A.C.E. - Our Ethos - 5 June 2017
Welcome to A.C.E. a.k.a. ‘Amet Cricketing Experience’
About us
First a little bit about the name. That comes from our philosophy. Amet, for over 5000 years has meant ‘fun’ in Latin. Whatever we do, win, lose, practice, party, we will have a immense fun doing it.
Next, off course is Cricket, a game, our game, the game that has courted our hearts and minds for decades.
And last but certainly not least, we want all of this, not to be just a sport or a playing a game, not even an event but an experience that we share.
Wit, humour, passion, edginess, sarcasm, competitiveness and a hunger to play are all some of the things that we are about.
Year 1 in our story
For our first year we have a lot planned.
We've been fortunate to start with a group of more than 72 wonderful people each with a drive and passion that is unrivalled in other similar circles.
Nets
To ensure that everyone gets an opportunity to play regularly and practice, we’ve organised net practice, both at the MIG club and for our townsfolk we also have nets at Wilson Gymkhana through the year, apart from monsoon months.
Fitness and skills
To keep our skills tweaking in a better direction yet maintaining our fragile bodies in the process, the club has organised a Head Coach, Assistant Coach, and fitness instructor who is an injury prevention specialist. The aim is to keep improving our batting, bowling and fielding keeping safety and health in mind.
Practice internal matches
We shall be mixing up the group and playing practice matches against one another often. This will allow us to keep a fun, friendly competitive spirit going amongst the club members yet allowing everyone to learn each other’s games to play well together.
A.C.E. Premier League (APL) matches
Personally to me, the most exciting part of the coming season is A.C.E. premier league.
Our entire group of members is being split into 4 teams to battle it out through a fun, yet competitive league over the year. All the players are auctioned between the four captains, who then steer their squads over the year to try and win the APL
Exhibition external matches
There are several teams out there looking to play exhibition one off games or even a series of 3-5 games against us. We’ll be organising a bunch of these against several teams over the course of the year.
Tournaments
The heart of every unit is how we play under pressure and nothing like a good competitive tournament to bring out the clutch player in all of us. Next year, the club will participate in at least 3-5 tournaments through the year putting in preferably two teams into every tournament. This should allow everyone an ample opportunity to play. The tournament calendar will be released in September/October when all the tournaments have been announced.
The aim is for the club to play 50+ games this year so that everyone gets an ample opportunity to participate. There is no pressure on players to play all or even any of the external tournaments. Based on your individual schedule and availability each member can decide to participate in any of the tournaments. If a member does decide to participate in a tournament they are expected to be commit to that tournament as we don’t want the team to be let down by truancy.
Monsoon Mayhem: We’re planning some surprises in the monsoon so that the cricket doesn’t die down. Trial runs of the monsoon mayhem are around the corner, so the wait to see what’s in store won’t be long!
Team apparel: Every member of the club will be getting Team apparel, that includes, coloured apparel, club cricket whites, net practice clothes and more. Click for more
Team merchandise: In addition to the above Team apparel there are going to be available for purchase additional team merchandise, such as kit bags, Specialised back backs, caps, floppy hats, extra match apparel and even team apparel for your kids.
To drive competitiveness further, for external matches, we are going to be splitting ourselves into two squads, an A-team (Code Name Kandorians) squad and a B-team (Code Name Kryptonians) squad. These are based on experience, skill, talent, past and recent performances and more.
Now whichever team you’re in there are pros and cons.
Pros of being in the A-team is that the squad is stronger. It's tougher to get into and it's drive is to win hard and win big. The cons are that in pursuit of victory no minimum overs are not guaranteed and top order batting is not guaranteed. We need to do what we can to win. It is tougher and more competitive in the A-team but the aim is to be results oriented.
For the B-Team, participation and fun are both not only drivers, but are encouraged. Balance and all rounded contribution are key to to building the team and the aim of the team is build out skillsets while still playing to win. Everyone playing would get a chance to participate in the B-Team matches. Even A-team players are encouraged to play with the B-Team to -help develop alternate skillsets. The core however, of the B-Team is to have everyone get a chance to play.
The A & B Teams are going to be made after playing out the rest of this season till end May following which the two squads will be created post monsoons. Till then we all play under a single umbrella to gel as a unit. If, however, anyone would like to volunteer for either team, please feel free to ping me directly.
It’s looking good for a fun year ahead, we have one and a half months of outdoor cricket before the monsoons kick in. We’re trying to cram in as many matches as possible before the rains to get in practice for the next season starting in October, a season that promises to be packed with thrill and excitement. Looking forward to seeing you guys on the field.
Cheers!
Abhi
….Love it, Live it, Play it
