The Sports Club Personality of the Year is the individual who is the life and soul of your club – they’re loved by all and your club is a better one to be a part of because of them.
They might not necessarily be a Captain or committee member, but these individuals have all made a huge impact within their clubs and will be sorely missed when they leave!
Got your tickets for the big event yet? Reserve them for free, and join us to see who is crowned Sports Club Personality of the Year at the Sports Awards Event on Monday 17th June.
Here's more about each of our fantastic nominees:
1. Ethan Sosin, Taekwondo Club
Despite holding the prestigious title of ‘Master’ after years of Taekwondo training, there is no doubt that Ethan, our secretary, is a man of the people. A regular attendee and leader of sessions, Ethan is constantly a friendly face whose dedication to the club is appreciated by beginners and long standing members alike. Famously Ethan’s favourite part of his secretary role - his detailed emails - are always informative without losing his signature dry humour.
Competing in all three BUCS competitions as well as Poomsae Nationals and Varsity, Ethan can always be relied on to raise spirits and go above and beyond to help out the team, even hosting the CUTKD squad when a competition took part in his home town. His skills are diverse and varied, competing in both of (World) Taekwondo’s disciplines. He won his very first Kyorugi (sparring) match at BUCS this year, going on to win his Varsity match., as well as entering multiple categories for Poomsae (patterns), including team and individual. His continual devotion alongside his Poomsae teammates led to some of the club’s best ever results.
He also co-taught Poomsae classes at our club this year, which led to his election as Poomsae captain. Just like the emails he loves to send, his teaching style balances calm delivery of his vast Taekwondo knowledge with his sarcastic quips, creating a welcoming atmosphere in what can be an intimidating sport. His commitment to inclusion and community can be seen in everything he does, from his chatty, jokey disposition at socials to his considerate nature towards CUTKD members of all levels.
We all have so much love for Ethan at CUTKD and look forward to more of his uplifting energy and ceaseless enthusiasm in the year to come.
2. Jack Murphy, Ice Hockey Club
Jack Murphy perfectly embodies the spirit of CUIHC with his selflessness, dedication, altruism and sporting excellence. He stands out not only as an outstanding athlete but also as a natural leader and mentor to people across the teams within the club and beyond.
Jack has been a member of the Men’s Blues team for two years. He has never missed a practice, managing to balance the workload of his Engineering PhD and his non-academic commitments with seeming ease. His hockey abilities are inspirational to everyone on the team. He has been the centrepiece of the Men’s Blues, not only preventing the opposition from scoring on defence, but also supporting the offence by assisting and scoring goals. His stats for this season are stellar: while being defenseman, he leads point scoring on the team with 16 points for 9 goals and 7 assists. He scored a hat trick in the Varsity Match, which secured our 6-2 win over Oxford and won him the MVP award. He played a pivotal role in the team’s victory in the National Championship last month, the first time that the Men’s Blues have won the title.
In addition to all these qualities, Jack's passion for hockey extends far beyond his own performance and the Men’s Blues, and he dedicates his free time to coaching other teams. Every Sunday, he spends two hours coaching our CUIHC women’s team and another two hours coaching in the local community “learn to play” session at the Ice Arena. Despite his exceptional talent as a player, he is known as a down-to-earth mentor who does not show off but enables others to make progress in an encouraging manner. His character and mentorship is highly commended by members of the Women’s Blues.
We recognize his qualities and achievements within the club. Jack won both the “Offensive Player of the Year” and “Defensive Player of the Year” awards at our end of year ceremony - something that has not been documented in the team's history. It is not an overstatement that he is currently the best defensemen playing at the university level in the UK. He has proven himself to be a true leader and will be stepping up as the Assistant Captain on the Men’s Blues team next season and running for club secretary in the AGM.
In his two years at Cambridge so far, Jack has contributed not only to his team, or to the whole club, but also to the wider Cambridge community. We believe that his positive attitude, unwavering dedication, and commitment to mentorship make him the ideal candidate for Sports Club Personality of the Year. Thank you for considering him for this award.
3. Joshua Aderanti, Dance Competition Team
Josh really is the life and soul of the team, there is never a quiet moment when he is in the room. During this competition season he has been recognised by many of the judges to have the best and most genuine smile on the team which made them smile in return. This just shows how genuinely happy his aura is.
We believe that Josh is the Joy of dance and also has one of the biggest personalities in this university.
