Past, Present, Future Welcome to Kent’s Sporting Legends 2014. Here we celebrate past and current legends and look ahead to the legends of the future. Let us take you on a journey from the very beginning of the University through its rich history marking those who contribute to Kent Sport and the wider community. Then we project into the future and see what improvements and innovations are to come at Kent Sport. Remember if you have a story or picture to contribute to our timeline you can send them to: kent.ac.uk/sports/kentsportinglegends
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1968
Degree Congregation 1968.
The University’s sports hall, the Templeman Library and the Cornwallis building were opened. George Popplewell takes over as Director of Sport. The University’s first degree congregation was held in Eliot College.
1971
Led Zepplin concert ticket.
Led Zepplin, originally down to play at Rutherford, were moved to the sports hall due to demand. Tickets cost 60p (12 shillings). Decimilisation had been in operation for less than a month. The first major event was held in the sports hall - The English Table Tennis Championships. Future Sports Director Mike Wilkins is appointed Sports Centre assistant. The first grass pitches were opened.
1977
As the Queen celebrated her Silver Jubilee, Virginia Wade won Wimbledon and was the first sportsperson to be granted an Honorary Kent Sport membership.
1980
Athlete and hurdler Wilbert Greaves represented Great Britain at the Moscow Olympics, and missed the final by one hundredth of a second. Barry McGuigan represented Team Ireland in boxing. Park Wood student village opened.
Stadium at the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics
1982
At the age of 14, future University of Kent student and nine time World Champion, Wayne Otto, entered his first karate competition, winning a silver medal. Future multi-medal winner and Olympic cyclist Jamie Staff gets on his first BMX.
Racquet History The most famous racquet sport, tennis, originates from the game “jeu de paume”, invented by eleventh-century French monks. In 1873, Walter C. Wingfield patented the rules for a game very similar to modern tennis and by 1877 the All England Club held the first Wimbledon tournament. The first racquets were strung with sheep’s gut over a heavy wooden frame. By the 1960’s, Wilson had introduced the metal framed racquet which paved the way for increasingly bigger and lighter rackets. In the 1980’s racquets began to be constructed from mixed carbon fibres, allowing for more powerful shots.
Jimmy Connors at the 1978 ABN Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam holding his Wilson T2000 steel racket.
1989
Graham Holmes broke the world record for Badminton Singles Endurance by playing nonstop for 85 hours in Gibraltar. In Canterbury, Wayne Otto co-founds the University of Kent Karate Club.
The moment before the previous record of 83 hours and 27 minutes is broken.
1992
Kent Sport hall two and the cricket Pavilion were built. David James retired but has sadly passed away since after battling cancer. The David James Boxing Scholarship was created in his memory. It is designed to support selected boxers to achieve their potential and offers a scholarship of between ÂŁ250 - ÂŁ2,250 per academic year. Mike Wilkins was appointed Director. David Fulton joins Kent Cricket team.
David training boxer John Horton at Kent Sport.
1995
At age 15, Charlotte Edwards makes her England debut and becomes the youngest player ever to play for England. At the age of 10, Lydia Greenway, together with her sister Emma and some friends, start a ladies team at Hayes Cricket Club. Dennis Lim wins the ‘Peter the Great Cup’ for Taekwondo in Moscow.
BookBenches ‘BookBenches’ is a cross-curricular project with an arts focus. Dart-for-d Games Legacy Programme provided primary, junior and infant schools in Kent with a one metre long bench in the shape of an open book. The BookBenches were then designed and painted using creative and cultural influences from a school’s chosen continent of the Commonwealth, leading up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
BookBench design by West Hill primary school.
2001
A high-specification sprung floor was installed in the main sports hall. A new Centre for Sports Studies at the University of Kent Medway campus was established. Ben Trott, future Kent Sport staff member, playing with Kent County Cricket Club. They won the Norwich Union League title - beating Warwickshire in their final game of the season at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Ben Trott (top-right) and David Fulton (second from left) with Kent County Cricket Club.
2002
Mel Clewlow wins Gold medal at the Hockey Champions Challenge in Johannesburg, South Africa. Jennifer Wilson represents Team South Africa at the XVII Commonwealth Games. John Riley, academic registrar at the University for 22 years, receives an MBE for services to higher education and the Erasmus programme.
Mel Clewlow (centre) currently plays for Canterbury Ladies Hockey Club.
2003
Nicky Little entered the 2003 Rugby World Cup as Fiji’s all-time highest points scorer, with 488 points. Kent cricketer Dave Fulton opened the £1.5m Kent Sport refurbishment, including a new studio, fitness suite and reception.
2004
Kelly Holmes won Gold medals in both the 800m and 1500m in Athens. She is named BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Gary Smith is the only male trampolinist to represent Great Britain in the Athens Olympics. Cyclist Jamie Staff also represented team GB.
2005
The astro and 3G pitches and allweather tennis courts are built at Kent Sport. Barry McGuigan is inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Dame Kelly Holmes receives an honorary degree from the University of Kent.
2006
Geraint Jones was awarded an MBE for his role in the successful 2005 Ashes series in the New Year’s Honours List. During England’s first Test with Pakistan, Geraint becomes the world-record holder for most Test innings played without having scored a duck. He goes on to make a further five innings before failing to score in his 52nd innings. Having batted fifty one times without registering a duck, he then bags a pair in his final two Test innings.
