Sport's President Blog #6
Name: Sophie Pyke
Year of study: 3rd Year
Course: Fashion Communication and Promotion
Club: Cheerleading
How long have you been involved in your sport and what inspired you to become Club President?
I had only done cheer for about a month or so previously to coming to University so really I'd say I was a beginner as a young freshling at NTU. So coming now into my third year I have been Cheerleading for the best part of two and half years. It has been such a massive part of my University experience and wanted to get involved! Having loved being on the committee in second year as PR and Events coordinator, I wanted to take on a more involving and challenging role in third year, so going for President seemed pretty logical.
Give us a quick overview of what a day in the life of being president is like.
Super busy! But so rewarding! I think ‘constant’ is probably the right way to describe it, there’s always something that needs doing. I must admit I do love a ’to-do’ list, not just for myself but also to give a little structure to the committee. They then go on from this in a way they feel best suits the club or task at hand. I’m still very much part of the team and commit to 3 training sessions a week as well as trying to go out with everyone on a Wednesday. I also try to visit some of the other training sessions each week to help out where I can and get to know individuals on the squad. Oh yeah, and obviously I’m still at uni all week too!
What's been your proudest achievement so far?
This last term has been an incredible experience. As a committee and as a whole team we have achieved so much and are ready for all the performances and competitions that the next 2 terms bring. The beginning of term 1 was definitely one of my proudest moments in the role of President as we managed to take on to the team everyone who came to try outs, which is a first is the last few years. We have created a new team to accommodate more members, making the Trent Tiger family even bigger!
We also have completed a fair bit of charity work, including over 70 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas child, the majority of the club got involved in this which made me super proud!
What's been your toughest challenge?
Taking over from such a successful year! Definitely something particularly hard, considering the previous year’s overall club engagement and the national competition wins. The role requires you to learn on the job quite a lot of the time, and I don’t think there is very much that can prepare you for some of the situations you end up dealing with. A massive learning curve!
What aims do you have for the rest of the academic year?
We have our showcase coming up in which we plan to raise the interest of cheerleading within the university, and show off what we get up to. Lots of organising is going on for this behind the scenes, and hopefully we pull it out of the bag!
Obviously we want to win National titles again, as this would make it the 4th consecutive year that the Tigers have won. This is a goal for the competition team however it’s something that really builds up the recognition of the club on the whole.
We want to have a fabulous Varsity series in which we show the Nottingham Knights how it’s done. We love Varsity as we get to support the other clubs here at Trent.
We also intend to do further Charity work this term!
What's the best thing about being a President?
Being a president has completely changed and added so much value to my University experience. It’s great having this amount of involvement with an amazing group of people who all share a love and commitment for the same things as you. It’s tiresome but also entirely rewarding. Making decisions to help the club develop further is also great as having seen things over the last couple of years it’s nice to be able to implement changes that benefit team mates.
What advice would you give to anyone thinking about running for President next year?
Because we are such a large club, I think it’s important that you are involved with the club as much as possible, preferably having been on committee before but anything could also demonstrate your involvement including things like always helping with our charity work!
Whether you have knowledge of cheerleading previously or not, you just need ideas of how you can push the club onwards and upwards and a bucket load of determination. Being sociable also really helps, enjoy a Snakey B on a Wednesday to get an idea of what your teammates would like to see from the club!
Tell us more about your teammates:
Funniest: Sachi Patel
Best Dressed: Chloe Maher
Best Taste in Music: Caitlin Cooke
Hardest Trainer: Scarlett Marie Myers
Social Butterfly: Demi Roberston
Brain Box: Ashley Jones
Best Wednesday Fancy Dress: Dee Appleby
