This week, The Gryphon talked to Kitty Pandya, a second year PPE student and social secretary for the Women’s Hockey Club.
LUU’s Women’s Hockey Club is the largest university hockey club in the country, with eight teams playing in both the BUCS and Yorkshire Leagues. As well as possessing sporting skill that won the club the title of LUU Sports Society in 2015, LUUWHC is very active in the local and international community, and has raised over £30,000 for charities over the last three years.
Could you please tell me a bit about your role in the society and what that entails?
I’m one of four Social Secretaries on the University’s female hockey club committee. We’re essentially the ones who organize all the fun stuff. We have weekly Wednesday socials, team bonding nights (like team meals and laser quest), our Christmas meal, a tour over Easter and the hockey ball, which is the last big event of the year. How did you get involved with the Hockey society? I joined the team last year. I had never played before but wanted to play a sport and I’d heard about them being a massive club: they have over 200 members. When I went round the Fresher’s Fair, their stand attracted me. The girls who were on the team seemed really friendly and fun, so I decided to just go for it.
Who can join the Hockey Club?
Anybody really, it’s genuinely a very good club to join. Lots of the girls are really dedicated to playing the sport and commit training-wise and for matches, but because there are 8 teams you don’t need to have any previous experience of playing the sport. If you want to be more casually involved, that’s fine too. I had genuinely never played a match before and there were so many opportunities to get involved, not only in the matches but also in charity events, socials and even umpiring.
Is the club just for girls?
There’s a boys hockey club as well who we work really closely with (although obviously, the girls club is better). The socials, our tour and the hockey ball are all with them.
What has been your best experience on the team/committee so far?
My best experience on the team this year has been to see girls who join the club who have never played before end up growing in confidence. It happens around this time in the semester when they’ve had some practice and they’ve played together for a while. It’s really funny for me to see because that was me last year – it shows how fast time flies. The best parts of being on the committee are the perks you get! We had a committee bonding day at the start of the year, which was at Go Ape and so much fun, and a committee Christmas meal at Roundhay Pub, which has excellent food. Another great part of being on committee is that you become responsible for the club…and for your time management! Knowing that I have a lot of commitments has actually made me a lot more organized.
Do you have any big events coming up?
Our annual tour to Spain is coming up over the Easter holidays, and that’s always a big one: I’m planning on getting my to get my tan on while I’m there. We’re also holding a ‘Zimfare’ social in a couple of weeks time, where we will raise money and awareness of the living conditions in Zimbabwe through the Progresio charity. Each captain is hosting a meal, which will be a traditional Zimbabwean dish. People contribute anything they can towards the meal and there will be a team quiz at the end of the night! For the moment, you can only come if you’re a member of the club, but it’s the first time we’ve done it so you never know, it might grow over the next few years!
If you had to use one song to describe your society, what would it be?
Fancy by Iggy Azalea, because you can’t help but love it.
Avigail Kohn