steering the club.

Finally, this club means so much to me, as I know it does to a lot of you, with uncountable great memories stemming from my two years. I wholeheartedly want this to be the same for all our members (yes, even the freshers!), and I can guarantee I’d do everything to grow and support this club.

That’s all from me for now – I look forward to seeing you all at the AGM (or hopefully sooner as I’m truly madly deeply missing Tony Bear).

MoT,
WaW,

Roll on summer

Ayup lads,

With a whole semester of cricket and sun to go, it seems premature to be thanking everyone involved for the great year we’ve had. That being said, I wanted to personally thank this years’ exec and especially The Phantom Treasurer for managing to conduct the role entirely remotely this year. Truly impressive.

I’m going to keep it brief here but for those who won’t be in attendance at the AGM, I’ll quickly lay out why I am going for the role of Club Captain and why you should consider my application.

My draw to the society may have been different from yours, but the thing that has kept us here is the same.
It’s not a statement unique to me but it’s a nonetheless important one. Some of us join the society for cricket, for socials, for football and for everything in between.

In my last two years with UOLMCC, I’ve been a part of everything the club has to offer and I think your Club Captain has to acknowledge the scope of the society in all its facets. A playing member can get away with seeing training and his teammates and a social member can get away with seeing the bottom of a pint glass but your Club Captain has to see, understand and do everything within the club. I have been a performance squad member for two years and have attended most intermediate and main squad sessions.
I’ve also enjoyed watching and helping the odd development session that George has ran exceptionally.
On the social front, I’ve been to most all Wednesday/rollovers this year and I need another year of doing the same to up my box game as a certain other nobody CC candidate might tell you.

I should say that I believe my work at Yorkshire has also been invaluable. I’ve often been the go-between for training schedules and invoices between Yorkshire and the society. My strong working relationship with the guys at Yorkshire will go a long way in ensuring we get the most out of our training, even more so than we do already.

I haven’t been on committee this year but it’s enabled me to see the club as the majority of its members see it, rather than purely through a committee lens. I’ve observed the club more broadly than I would have been able to if I had one role, playing a part in everything whenever I could add some value.
I’ve set out benches all year at the @Fortress, been the worst third social sec you’ve ever seen at County Champ and handed out some hanging bowling advice to main squad lads when I could give it. I enjoy leading whether it be informally or not, and I’m passionate about getting the best out of myself and others. Leadership offers the perfect fit for me to encourage others to do the same, to hopefully use me as a positive example.

In terms of the direction of the club, I will leave the majority till my speech. That being said, what I’ve noticed in my two years in this society is that it’s blokes who aren’t on committee that really lead this club forward. The committee and exec are instrumental in setting the precedent and doing the work that allows everyone to get together. But the success of the society at its core, is down to people like Downer and Bennie who’ve taken initiative off their own back to improve the culture of the society and give back to those it serves. Whether at football, main squad training or anything in between, you can really contribute to the society.

We’re lucky to have so many people like those two and it’s important that your committee recognises these people and encourages all members to take the same kind of initiative.
The bigger the club gets, it’s important that it holds onto a feeling of smallness. We’re not like other sports societies. We don’t have corners and we don’t have splits. More than anything I think it’s important that the society preserves that at its core, that it innovates where possible to serves its ‘members’ better. And more than anything I think your CC should be someone who is passionate about bringing people together, encouraging others to do the same.

MOT, WaW

A chronic RON voter