In this article, Heather (she/her) shares her thoughts and experiences on what it takes to lead a club through a massive transition, especially after struggling with high player turnover that forced a complete rebuild and relocation to London in 2024.
Spice’s first ever competitive event in July 2021
Bio: playing history and leadership history
Hi, I’m Heather, and I’m a captain for Spice. Next season will be my sixth season with the club, and my third in leadership! I have also represented GBW at EUC 2023, WUC 2024, and WBUC 2025.
Over the past six years, Spice has been continuously evolving as we figured out what we wanted to ‘be’ as a club, and last season we finally decided to cement ourselves as a London-based geo team. I want to talk about how we balanced development and performance throughout that transition, and how my role as a leader has evolved alongside this process.
SPICE HISTORY
Spice was founded by a group of GBW U24 players in 2020, aiming to offer development opportunities to FMPs in the Midlands. From 2020-2024, we trained as a ‘non-geo’ club, meaning players travelled from all over the Midlands (and farther afield) to play together.
Despite our growing competitive success, just like other women’s teams of the past (particularly in the Midlands), we began to struggle with player retention. By the end of 2023, very few of Spice’s player base lived in the Midlands since many of our student-athletes had graduated and moved away. We faced high team turnover, and with so many talented and competitive teams across the country, we struggled to attract new players. By the end of the 2024 season, we knew we needed a drastic change, so we decided to transition to a London-based club.
Spice win Bronze at Nationals 2025
WHAT WE ACHIEVED LAST YEAR
2025 was actually a pretty historic season for us. We had 3 goals we laid out for the season ahead of trials:
Peak performance at Nationals
Qualify for Euros
Development for this season and beyond
We also knew that we needed to balance short- and long-term goal-setting, considering factors such as development, performance, community, retention, culture, and the unknown! That’s how we landed on our goals for the season; things which felt aspirational and exciting, but also realistic, tangible, and with the long-term process in mind.
We qualified for Euros, placed 3rd at Nats (our highest ever), and all with pretty much a brand new team. We also came 3rd at Summer Tour in Poland, 3rd at Vienna Spring-Break, and are headed to WUCC in Limerick this August. We feel we can categorically state we met our goals for the year, and our ambitions for the future don’t stop there.
November open session coached by Rupal (SYC) and Omar (Deep Space)
BALANCING DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE
Last season was about creating a sustainable model for this year and years to come (something that’s still evolving as we learn). We wanted to re-enter the scene with a bang, showcasing our capacity for performance and our potential, whilst keeping the development mindset at the cornerstone of our club ethos.
I feel we’ve done that to great success. We took on many rookie/returning players, many of whom had never played Women’s club or Hex previously, and created a team which is now performing well on the international stage. So here’s some of the decision-making behind our journey last year!
Off-season sessions!
We knew that this transition would be a massive project, including advertising the move and demonstrating what we had to offer. A big part of that was the Off-season sessions we ran which were open to the wider community. These were great for so many reasons:
It was an incredible opportunity to provide elite coaching to people who might not get access to that very often. We’re very proud of the engagement these have had from the London scene.
It was also incredibly valuable for our current players to learn new skills and hear external perspectives from some of the best out there. A big shoutout to the guest coaches who volunteered their time to share their expertise!
It gave us a great insight into the scope of players and talent that there is in London, and likewise we were able to showcase what we offer, our vibe, and what it might be like to play for Spice.
We have since run another round of off-season sessions, and plan to do so again, to help support the development of our sport at the beginner/intermediate levels.
Losing to Jinx 10-15 at Summer Tour
Selecting the squad
A major part of our move was ensuring we maintained the culture and playing style that is unique to us, and selected a training squad that showed buy-in specifically to Spice, what we’re about, and where we’re going! So here’s some of the things we considered when creating our squad:
Culture comes first. Is this player a cultural fit? Do we think they are aligned in our values? Because you will only get ‘buy-in’ if you’re all on the same page.
Talent spotting.
Knowing what we’re looking for in players with potential, and players with experience. Where is this player now, and where could this player be in 2 years, in 5 years? What do they add immediately, and what could they bring in the future? And conversely what don’t they add?
