A Conversation With... Mr Jamie Wheeler
We caught up with Teacher of PE and Head of Cricket - Mr Jamie Wheeler - in this week's 'A Conversation With...'. Mr Wheeler has been working at the College for four years now and in this feature, we find out more about the goals and aspirations as we get the cricket season underway!
What is your role and how long have you been at Shiplake?
I am a Teacher of PE at the College and am also Head of Cricket. I’ve been working at Shiplake for four years.
What were you doing before working at Shiplake?
I was studying Sports Science the University of Loughborough. I then completed a year as a Graduate Sports Teacher before joining Shiplake as a Graduate Teacher of PE.
What is a day in the life at Shiplake like for Mr Wheeler?
My days usually consist of driving in to work, coffee, and teaching pupils in all year groups. This includes teaching the GCSE and A-level curriculum. I am also heavily involved with the games and co-curricular programme here at the College and not just with the cricket, though I do run cricket sessions throughout the year at lunchtimes. In the Autumn Term, the focus in on rugby, Spring Term is for football and rugby 7s, and the summer is cricket. I am also getting the Shiplake Cricket Instagram page up and running again!
Cricket season is now underway - what are the goals and aspirations for this term? What else is there to look forward to?
It’s been a great start to the cricket season so far with 22 fixtures taking place throughout the 1st week of term. It was also fantastic to have over 80 Lower School pupils playing as for many of them, it would have been their first ever cricket match and first time representing Shiplake. I want to keep up this level of involvement from the pupils throughout the season and also beyond as they progress through the College.
The aim is to have a successful cricket season and we have many of our teams playing in various cups and tournaments. The U13-U15s will compete in the Oxfordshire Cup while the U17 and U18s will compete in the national cup. For the 1st XI, I am also keen to get them playing cricket in different formats such as T20. They will also be playing three invitational games this season as well as matches against the staff and Old Vikings.
What do you do away from work?
I’ve recently started playing golf and enjoy beating Mr Heaney, Mr Dix and Mr Wozencroft on a regular basis. Beyond that, I play invitational cricket matches and I also like to travel to watch sporting events, both here in the UK and abroad.
On travelling abroad to watch sporting events - what has been the most memorable and why?
A highlight for me was travelling to New Zealand in 2017 for the British & Irish Lions tour. I had the opportunity to travel around the country and experience a lot of what New Zealand has to offer, as well as watch three of the test matches. Closer to home, I enjoy watching cricket around England including test matches at Edgbaston.