34 of our young cricketers, joined by four brave coaches, took on the Nuclear Wild Forest obstacle course as part of our Youth Challenge & End of Season Awards Day.

There was mud. A lot of mud.

There was climbing, crawling, running, plenty of laughs and, most importantly, a brilliant display of teamwork from our youngsters.

With players of different ages taking part together, it was fantastic to see them encouraging each other, helping each other through the obstacles and making sure everyone got around the course.

The four coaches who volunteered to join them may have slightly regretted that decision by the end!

But the best part was seeing so many of our youth section and their families together away from the cricket field.

Loads of parents came along to support, and after everyone had made it through the course, we stayed together for pizzas and our end-of-season Youth Awards.

The club covered the full cost of every child's place at Nuclear, meaning all 34 youngsters could take part completely free of charge.

We wanted to invest in giving our young players a genuinely memorable experience while also using the occasion to launch our new SOSEMTCC Future Facilities Fund.

The response has been incredible.

£2,130 RAISED — AND COUNTING

So far, the Nuclear Challenge has generated:

£865 through Pitchero
£565 through Zeffy
£700 in cash sponsorship

That means an incredible £2,130 has already been raised, with Gift Aid still to be added where applicable.

When we first came up with the idea, we genuinely didn't expect the response to be anything like this.

The Future Facilities Fund is about beginning to build funds now that can be invested into improving the facilities available to our players and the wider community in the future.

This is just the beginning, but to have more than £2,000 raised from our very first youth challenge is a fantastic start.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ROTAMEAD

We also want to give a very special mention and thank you to Rotamead, who generously sponsored two of our youngsters for £350 each — an incredible £700 contribution towards the fundraising total.

Support like this makes a huge difference to a community sports club, and we're extremely grateful to Rotamead for getting behind our young players and the Future Facilities Fund.

YOUTH AWARDS 2026

After everyone had survived Nuclear, attention turned to celebrating another fantastic season of youth cricket.

Congratulations to all of this year's award winners:

U11s

Manager's Award — Arabella
Coaches' Award — Henry
Parents' Award — Thomas

U13s

Manager's Award — George Morgan
Coaches' Award — Rithvik Tellapati
Most Improved — Caleb Prassana

U15s

Batter of the Season — Charlie Taylor
Bowler of the Season — Alfie Elton
Coaches' Award — Chase Spear / Rithvik Tellapati

A huge congratulations to every winner.

But just as importantly, congratulations to every young player who represented the club this season.

Days like this are about much more than cricket.

They're about friendships, teamwork, confidence, creating memories and building a club that our young players and their families genuinely feel part of.

Seeing 34 youngsters taking on the challenge together, four coaches getting stuck in alongside them and so many parents there supporting summed up exactly what we're trying to build at SOSEMTCC.

Thank you to every child who took part, every parent who supported the day, our coaches, everyone who sponsored or donated, Rotamead for their incredible support, and everyone behind the scenes who helped make the day possible.

A brilliant way to celebrate the season.

And an even better way to start building towards the future.

Well done, everyone — and thank you.