We selected a training squad and a competitive squad. Our training players were a mix of development-focused players who we can envision competing for us in future seasons, and players who would bring elite expertise to our squad and raise our level.
Training Process
This was our first ever season running weekly sessions, which absolutely skyrocketed our progress. This is amplified by a teamwide development mindset; all players are looking to develop and improve, and are supporting each other in that process. I like to say that not one player on Spice has maxed their potential, and there’s a lot still left on the table to work towards, which is incredibly exciting.
We trained 1-2x per week from March through to September, with training blocks which evolved depending on what both the coaches and the players felt needed more focus.
Each player had an individual coach they would check in with for specific feedback and to help structure a goal-setting plan. We spent plenty of time analysing our Veo footage and picking up areas for improvement.
Last year we decided to ‘specialise’ early, i.e. roles/lines etc., to help with developing chemistry and to account for some of our short-term performance goals. This season we want to spend even more time experimenting, learning, stretching skillsets, and becoming well-rounded, which regular training gives you the capacity to do.
Setting tournament expectations / the Process-coaster
We wanted our tournament management to align with the goals we had set for the season as a whole. Not every tournament can be, or should be, geared towards winning. That meant decisions that concede a bit of competitive outcome in the short-term, but were building towards the long-term vision. As a team, we called that the Process-coaster, and here’s what that meant practically:
Accepting imperfection while we practised the process. For example, calling strats that weren’t necessarily the optimal choice for winning, but were the optimal choice for improving. Or, for example, running set plays that needed work, in order for them to work in the future. Of course this depended on the goals of the tournament.
The focus and expectations of each tournament was planned and communicated with the squad ahead of time, and we made sure to stick to the plan. For example, some tournaments were open to training squad, some were comp squad only. Some tournaments were about ‘team-bonding’ (Vienna Spring-break plus Big Night Out). At some tournaments the expectation was even pitch time (e.g. Euros), at others it was performance line-calling (e.g. Nats).
Winning the 3/4 play-off against 3SB at Summer TouR
MY LEADERSHIP CAREER ON SPICE
I took over captaincy for 2024, captained this 2025 season, and will be captain for next season in 2026. With so much change in a short space of time, it’s been a big learning curve, one which has both allowed my strengths to flourish and also really challenge my weaknesses.
As a leader I tend to bring a lot of passion. I have absolute belief in and vision for Spice, and I make sure I project that in any decision-making by always bringing it back to the question: “Is this conducive to the end goal?”. I’m also happy taking the reigns because I’m very motivated by ‘the team and the dream’, and I’m pretty committed to that journey. I think these are traits that helped us to stay on track as we transitioned to something new. Now we’re largely on the other side of that and I’m feeling more confident in the team than ever before.
Going into this season, I have a new outlook on my own captaincy. The kind of leadership required to get this point, compared to what is required going forwards, looks very different to me! Now that we are settled in London and have established ourselves as a competitor, my aim is to develop new leaders for the future of Spice and for UK Ultimate. Although everyone will have a different style based on their traits and strengths, leadership is just a skill which requires practice and experience.
So the plan is to have different co-captains at tournaments, split responsibilities, encourage involvement in the coaching side from others, and make it so that every player feels empowered to try new roles. This will feel very different from previous seasons and something I’m excited to lean into. I definitely think I will find this challenging, having accepted (and enjoyed) much responsibility in the past two seasons, but one I am committed to as I believe it to be the most important step in the longevity of the club and our long-term vision.
My personal goal this year is all about actioning the behaviours I want reflected back at me, as I really believe in leading by example. Therefore my ultimate goal as a captain is to also be an excellent teammate, and I’m still learning and developing the areas that I don’t consistently demonstrate. What I really love about Spice is how we all bring different qualities to the table in pursuit of a common goal. So whilst I bring intensity in buckets, I’m also really inspired by, for example, Róisín’s ability to bring humour to the sideline, or Smance, who can start a chant regardless of what’s going on in the game. Abbey is the first to check in after tough moments, Imi is exceptionally positive, and Swong is the definition of cool-headed. I really could go on and on! But these are all qualities I admire, appreciate, and continue to learn from.
My first ever medal at Nationals felt pretty good
Stay focused on what you’re working towards.
Stay committed to the decisions and processes that align with that vision.
