Tag: Sports

My experience as a Sabrecats Pom Cheerleader

By Jade Ellis, BA Accounting and Financial Management

Hi everyone! I’m Jade, and I’m proud to be a Varsity Coach for the Sabrecats Pom Cheerleading team. When most people think ‘cheerleader’, they think of cheery girls waving pom poms in the air – I assure you that being a Sabrecat pom cheerleader is so much more than just that!  We train and perform at Varsity fixtures, have some of the best social events, and take part in volunteering and fundraising for our selected charities. With so many things to get involved in, I think it’s the best club going!

We are made up of three teams of all different levels and abilities – Comp, Varsity and Cheer Dance. The Comp team train twice a week at a high level and perform at competitions around England. The Varsity team train once or twice a week and perform at the larger events such as the football final at Hillsborough and the ice hockey final at Sheffield Arena. The Cheer Dance team trains once a week and also performs at Varsity performances, but has a less demanding schedule. There’s something for everyone, so don’t worry if you think you won’t have enough time – give it a go! Squad auditions are at the start of the academic year, and are posted on our Facebook page. The auditions are not as scary as you might think, and you are more than welcome to audition with your friends. Any gender is welcome – if you have a big smile, loads of enthusiasm, high kicks, huge jumps and strong arms, then you’re the type of person we’re looking for!

 

One of the most enjoyable parts of being part of the team are the socials. Most of our socials are themed nights on Wednesdays starting at Revolution and ending at Roar at the Students’ Union – which normally means dressing up! It’s always a great night, and is a fantastic way to get to know each other outside of practice. One of the best nights is the Christmas Roar, as the Social Secretaries make amazing costumes for everyone, and everyone is in the holiday spirit!

As Varsity Coach I’m responsible for 27 girls, and for choreographing two routines that will be watched by hundreds of people at Varsity events. This seems daunting, however it is an extremely rewarding opportunity, and taking on this role has given me a huge amount of transferable skills like organisation skills, time management, leadership and confidence. There are two coaches per team, so I’m not on my own, and I find it so rewarding to collaborate ideas and work together as a team. It is so satisfying watching your hard work come together to create an amazing routine and gives you a great sense of accomplishment. I am thoroughly enjoying being Varsity coach, as it has made my university experience more exciting and challenging, as well as allowing me to gain skills that I may not have if I didn’t take part.

If you’re considering having a go at cheerleading, I would absolutely recommend it! Performing cheer routines in front of hundreds of people is a great way to build your confidence and keep fit, and I’ve met some amazing friends through the team.

My favourite society – Sheffield Engineers Rugby Football Club

Hi! My name is Tom and I’m a final year BA Accounting and Financial Management with Employment Experience student. In my blog post today, I’m going to tell you about societies more widely, but in particular my favourite society, Sheffield Engineers Rugby Club (SERFC).

At the University of Sheffield, the SU has over 300 societies. Societies are just groups of students who share common interests – such as nationality, faith, sports, politics, degree subject, hobbies, or anything else you can think of. They range from Acapella & Beatbox Society to Zumba Society, and everything in between. Societies are a great way to extend your friendship circles and meet new people, and what each society meets up to do differs depending on what society it is. Generally though, you’ll meet up a couple of times a month and do what you love doing, with like-minded people. Nearly all societies hold some sort of social, and some have an end of year ball and dance. Some societies, like the Management Society (a.k.a ManSoc, the subject society for the Management School) will do a number of things.  ManSoc, for instance, have socials, intra-mural sports teams, book sales and the famous end of year ball.

One society that I am a part of is SERFC. I have been a SERFC member since my first year and we are an inclusive rugby union club who play in the Saturday rugby leagues. Although called the Engineers, you don’t have to be an Engineer to join – we accept all subjects, there is a large Management School cohort who pay for us. We have a culture of no initiations, and we pride ourselves on being inclusive and friendly rugby that anyone can join in with regardless of ability. We have a number of very talented and dedicated players who represent the 1XV and 2XV, and a number of more social members who will represent both the 2XV and the Development XV throughout the year. The club is great because we train twice a week and play once. As other university sports teams tend to play on Wednesday, playing rugby on a Saturday leaves our members free to play other university sports, so if you have two interests you’re free to enjoy both. The club not only plays full-contact rugby union, we also have a Touch rugby team who plays on Sundays (great for players trying to hone their skills or those recovering from injuries) and we have a very successful intra-mural football team, too. As well as rugby, we have the best socials going. The club also has an end of year tour to Croatia and takes part in 7’s tournaments during the summer.

The club has afforded me the opportunity to make a number of long term friends, and I would count my rugby friends as my closest at university. You’ll find that as a younger student, you will be able to get favours/advice/tips from the more senior members which is absolutely priceless as a 1st year student. The club has afforded me the opportunity also to become a committee member, something which helps boost my skills and my CV. I act as the treasurer for the society and as an Accounting student it is great to be able to do so, as it means I’m able to talk about something else other than my placement in Interviews. In fact, I brought up my role as treasurer for SERFC in my recent graduate job interview – one in which I was successful.

In summary, to any prospective students maybe trawling our blog looking for tips, mine is simple – join societies. Societies are one of the best things about social life at university, you’ll have great fun and make friends for life.