Events

PCA 903 Club Motivational Seminar

On Tuesday 1st June 2010, 40 PCA Commercial Partners gathered in the heart of Kensington at the Royal Garden Hotel for a motivational seminar on leadership with Steve Bull, the Team England psychologist, and England Vice Captain, Alastair Cook.

The guests were treated to a delicious breakfast before kick-starting their day with some brain food in the form of an in-depth Q&A between Alastair and Steve. The core theme of leadership ran through the 40 minute discussion between the pair and the audience.

Alastair and Steve expanded the topic to discuss the challenges of being a ‘young’ leader in charge of senior and experienced players, the importance of ‘managing relationships’ when in a leadership role, being authentic and true to yourself as a leader, adopting a different style to suit different players’ needs, building an effective partnership with the coach and managing pressure and focusing during challenging times.

Many thanks to both for their contributions to a very interesting and in-depth seminar, and to the Royal Garden Hotel for their fantastic hospitality.

Barclays Capital 6-a-side Tournament

The Barclays Capital 6-a-side Tournament is fast becoming an annual event at the Brit Insurance Oval, raising monies for great causes through a great day of cricket. This year was no exception, with the PCA Benevolent Fund being the nominated charity.

On 1st June 2010, ten teams captained by ex-professionals such as Dean Headley, Devon Malcolm and Peter Such competed on the Oval’s famous turf during the morning, with two wickets being played on at one time. Sadly the heavens opened just before lunch and even though the groundsmen kindly allowed play to go on for as long as possible, just before lunch the players had to retire to the Long Room.

This break provided some much needed sustenance from a BBQ lunch and entertainment came in the form of a Q&A with former players hosted by Gladstone Small and Roger Dakin. After a long lunch, the teams made their way to the indoor schools where a bowl-off was held to decide the eventual winners.

The atmosphere amongst the players, both professional and non-professional was tense and no one wanted to miss the stumps. After a thrilling hour in the nets, the winners were crowned. Throughout the day people generously bid on a silent auction with all proceeds going to the PCA Benevolent Fund. Many thanks to all for taking part in such an enjoyable day for such a great cause.

JLT Cricket Challenge

Lead Sponsor of PCA Player Services, JLT, took over the Nursery Ground at Lord’s for their annual cricket challenge on Wednesday 2nd June 2010. Four teams took part in this 11-a-side tournament and each team was captained by an experienced PCA Master.

The teams were JLT UK EB with Devon Malcolm, Thistle with Dean Headley, Lloyd & Partners with Lou Vincent and JLT Limited with Phil DeFreitas. The event started with bacon rolls and refreshments on arrival as teams took to the nets to warm up and meet their captains.

After several hard fought first round matches, where each team had 10 overs to play, the final was played in glorious sunshine and was contested by JLT Limited v Thistle. Thistle, despite this being their first year in the tournament, took home the prized trophy with some fine batting on display. After prize giving, the players all enjoyed some food and drinks before heading off into the summer’s evening sunshine.