We recently had a photoshoot with our 2024 Varsity captains and caught up with them about their preparation for Varsity and what being this year's captain means to them. Keep an eye on our socials (@derbyunion on everything!) to see the snaps and also some extra behind the scenes videos.
We recently had a photoshoot with our 2024 Varsity captains and caught up with them about their preparation for Varsity and what being this year's captain means to them. Keep an eye on our socials (@derbyunion on everything!) to see the snaps and also some extra behind the scenes videos.
What does being a captain mean to you?
The definition of a captain is someone who leads a team, but there's more to it than that. Being chosen to captain a team of your peers is an honour that means a lot to our Varsity captains, who emphasised how proud it made them. We asked our captains what being a captain means to them, and the general consensus was that it's the cherry on top of the sporting experience. Jess Allen and Syd Arblaster (women's badminton and men's hockey captains, respectively) both stated that being a captain means "setting the standards" for the team and encouraging everyone to bring their best self to the game.
It means a lot to me personally; it's a privilege to lead a group of your mates in a game that you love, playing a sport that you love.
A lot of our captains agreed that being a captain means using your voice to guide your team mates whilst also being supportive. Deondre Pascoe (men's football captain) said that "your voice holds so much weight with whatever you're saying and whever you're saying it to".
It means a lot to me; I’ve been playing since I started uni and now I’m a third year so it’s nice to have worked my way up in the team and now be captain. We’ve got almost a whole new team of players this year so it’s been really nice to see them improve throughout the year, it’s been great to see them develop and I’m really proud of them.
To me, being a captain means leading by example and being someone that your teammates can look up to and go to with any problems.
How have you prepared for Varsity?
We asked our captains how they've been preparing for Varisty in the lead up to the big day, and everybody highlighted how much work they've been putting into their training sessions. Women's Football captain Emily Brett spoke about how the team have worked together to "get ourselves mentally prepared for Varsity", which is a running theme with all of the teams, as Women's Futsal captain Eleanor Humphrey said that the team have been "spending a lot of time training together and working on our team chemistry".
We've been ramping up the training sessions every week, the intensity is rising and the skills are coming on so we're just going to keep working hard week on week until we get to Varsity.
Our teams have been consistently working hard at their regular training sessions in the build up to Varsity. American Football's captains (Alfie Walker, Marcin Szoldra, George Calver and Louis Ngum) all agreed that the team had been working hard in their training sessions and at strength and conditioning training in the lead up to the big day. Although each sport is very different from the next, each captain agreed that the key to preparing for Varsity has been getting good numbers at training and working to perfect plays.
We’ve had a lot of games and a lot of training sessions. We’ve also been working on the psychological aspect of the game, looking at where we’re going, what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and how to achieve it.
Your 2024 Varsity Captains are:
- American Football - Alfie Walker, Marcin Szoldra, George Calver and Louis Ngum
- Badminton (Men's) - Jonty Russ
- Badminton (Women's) - Jessica Allen
- Baskeyball (Men's) - Jacob Hall
- Basketball (Women's) - Sanya Purewal
- Cheer - Katrina Lynch
- Climbing - Joe Andrews-Cifre
- Cricket - Alex Carey
- Dance - Kirstie Lodge
- Dodgeball - Alex Brent
- Football (Men's) - Deondre Pascoe
- Football (Women's) - Emily Brett
- Futsal (Men's) - Matt Richardson
- Futsal (Women's) - Eleanor Humphrey
- Hockey (Men's) - Syd Arblaster
- Hockey (Women's) - Tiegan Donovan
- Lacrosse - Eliyah Parkes
- Netball - Emily Riley
- Pole Fitness - Emma Hall
- Rugby Union (Men's) - Tommy Johnson
- Rugby Union (Women's) - Freya Nilsen and Tianna Wilkinson
- Table Tennis - Thomas Bowes
- Volleyball (Men's) - Samuel Williamson
- Volleyball (Women's) - Abigail Littler