Rich's Blog: A Tale Of Four City Teams

Watch TV nowadays and it’s clear that everyone is on a ‘journey’.

From The X Factor to The Great British Bake Off, we’re surrounded by tales of people who overcome the odds to make an ignorable single or a nice pithivier. We strive, 
we prevail, and we end by blubbing with joy. This is how things work nowadays.

It is with these heartwarming tales in mind that I wanted to think about the ‘journey’ that City has been on since I joined a year ago — and how we plan to build on this.

There are two reasons I decided to end my decade-long stand-off with competitive sport. First, I was getting too unfit to run after my daughter; and second, I wanted to make some friends. Taking up korfball provided the perfect solution.

Back then, the final standings in Oxfordshire League 1 in 2012/13 showed City 1 in rock bottom, which was great. Clearly this was a club that would match my own lack of sporting prowess! As it turned out, City was going through a transition period and  things improved during the 2013/14 season.

City 1 ended up fourth in League 1, while City 2 came second in League 1. I’m also impressed with the number of new people who've come along and stuck around.

And the upshot is that we’re now looking to build on this.

In 2014/15, we’re going to be entering a City 3 team in League 2 alongside City 2, to provide game time for our growing number of players. There was a lot of feedback towards the end of last season that people wanted to play more, so we’ve entered this extra team to open up those opportunities.

We’ve also entered the regional league as Oxford City, to give more of our players the opportunity to step up to playing a higher standard of korfball. This is alongside entering City 1 in League 1. It’s going to be a busy season, but a fun one.

So what does this mean for you? 

Well, if you’re already a City player then you’ll be getting more last-minute texts and emails asking ‘Can you play?’ The correct response is: ‘Yes, of course. I'd love to!'

And, if you aren't currently a City player, it means that you really should be! We're on the lookout for more people keen to come along to training and get involved with the club. You'll have fun learning a new sport and make good friends in the process.

Let's make next season even better than this one. Blubbing with pride: optional.

Rich Heap, web editor