President's Update - May Edition
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image="2463" img_size="medium" alignment="center"][vc_text_separator title="Introduction"][vc_column_text]Hi, I am Phil Yelland and I am the President of Murrayfield Dafs CC. I know many but not all of you and as the season is now underway I thought it might be an idea to put something out there to let everyone know what is happening across the club or Mdafs “family”.We are growing as a club and the playing season is always the busiest part of the year but I hope I can communicate what’s happening and if you want to raise any issues you can raise them with me or through the Committee – details of the Committee are on the website – www.murrayfield-dafscc.co.uk.To contact me please email secretary@murrayfield-dafscc.co.uk[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title="New Facilities"][vc_column_text]I want to start with this because we are now be able to use our new outdoor nets in Roseburn Park. The three lane structure will mean that we are better able to provide practice facilities for seniors and juniors. It’s worth saying we have managed to fund the project thanks to good financial management over the years but also thanks to huge support from two of our main supporters in Mullholland Plant Services and Edinburgh Self Storage – thanks to both Steve and Simon for all their help and encouragement.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image="5947" img_size="large" alignment="center"][vc_zigzag][vc_text_separator title="Senior Men's Cricket"][vc_column_text]We have teams in Divisions One, Three, Five and Seven of the East of Scotland League who play their games normally on Saturdays.The fourth team has been re-formed this year to give our emerging youngsters the chance to start playing League cricket and make the transition into the adult game.The four teams have had mixed starts to the season – some wins and some defeats and its been great to see a lot of new players who have joined the club coming into the teams, enjoying their cricket and contributing – along with some familiar faces.There are also social midweek games every couple of weeks which give people across the teams the chance to mix and get to know each other better.Practice nights are normally form 6-8pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Roseburn and if you are a junior parent and are interested in playing just pop along and either ask for one of the captains – Vivek Tyagi, Ram Ketenedi, James Gutteridge or Baskaran Narayanasamy or for the coach, Neil Yelland.Whilst clearly it’s great to win games, playing the game, having fun and making friends is what we as a club want to encourage.At the time of writing, the 1sts have won one of their three games – the other two games have seen them come up on the wrong side of a narrow defeat; the 2nds have won both completed games; the 3rds, like the 1sts have one won of their three games whilst the 4ths have won two out of three.[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag][vc_text_separator title="Womens and girls cricket"][vc_column_text]Following discussions last autumn, we now have a Women’s section just about up and running along with a number of girls who have come through Dynamos.In the winter the Women’s team took part in an indoor Wee Bash – softball and this coming Sunday morning it’s great to be able to say that we hope to have two teams competing in the Wee Bash at Stewarts Melville’s Inverleith ground along with an under 12 softballs girls team. There are more events over the coming weeks and we are hosting the Wee Bash and under 12 girls softball in the park on the morning of Sunday 3rd July.We are extremely lucky in that Hannah Short from Stewarts Melville is helping with the coaching of this group along with Mangesh (Maggy) Akerkar who has played a lot of cricket with us over the years.The Women’s and Girls sessions take place on a Friday night in Roseburn Park from 5.30pm to 6.30pm and if you would like to join in or know anyone who would then please come along or contact me.We are creating a position on the club Committee for the Women and Girls group as we see them as a really important part of the “family” going forward.[/vc_column_text][vc_text_separator title="Junior Cricket"][vc_column_text]As many of you will know our junior cricket section has expanded dramatically over the last few years and Friday nights in the park see anywhere up to one hundred youngsters involved in All Stars, Dynamos or hardball.Bruce Snaddon does an amazing job in fitting the bits of the jigsaw together and he also now has a team of volunteers and a committee helping him. We operate a “Volunteer” WhatsApp group in order to help with our weekly planning. If you would like to be a volunteer, it would be very helpful to join (please reach out to Bruce on the email below)If you want to contact Bruce about anything then he is on juniors@murrayfield-dafscc.co.ukBecause of numbers and development, we have made some changes this year:Hardball: We have an under 14 hardball team which plays on Monday nights in the local League and Sunny Verma is looking after this team and the under 14 team in the Scottish Cup and ECB Cup under 13 team. They play their home games in the park. So far, all three of their League games have been cancelled this season – twice because of rain and once because the opposition could not raise a team.The under 12 hardball team play their League games on a Friday night now – their home games are in the park. David Sawyer and Karan Rathod have been looking after this team and we hope other parents will get involved too. They have played twice in the League so far – one win and one loss.The hardball nets are now on Wednesday nights, and we are lucky to have Aash Rhode who used to play for us leading the sessions with Sunny and various other helpers/volunteers.All Stars & Dynamos: Friday nights are now aimed at All Stars – (ages upwards of 4) and Dynamos (generally ages from 8 – 11).For the Dynamos group the next month will see opportunities to start playing the game against other teams as the Sunday morning festivals kick off.A lot of upfront planning goes into these sessions, so we are always grateful if you could confirm your attendance prior to attending. The best way of doing this is to join the Junior WhatsApp group. If you are not yet part of it, please let Bruce knowI know a lot of you reading this will be parents from those groups.Both are about having fun and learning, and they work really well with parental help – I know even after two weeks of All Stars how well things are running with the help of a number of new parents – if you are happy to be involved regularly then please just say.Both groups consist of those who have joined through the ECB and club members and just to confirm the programmes don’t end after eight weeks but go on through the summer and hopefully, again the winter months.The only challenge we have with juniors is if the weather is poor and we will always try and highlight through our social media platforms if a session is off – the reality is please use common sense. If a session is off, no one misses out as we keep running beyond the ECB eight week programmes.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/3"][vc_text_separator title="Finance"][vc_column_text]Our Treasurer Graeme Roxburgh does a great job and he makes sure things are in order.If anyone has not paid a subscription this year and is not sure what to pay or how to pay then please contact me.For those seniors who are paying by instalment, it would be great if the next instalment could be paid during June please.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/3"][vc_text_separator title="Could you help?"][vc_column_text]Like most clubs we are a club who survives by the efforts of our volunteers and we are always looking for more help. If you would like to help in any way then please get in touch with either me or if it relates to juniors with Bruce.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/3"][vc_text_separator title="Comments and Suggestions"][vc_column_text]We want to make the club the best it can be and we are always keen to receive comments and suggestions about what we can do and what we might do better – we know for example that we have had challenges around some communications with juniors and we are trying to make that better. Please feel free to raise things with me as we want to make sure that we are doing all that we can to make the club friendly and welcoming for everyone who wants to be a part of it.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]
More in June
Phil Yelland (Club President)20th May ‘22
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