Student Sport Magzine - May 2013 - Eleventh Edition

THE FIRST NATIONAL MAGAZINE FOR UNIVERSITY SPORTS...ONLINE, EVERY MONTH

SPORT AND LIFESTYLE ON AND OFF THE PITCH

Student Sport Magazine MAY 2013 - Edition ELEVEN BUCS BIG WEDNESDAY SPECIAL

TOP TIPS FROM UNIVERSITY NUTRITION!

STAY IN SHAPE

FUEL YOUR mind, BODY AND SPORT WHEN UNIVERSITY ENDS

BASKETBALL REVIEW BY HOOPSFIX

PLUS EXCLUSIVE WITH SAM NETER

WWW.HOOPSFIX.COM

ELITE

Exclusive with

EMMA VICKERS AND

the

ssmplaylist

FONTAINE CHAPMAN

rEviewED 14 TEAM SPORTS •1 CITY

win t he b

30 new tracks for your ipod

SHEFFIELD - MADE CRICKET HISTORY LOUGHBOROUGH - SMASHED BADMINTON LEEDS MET - HELD HEADINGLEY AND MORE...

colate ever ma o h c de! t s e

Our team so far...

The Eleventh Edition May 2013

Matt Walsh

The Supreme Chief of Hot Beverage Engineering.

Nathan ‘50 Shades’ Gray

Warlord/Chief Sanitation Officer.

WELCOME to Edition 11 of Student Sport Magazine, The First National Magazine for University Sport.

Edition 11 brings a complete overview from the BUCS Big Wednesday including interviews with coaches and athletes.

With the student year coming to an end the dreaded final exams and assignment deadlines draw near. To all those who are heading for Graduation this year, when you are stuck in the dreary 9-5 monotony clinging on to the hope of early retirement, just remember that all of your colleagues who went to ‘The University of Life’ will never harness the memories that you have... from the Varsity adrenaline, away days and Wednesday socials! Think about that and don’t forget to keep updated with your team’s future progress right here with TeamSSM! We’ll see you over the Summer and get ready to do it all over again in September!

Matt (@MattWalshSSM)

subscribefree sendyourstories join teamssm! www.studentsportmagazine.com

editor@studentsportmagazine.com team@studentsportmagazine.com

Matt ‘The’ Heard

Sangria Drinking Photographer.

Luke ‘The’ Shield

Professional Sadist.

Roman Lee

Mascot/Receptionist and Poster Boy.

Writers/Journalists Ash Quinlan • James May • Bowen Revill • Sam Headley • Emma Hart • Vicky Ashdown • Lucy Harvey • Joe Redmond • George Gigney • Simon Kemp • John Findley • Tom Henman • Luke Stevenson • Alex Sehgal • Will Aitkenhead • Tom Parry-Jones • Ryan Paine • Alister Houghton • Rob Weitz • James Scholey • James Taylor • Andrew Sixsmith • Emma Bird • Chris Kerr • Anthony Bowyer • Michael Baker • Sam Price • George Martindale • Sam Hopkins • Zoe Robinson • Richie Dawson Smith • Mike Butcher • Andrew Shemeld • Cameron Miles • Sam Neter •

Photography Thomas Gadd Andy Smith Simon Rowe - www.simonroephotography.co.uk SWPIX.com (+ Front Cover Image) Leeds Met Carnegie © The Student Media House Ltd 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The Student Media House Ltd. is registered in England and Wales (Registration Number - 07949255) with registered office at Sheffield Technology Parks, Cooper Buildings, Arundel Street, Sheffield, S1 2NS. All information contained within is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of publication. The Student Media House Ltd. cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. Any unsolicited information sent to us is automatically granted, by you, with a licence to publish your submission, wholly or in part on all media platforms owned or operated by us. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, The Student Media House Ltd, its employees, agents or subcontractors will not be held liable for any loss or damage.

Health & Training. The Student Media House Ltd. is not qualified to issue medical advice and any instructions provided herein should in no way act as a substitute for such advice. Please seek medical advice for injuries, medical conditions and before starting any new sport or training routine. If you feel pain or discomfort whilst carrying out any physical exercise you should immediately cease training and consult a doctor, physician or healthcare provider.

