A HUGE congratulations to the Plymouth Krakens Dodgeball Club committee, who have been awarded their Icons Award for their efforts through an extremely difficult year.
The UPSU Icons Awards celebrate our Sports Clubs and Societies that have gone above and beyond throughout this year. There are certain criteria each group has to complete to win their award which is then approved by the UPSU Sports and Societies Teams. This year we have seen so many amazing things happen throughout our student community, including the efforts of the Plymouth Krakens.
Who are the Plymouth Krakens: 
"Plymouth Krakens University Dodgeball is an inclusive sports club, offering training suitable for seasoned players and budding beginners! We offer a friendly and fun environment to students of all ages, genders and abilities. Your first session is FREE so you can work out if this club really is the right fit for you!
For more information check our our Instagram (@plymouthkrakens) or our Facebook Page (University of Plymouth Dodgeball Club). There you will find COVID-19 information and how our training has been adapted, as well as more information about our committee and socials! You can drop us a message on either of these platforms and we'll respond as soon as possible!
We hope to see you there!"
- Plymouth Krakens
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Committee Members behind the Society -
- Chair - James Browne
- Vice-Chair/Secretary - Henry Langford
- Treasurer - Dan Keighley
- Coach - James Browne
- Coach - Frankie Synnott
- Health and safety/COVID-19 Sec - Luke Little
- Social Sec - Freddie Southwick
- Social Sec - Charly Ward
- Wellbeing Sec - Freddie Southwick
- Wellbeing Sec - Charly Ward
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Plymouth Krakens Successes:
This year Plymouth Dodgeball Club, also known as Plymouth Krakens, has taken this difficult year and used the time to build their club and provide the best they could for their members in a non-contact world. This year the Krakens have reviewed, completed and signed off all relevant documents as required by the Sports Department at UPSU and added them to their page on the SU website.
They have attended every Sports Forum of the year, held a successful Annual General Meeting (AGM) in March 2021 to vote in their next committee members, as well as complying with all UPSU policies and procedures, even going above and beyond by providing covid safe training sessions that included track and trace, risk assessments and social media covid updates for members. All core committee members have attended compulsory committee training and all updates have been shared with relevant UPSU Activities Coordinators throughout the year as well as registering all trips, tours and events with the Students’ Union while showing effective financial management with their funding and budgets.
Plymouth Krakens have shown consistent engagement with the Students’ Union throughout the year including Zoom training for safe use of the Nancy Astor Sports Centre and updates on their Give It A Go dodgeball sessions every Friday when restrictions allow. The club has hosted fortnightly socials including ‘The Krakens Games Night Social’ playing games like Among Us, ‘The Krakens Christmas Pub Quiz’ and ‘Krakens Taskmaster’. They have produced many successful social media campaigns including ‘The Stay-at-Home Games’, informational shark posts during Shark Week for their chosen charity The Shark Trust and of course their mascot montage campaign, gathering pictures of members' pets wearing kit and playing dodgeball. What more could you want?
The club has collaborated with the University of Plymouth Mens Rugby Club to produce and sell custom t-shirts in order to fundraise for the National Marine Aquarium as well as ordering kit with a portion of the costs donated to The Shark Trust. The committee has kept in contact with their members effectively through social media pages and regular meetings, they also encouraged their numbers to vote in the UPSU Elections, one of the biggest events of the year for Plymouth students. At the beginning of the year, they held their traditional 'First Social of the Year', designed to be an introduction event for freshers, new members and existing members, a great way to experience what it's really like to be a part of the Plymouth Krakens.
And finally, the Plymouth Krakens have worked tirelessly to up-skill their members by offering opportunities to attend a British Dodgeball run coaching course and gain a national governing body recognised level 2 coaching qualification. They hosted in-person Give It A Go Dodgeball sessions every Friday in the Nancy Astor Sports Centre when Covid restrictions allowed and even entered a virtual competition by British Dodgeball and gained recognition at a national level for making it to the semi-finals of the Stay-at-Home Games. After the year we have had and the amazing work put into this club, this award is so deserved!
Congratulations from all of us here at UPSU!
Plymouth Krakens Dodgeball Club has been awarded their Icons for all the amazing work they have done over this year voluntarily and on top of their own studies, this couldn't be more deserved and we can wait to see what you bring to the Students' Union next year!
Stay tuned and keep an eye on our social media channels over the coming weeks to read a profile of each student group that has achieved Icons this year.
You’ll be able to find out more about what they did to receive this award and how you can get involved in September.
Want to find out what Sports and Societies are out there? Click here