4. Matthew Edge, Boat Club
Matt Edge has made the Club a better and more successful Club in his five years (so far) with the Club, binding CUBC's three legacy clubs together. He is now best known for his epic stroking of the winning 2024 Men's Boat Race crew, where he drove himself to collapse in the race, putting his crew in an unassailable position, where they took a Boat Race victory for the Ages.
That is only a small part of Matt's contribution to the Club. After two losing lightweight Boat Races, Matt kept his eye on the prize and as President and Stroke broke a three year losing streak in a dominant display on the Tideway in 2022. Moving to the Openweight Squad in 2023, Matt sat at bow in the winning 2023 Men's Blue Boat, following this up with his memorable performance in 2024.
Matt's role in the Club does not cease off the water. After serving as Lightweight President, he devoted himself to supporting the binding of the CUBC's squads as OneClub secretary, where he has supported CUBC becoming consistently successful on the water, and supportive and inclusive off it. He is always available to support his fellow athletes, and devotes time to work with CUBC's coaches.
He is an inspiring person - and more deserving off this award than he would ever admit.
5. Tads Ciecierski-Holmes, Modern Pentathlon Club
Tads is the big friendly giant of CUMPC, always smiling and so enthusiastic to get everyone to enjoy any and all of the five sports. Now in his sixth year at the pentathlon club, some may wonder if he came back for graduate medicine only to continue doing pentathlon, and generations of pentathletes will find it hard to imagine the club without him. In spite of saying he would take a step back from committee roles this year, he has nonetheless taken on more tasks than anyone can count whenever asked, as well as stepping in (sometimes very last-minute) to help with coaching, and never with a word of complaint. He has also somehow found time alongside of his hectic graduate medicine degree to drive beginners to their riding lessons - taking only a chocolate bar as payment - and to act as driver and supporter for the novices at Novice Varsity. Many members of the club will agree that brief glimpses of Tads waving his arm on poolside, urging them on at BUCS and Varsity, has provided that extra little boost to swim faster than they thought possible.
At the same time as being the ultimate team player, Tads has quietly been getting on with his own disciplined training programme in the background. The results of his hard work have clearly paid off, first by running the Cambridge Half Marathon in a very respectable 1:26:38, followed by a very impressive first place in both the individual and team competitions at BUCS pentathlon. His most impressive performance came at the varsity match, however, where he blew away the competition with frightening consistency across all five disciplines to finally take the overall title, and to help the men's team to a close-fought third consecutive win. To the mild consternation of everyone who knows him, his commitment to victory at Varsity even extended to removing his iconic teddy-bear beard!
Tads truly is the beating heart of CUMPC, and fully deserves recognition for his tireless dedication to sport(s) and club. We are all very lucky to count him as a teammate and friend.
6. Ying Yue Chan, Revolver and Pistol Club
Ying Yue (YY) is the Communications Officer of Cambridge University Revolver and Pistol Club (CURPC) 2022-2024. YY is a 3rd year undergraduate student reading Archaeology and specialising in Egyptology at Wolfson College. Despite her being a finalist, she is actively engaged in club training. She is a friendly face that members can find at the range every week, always willing to answer questions and help out with managing the range.
As the Communications Officer, YY got the club's Instagram account up and running to increase the communication between the committee and members. To make things more interesting, she has also introduced a club mascot that appears in these stories and posts. Shooting is primarily an individual sport. To counter this, she planned and implemented weekly and monthly rankings together with a score tracker to allow members to see their improvement physically, and it has shown to be satisfyingly successful in increasing the engagement of members with the club and each other! She also helped in recruiting new members during Fresher’s Fair in Michaelmas 2023. With her iconic purple and white hair, personal charm, and persuasive manner, we managed to triple the number of new recruits last year, setting a new record of members recruited in the history of the club!
In the past two years, YY has sent out many colourful emails that have made my day. Even though her emails are information-packed, they are always an enjoyable read, decorated with emojis, gifs, and her good jokes. It is clear how much thought she had poured into the construction of each email. Her emails and messages always manage to cheer people up in these stressful Cambridge terms. Her presence at the range makes our training sessions livelier and more engaging. A lot of new members go to her when they have any questions, showing how she is the face of the club and well-liked. YY has done lots of hard work for the club, going above and beyond in her role as the Communications Officer. She is enthusiastic and dedicated to making the club a more friendly community, always trying to think of new ways to engage with members.