2007
Ian Wynne set a new record for crossing the English Channel in a canoe. Kent Sport Director Mike Wilkins retired. The Mike Wilkins Football Scholarship Fund was set up to support and encourage aspiring players in his honour. Graham Holmes was appointed Director of Kent Sport.
2008
Mel Clewlow represented Team GB at the Beijing Olympics before retiring. She went on to commentate for the BBC and became a key member of staff at Kent Sport. The biennial Kent School Games was launched with aims to encourage a love and enthusiasm for sport amongst young people aged four to 16 years. Shooter Nathan Milgate represented Team GB at the Beijing Paralympic Games.
The Kent School Games - encouraging sport amongst young people.
2009
Tasmin Beaumont in training.
Georgina Harland was appointed chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Athletes Committee. Tamsin Beaumont was called up to the England Cricket squad to tour the West Indies. The new Kent Sport Pavilion was opened, including changing rooms, reception, Pavilion CafĂŠ Bar and seminar room.
2010
Kent Sport staff member Chris Payne won the All England Powerlifting Championship for his weight class. Karate black-belt Kimberley Hughes won 1st place in the Women’s Senior Kata at the BUCS Karate Championships in Sheffield. Rower Kelsie Gibson was selected to represent GB at the Varese International Regatta in Italy, and achieved two Gold medals. She also won a Silver medal at the World Rowing Championships.
Chris Payne giving some tips on lifting.
2011
Keziah Gore was named English Senior Champion overall and in all four apparatus. The same year Adam Gemili won a Gold medal in the 200m at the National Junior Athletic League finals held in Derby. John Shepherd was named as President of Kent County Cricket Club.
2012
Sprinter Jack Green competed for Team GB at the 2012 London Olympics. Kent Sport started a £4.8m Olympic legacy investment in new sports facilities. Wayne Otto OBE was awarded an honorary degree as Britain’s most successful karate athlete. Kent Sport, in partnership with Kent County Council, hosted the Sporting Legends event for the first time.
Kent’s Sporting Legends event 2012.
Sporting Innovations The London Olympics are a key moment for sporting innovation, particularly in the Paralympics. Although the ‘Flex-Foot Cheetah’, light-weight carbon fibre ‘running blades’, had been around since 1996 the London Games brought the technology to public attention and admiration. Kent Sport has had its fair share of innovative changes over the years. Our 3G pitch was one of the first to be installed in the UK. These pitches are made from polyethylene which is softer and more ‘rubbery’ causing less grazes to players. These pitches will be upgraded again in 2015. Our fitness suite is also a place where cutting edge technology meets practicality and enhanced performance. All of our CV stations are fitted with touch-screens that allow access to Freeview channels as well as offering the option for users to plug in their own media. Even better is the option to have a personal trainer on the touch-screen who can manage targets and goals.
2013
New facilities opened at Kent Sport, including an indoor tennis centre, a third sports hall, a large fitness and dance studio, a physiotherapy clinic, a self-service fast-track kiosk and an online booking system. After a varied career playing for clubs such as Chelsea, Portsmouth, Notts County and Sheffield – Jon Harley was signed to his home club of Maidstone United.
The new indoor tennis centre at the University of Kent.
2014
Paralympic skier Millie Knight.
Natasha Brennan represented England in the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Millie Knight was chosen as flagbearer at the Winter Paralympics opening ceremony in Sochi, aged 15. She was the youngest person ever to compete for ParalympicsGB.
2014
Lizzy Yarnold was appointed an MBE in the Honours List for services to skeleton racing. She also won a Gold medal at the Winter Sochi Olympics. On the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus, in just one month, the number of booked student visits to the sports centre would more than fill Wembley Stadium. The second Kent’s Sporting Legends event takes place.
2015
Kent Sport is to celebrate 50 years of the University of Kent with 50 special activities over 50 weeks. The next phase of Kent Sport developments due to begin; the upgrade of the 3G pitches, a third artificial floodlit pitch, a cycle lodge and conversion of the squash courts.
2020
The Kent Sport swimming pool is to open with an additional fitness suite, spa and multi-use studios.
Architectural concept drawing of the University of Kent swimming pool.
The Future As a sportsperson you never stop striving to improve, to achieve new goals and to overcome all obstacles to success. At the University of Kent rest assured that we are always looking to evolve, and work with our partners to provide the best possible environment in which our sportsmen and women can thrive. Our upcoming facilities development, including a third artificial floodlit pitch, cycle lodge, new squash courts and, of course, our much anticipated swimming pool will allow more students to be more active, more often. Kent Sport will also be looking towards the possibilities for off-campus activities and we have already started talking about partnerships with golf clubs, water sports clubs and athletics clubs amongst other activities. So an exciting future lies ahead. See you at the Kent’s Sporting Legends event in 2016!
The proposed architectural design for the Kent Sport Cycle Lodge.
Thank you Thank you for being a part of Kent’s Sporting Legends 2014. We hope you enjoy the evening. For event photographs, news and to share your memories of sport at Kent: kent.ac.uk/sports/kentsportinglegends Follow @UniKentSports on Facebook and Twitter. Tweet your views #KSLegends