CONTENTS

EDITION 11 / MAY 2013 TOP ON COVER

06

rEviewED 14 TEAM SPORTS •1 CITY

12

FONTAINE CHAPMAN

18

BASKETBALL REVIEW BY HOOPSFIX

PLUS EXCLUSIVE WITH SAM NETER

WWW.HOOPSFIX.COM Simon Roe

ELITE

80

Exclusive with

EMMA VICKERS 93

the

ssmplaylist 30 new tracks for your ipod

94 Leeds Met Carnegie

TOP TIPS FROM UNIVERSITY NUTRITION!

STAY IN SHAPE

FUEL YOUR mind, BODY AND SPORT WHEN UNIVERSITY ENDS

INSIDE!!!

4 SSM CRISP Team SSM’s favourite products.

BUCS BIG WEDNESDAY: 8 BADMINTON. 14 BASKETBALL 20 CRICKET 28 FENCING 34 FOOTBALL 38 HOCKEY 46 LACROSSE 54 NETBALL 54 RUGBY LEAGUE 66 SQUASH

70 SWIMMING 76 TABLE TENNIS 82 TENNIS 88 VOLLEYBALL

Levels Avicii

Turn Me On Subscape

Killing In the Name of

Rage Against the Machine

WIN

98

SSm

Crisp 1. marvellous creations By cadbury just...WOW!!!

PRICE: ÂŁ1.67 www.tesco.com

2. SEVEN DEADLY SINS By david walsh slightly awkward, but, when tragic occurances of such magnitude bring sport into disrepute, the literary storm is inevitable. David walsh spearheaded the pursuit of lance armstrong in one of the most prolific doping scandals in sporting history. his revealing account leaves no stone unturned and no shadows to dwell in a direct and cutthroat exhibition of truths.

An educational story, steeped in morality. A definite must for all followers of professional sports.

PRICE: ÂŁ12.15 (Hardcover) www.amazon.co.uk

4///Studentsportmagazine.com

3. Fast and Furious 6 Fast and Furious 6...yes, we are just as surprised as everyone else!! Anyway, since it has made it all the way to the big screen we may aswell do a review on the app, which will provide a worthwhile break from playing candy crush! Challenges range from drifts to drag races and not forgetting the garage where you can upgrade your engine, air intake, exhaust and gearbox etc. you start off with 1972 Ford Gran Torino, however, as purists, we feel that the british racing Green should be reserved for domestic manufacturers, so do the american thing and customise your ‘whip’ with some flames or go fast stripes etc. Enjoy.

By Kabam

PRICE: Free Your App Library

4. frozen cocktails By parrot bay

In the event that the sun shows its lazy face long enough for us to get the bbq fired up, we need to choose our weapons wisely.

So, a huge burger (vegetarian if you really must), onions, salad, cheese, tomato and a ridiculous amount of relish/caramelised onion

chutney and a frozen cocktail from parrot bay may just be the perfect match for an evening on the patio. you will remember a time in your life when you begged your parents for a brain crushing slush puppy that is loaded with e-numbers and not all that tasty. The parrot bay cocktails are certainly worthy of your taste buds and the citrus daiquiri provides a level of refreshment which can only be likened to the feeling of an intravenous

drip filled with listerine!

Do take care, drink too quickly and you will be weeping the word ‘Mummy!’ as the ice age in your frontal lobe begins.

Price: £2.50 (2 for £4) www.tesco.com

Studentsportmagazine.com///5

BADMINTON, BASKETB HOCKEY, LACROSSE, N SWIMMING, TABLE TEN

the overview

BALL, CRICKET, FENCING, FOOTBALL, NETBALL, RUGBY LEAGUE, SQUASH, NNIS, TENNIS & VOLLEYBALL Simon Roe

8///Studentsportmagazine.com

It was a familiar sight in both Championship finals as Leeds Met and Loughborough clashed rackets once more. Loughborough celebrated a win in both men and women’s matches, a victory undoubtedly sweetened by the subsequent toppling of the host university and badminton arch rivals.

Despite qualifying for the Men’s Trophy Final, they were stopped by a 5-3 defeat at the hands of Glasgow university, but the ultimate spectacle took place on the women’s court where the University of Leeds smashed out a near perfect victory over Team Bath with a 7-1 badminton blitz.

LOUGHBOROUGH CHAMPIONSHIP

GLASGOW TROPHY

LOUGHBOROUGH CHAMPIONSHIP

UO LEEDS TROPHY

M F swpix.com

BADMINTON

the overview

loughborough l GEORGE MARTINDALE Loughborough looked to be struggling at 4-2 down with just two doubles fixtures to go but came back to clinch a 4-4 draw which meant they won gold based on games won.

