Biggest worry -not knowing when we might get back on court - Malory Eagles VC
Tell us a bit about your club, history, achievement over the years?
Malory Eagles is a wonderful combination of many successful clubs in their own right and the although the merger has been challenging but worthwhile in establishing a wonderfully diverse, inclusive and aspirational Club. Malory came from a successful school club in Lewisham and the inspiration was Teacher John Nash,he went on to be the England Coach. Jefferson Williams was brought into the mix as a player, coach but also wanted to see the women's game develop so he also coached Istari which then became Woolwich Brixton Knights and eventually became Malory . Under Jefferson Williams direction assisted by John Nash, John Lowney, Ian Legrand, Carol Gordon these two teams have an impressive record of winning
30 titles in both National League and National KO Cup and The Double almost became the norm.
White Eagles was a successful Polish London League club based in South London. with both men and women teams. Under the successful club leadership of David Jenkinson, Carlos Johnson, Roger Mullings and Graham McConney we were fortunate to create our current Club Malory Eagles and also made a link to the junior Boys Academy at Ernest Bevin set up by John Lowney and developed by Darius Setsofia and Ashley Trodden and our Junior Girls Academy at Graveney School run by Carlos Johnson both Academies have had successful runs in their National Finals .
I attempted to think about all the people that have come through the Club or Academies and then have gone on to represent England ...that includes Players, Coaches, Referees and Volunteers...but I think that is for another article in oneself as there are way too many and a reflection of the strength and depth we developed over the last 40 Years.
2. How has the COVID 19 impacted on your club?
We have not been able to train, complete our season but LVA and VE have kept us informed of the procedures which will determine promotion and relegation and we are delighted that our Malory Eagles Women’s Black and Red teams have both won promotion to London League Premier and Division 1 respectively. Our Junior Boys from Ernest Bevin just missed out promotion by coming second. We are in the process of arranging our Virtual AGM to assess the impact of paid and unpaid fees and outstanding bills all affected by the season ending so suddenly so we don’t know the full impact yet. The coaching staff for National League were also hoping to implement a new summer training programme and have opportunities to assess the enquiries from new players. Our social night that usually takes over from the end of the season for current and new players to attend training and friendly matches which keeps us all ticking over has also been cancelled.
3. What have you been doing to keep in touch with you players/ members?
Our WhatsApp groups work well for individual teams and we also have Club Team Managers and Coaches group so that Communication is clear and transparent. Some groups are doing Zoom Zumba classes, others are sharing the best rehab and training videos, humour and banter is abundant in the many Tik Tok challenges and memes
4. Tells us about any of your club members who have gone above and beyond during this difficult time?
Petra is working on the frontline in London Hospital and has been recently documented by the Foundation and we have teachers and support services like Physiotherapy .
5. What do you think will be the biggest challenges when returning to the court?
Without knowing an actual start date and time trying to guarantee our Sports Hall bookings will be the first challenge. We have 7 teams in established leagues and we currently use 2 venues. Once we have the go ahead there will no doubt be a huge wave of players and coaches breaking the doors down to get in and train and hug each other have fun and make plans. The coaching staff will have to manage the situation and be mindful that not all players will have maintained a court ready level of fitness so the training plan will have to alter from previous seasons.
6. What support could the foundation offer clubs once the lockdown is over?
Having an open door to discussions about club concerns maybe advice and guidance about anything financial, legal to support clubs in their attempts to get going again. Share best practice from others around the country so we all can gain confidence in getting our sport going again.
Thank you - Carol Gordon