Wok'n'Roll Fives At Magdalene

Jessye Tu reports:

30/12/21: About a month ago, the newly founded Magdalene College (Cambridge) Fives Club ran their inaugural mixed beginners tournament, the Wisteria Wok!

This was a super day of fives: we had 15 pairs playing, split into 4 pools, leading to 2 semis, and a 3-set final that went back and forth, point by point, keeping a crowd out for well over an hour in the dark cold with Storm Arwen brewing behind us! (I’m pretty sure the Magdalene captain and I were more nervous than the finalists). Big congratulations go to winners Alex Davies & Isaac Gianfrancesco, and runners-up Sarah Dauris & Lewis Drummond.

Although most players had only heard of fives for the first time at the start of term, the quality of the play was really impressive, and best of all everyone had a lot of fun. The take up of fives at Magdalene College has rocketed since our committee was founded and they have been working hard running taster/training/casual stress-relief sessions, securing funding, and organising socials for our new club. We are really grateful as well to the University club, in particular the men’s captain Dion Huang, who last term spent more time at Magdalene playing and coaching fives than at his own college!

Below are some photos from the Wisteria Wok* and we have an Instagram account too if you’d like to follow us! @magdalene_fives_club.

The main reason I applied to Magdalene was because of the fives court, and it has been amazing seeing the court so full of life (one year after there was talk of using the court as an outdoor weights gym!!)! I’m hopeful the club will continue to grow next term - we’ll definitely organise another tournament of sorts - and that Magdalene will be back on the Eton Fives map in no time.

*We chose the name Wisteria Wok because there is Wisteria on the side of our fives court, and since other tournaments seem to be ‘cups’ or ‘bowls’, we needed some other kitchenware for the trophy… We’ve also decided to set the tradition that the winners cook a feast in the Wok - Alex and Isaac have definitely set the bar high with an amazing Mexican-themed spread.