Welcome to our latest newsletter!
Juniors
Our popular junior session has been running since September 2018! We split the session into U11s and U16s, and will continue to mirror British Dodgeball’s age categories next year as far as possible in training, which are set to change to U11, U14 and U16.
We’ve been hugely proud of our juniors entering the Manchester City League so soon after forming! They all play their hearts out, demonstrate great team work and are always fair and honest. We couldn’t ask for more! If anyones children want to get involved please speak to the coaches!
The second series of meets is currently underway, next 2 rounds are 28th June and 12th July. Next season will see formation of a regional league for the U14 age group. Provisional dates are 21 Sept, 19 Oct, 9 Nov, 22 Feb, 21 March, 18 April. There will also be a centralised U16 league. We will provide more details on this as we have them and gage interest from our juniors.
Junior training sessions finish for summer on Tuesday 23 July 2019 and resume on Tuesday 10 September 2019.
Adults
We have now opened up our training sessions to men too and enjoying seeing new players try the sport out! Our sessions can be tailored to an individual’s ability so please encourage any friends along that want to give it a go!
Coaching news
We are delighted that Sam Wrench has joined our coaching team as Men’s Head Coach. Sam is also ladies development coach for England Lions, and coaches Team GB Coach neighbouring club Raiders. He joins Kate Pickup, Womens Head Coach and Jordan Black, Junior head coach alongside assistant coaches Emma, Linzi and Steph.
Tournaments
We look forward to next season’s British Dodgeball tournament programme. The Delicious Express Open takes place in Sheffield on 31 August 2019 and is set to be a fun charity event. Speak to Emma Milser if interested or sign up at https://britishdodgeball.org/product/delicious-open-2019/
Leagues
Both our juniors and adults have continued to participate in the Manchester City Leagues. We’ve put 2 teams into both of these events and benefited hugely from them. The adult league will resume in September and we’ll provide dates as we receive them.
Our ladies team took part in their first ever National League this season, finishing in 7th place! An absolutely massive learning curve for all that played, and above all a hugely positive, fun experience. As the league progressed the ladies felt they took more games in matches and began to understand much more about tactical play.
Charity
We continue to support our fantastic charity, Emmeline’s Pantry. Alison Wright is our new charity rep and she organised a successful “we want your pants” appeal in Spring. To find out more about the work Emmeline’s do, please visit https://emmelinespantry.com/
Fundraising
The club held a very successful fundraising Spring Raffle. Congratulations to all our prize winners, and a massive thank you to all our kind donors and everyone that bought a ticket. Great job!
Kit
We have CGG dodgeballs to purchase for £10 if anyone would like to practise their skills over summer! We will also be placing another kit order over summer. Tops are priced at £20 each, and we are currently looking into shorts. Please speak to Linzi or Emma if interested in ordering.
Community Engagement
Griffins provided dodgeball sessions and games at Gatley Sports Day held in April. We had lots of participants joining in and continue to support this event annually. We will be at the hugely popular Gatley Festival on Sunday 30th June, please pay our stand a visit! We were invited onto the drive time show at All FM, one of Manchester’s local radio stations earlier this year. Linzi and Emma went along and talked all things dodgeball! We have also been featured in community publications such as SK8 Directory and school newsletter which is lovely to see!
Socials
We have continued to enjoy regular socials throughout the season and are currently planning our next annual awards night for September. Planning will also start soon for Christmas socials! Watch this space! If there is anywhere in particular you feel would be good for forthcoming socials please give your ideas to Emma Milser!
Community Cup
We are thrilled to be hosting the next Manchester Dodgeball Community Cup on Sunday 24 November 2019 at Club Cheadle Hulme. This will be further publicised closer to the event.
Club Awards
Some amazing achievements award and development wise for the club this season!
In April, three of our juniors Mathew Dickinson, Isabelle Milser and Sophie Milser achieved their young leaders award, huge well done to them!
Mandy Walsh and Matt Dickinson received players of the league for 2 consecutive rounds of the Manchester City Mixed Dodgeball league!
Emma Milser was nominated for British Dodgeball’s Dodgeball personality of the year and was voted in 3rdplace among 8 amazing candidates!
Funding
We were delighted to be awarded a generous amount of Sport England National Lottery funding for a project called You Can Dodge! This is already well underway and enabled us to start the men’s session. Thanks to everyone who plays National Lottery games and to British Dodgeball for your support!
Committee News
Catherine Offord has commenced position of Sponsorship Officer, Alison Wright is in place as Charity Rep, and most recently Kate Jenkins was voted onto the committee as Marketing Officer. The committee meet quarterly as per terms of our club constitution and are incredibly hard working on a voluntary basis behind the scenes. If any members or parents are interested in a role please contact the club and we will inform of any openings or current roles that could be shared!
