Riki Houlden reports:
11/09/23: On behalf of the Cambridge University Eton Fives Club, it is my pleasure to invite all those connected with Fives in Cambridge to an event celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Cambridge University Sports Centre Fives courts.
Please find the details of the event below:
Date: Saturday 28th October, 1-5pm
Venue: University of Cambridge Sports Centre, Philippa Fawcett Drive, Cambridge, CB3 0AS. Parking available nearby.
Event details:
1pm onwards: Welcome and Refreshments
2-5pm: Exhibition Matches between CUEFC, Jesters, CUEFC alumni, and Cambridge Fives Club players
5pm: Photographs and Close
Partners and family welcome.
Please let me know potential numbers in advance as well as any dietary requirements.
Please let me know if you are coming to spectate or would also like to be involved in playing some games – open to all standards, the only requirement is that you’d love to get on court!
Old Cantabs EFC
I am happy to announce that we are setting up a new club: the Old Cantabs Eton Fives Club! This will be spearheaded by Jessye Tu (Magdalene College 2019-23). She was CUEFC Ladies Captain in 2020-21 and Captain of the new Magdalene College Fives Club that she has set up and grown since 2021 in exemplary fashion. Her enthusiasm for all things fives is infectious and I trust she will do an incredible job doing the same for the Old Cantabs Eton Fives Club (OCEFC).
If you played Fves at Cambridge, perhaps you would like to become a part of OCEFC?
Purpose:
- Bring CUEFC alumni back together to play and enjoy fives!
- Provide a club for CUEFC players to join once they graduate – we are in the wonderful position that an increasing proportion of CUEFC players are coming from non-fives playing schools, taking the game up for the first time at university. Many feel they have no club to go to following graduation so we want to set up a group of friendly and familiar faces to enable them to continue playing fives even after university.
- Support current CUEFC members – the club will be open to current CUEFC players, enabling them to play games even outside of (their very short) term time. Any profits from the club will also go directly to CUEFC to help fund their coaching, which has been hugely beneficial in player development over the past two years.
Ability level: all welcome!
Commitment: none! Play and join for socials as much or as little as you like...
Cost: no membership costs! Of course we would need to split costs for hiring courts and balls and that will be on a per usage basis.
Stash: of course!
What if I already play for another club? No problem at all! We are not entering the n/national leagues so the matches we are setting up will all be friendly fixtures. This means you are perfectly eligible to play in both your current club and OCEFC.
Location: to be confirmed, we would likely play matches at multiple venues across London and perhaps further afield to reach as many of you as possible, but we are thinking of making our home courts Highgate (Mallinson Sports Centre, Bishopswood Road, N6 4NY) with a weekly training sessions on Thursday evenings to coincide with the existing Old Cholmeleian training sessions (relaxed and friendly, courts of a range of standards from beginners, school pupils, and those coming back to the game after a hiatus, to Div 1 and n/nationally ranked players). Two annual fixtures to note are the Cambridge Past vs Present match (held at Cambridge) and the alumni Varsity Match (held on the morning of the Varsity Match, usually first weekend of March, at Eton).
If interested or you would like to know more, please contact me or Jessye.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Riki Houlden