Loughborough suffered an early defeat; James Bonser of Leeds Met confidently dispatched Martin Drabble 2 games to love to put the hosts 1-0 up in the overall fixture.

However Loughborough battled back, Alex Marritt in particular encapsulated the team’s desire to win, beating Dam Groom of Met 2-1 in what was a fierce display of competitive badminton.

At 1-1 it was time for doubles and Peter Briggs and Loughborough captain Harley Towler continued where Marritt left off by beating Fowler and Adamson of Met 22-20 and 21-15 to put Loughborough 2-1 ahead overall. Loughborough’s other pairing of Campbell and McCarthy were unable to replicate the winning performances of their team mates, losing 21-16 in their final game to level up the overall scores again at 2-2. Despite this

loss, McCarthy and Campbell were still to play a pivotal role in the afternoon’s proceedings.

After drawing back level Met began to take control of this fixture, Bonsels beating Loughborough’s Marritt 2-1 and Met’s Dan Groom making easy work of Martin Drabble, beating him 2-0. This flung Met into a 4-2 lead with only the two doubles matches to play. This therefore meant that Loughborough had to win both of the final two doubles matches in order to stand any chance of remaining in the tie.

Towler and Briggs ensured they kept Loughborough’s championship hopes alive, beating Met’s Thomas and Middleton 21-10 and 21-15 meant Loughborough found themselves 4-3 down with one more doubles game to play.

McCarthy and Campbell went into a challenging match against Fowler and Adamson of Met knowing that they had to win in order to level the overall scores of the match and take the decision to games won.

This did not seem possible halfway through the first game when McCarthy and Campbell found themselves 11-9 down

at the interval. A determined comeback ensured, buoyed on by the Loughborough supporters and their fellow team-mates, McCarthy and Campbell fought back to take the first game 2118. This victory was followed by some speedy mathematics by supporters who quickly asserted that if McCarthy and Campbell could win the next set, Loughborough would take the Championship on games won.

A nervous exchange between the Loughborough and Met pairs meant they neither side were able to establish any more than a two point lead for the majority of the game. However, a neat backhand for match-point meant that Loughborough took the second set 21-19, levelling the scores at 4-4 and subsequently winning 10-9 on games.

Loughborough’s display of determination to come back into the fixture was encapsulated

by Alex Marritt’s 22-20 victory over Met’s James Bonsels. The performance was not only key in forcing Bonsels into three games but it also played a large contributing factor in Marritt being named player of the final.

Marritt told The Epinal:

b

the epinal reports...

lecture on

Loughborough Men’s Badminton team were crowned champions at the BUCS Finals after beating hosts Leeds Metropolitan University in a hotly contested final.

badminton...

“I knew it was going to be a physical contest today, neither of the players I faced were giving anything away easily. The first game took it out of me, it was about an hour long but I was determined to take my second game to three, even though I was gutted to miss out.”

Marritt also described how he felt throughout Campbell and McCarthy’s final doubles match.

“I was so tense, it was point for point all the way and we were all just willing them to get a two or three point margin so we could relax a little. They didn’t and they left us all right on the edge of our seats but obviously we were so glad to see them take the game.”

victory to claim the BUCS Championship Trophy.

The result is a brilliant achievement and a perfect way to end their season after finishing second to Leeds Met in the league and reflects the hard work put in by the whole team over the last few weeks to win away from home in such a big event.

The singles matches were first out on court and Loughborough started strongly with player of the tournament Nanna Vainio powering to a comfortable two game win over Lucy Mason of Leeds Met.

The other singles match saw a great contest between Loughborough’s Lisa Turner SAM HOPKINS and Leeds Met’s Fontaine Chapman. The Leeds girl took a tight first game 21- 19 and A fantastic performance saw then cruised to a 21-12 victory Loughborough avenge their league in the second leaving the defeat to Leeds Met this year as scores even at one apiece. they secured a resounding 6-2

It was then the turn of the doubles pairings, an area where Loughborough are renowned for being exceptionally strong. Captain Sam Ward and her partner Holly Smith had a huge battle on their hands as they lost the first game 21-15, edged the second game 21-16 but couldn’t hold on and lost the decider 21-17.

Hui Lin and Hui Ern were solid and dependable as ever and they steadied the ship, winning their doubles match comfortably to tie the scores at 2-2.

Loughborough never looked back from this moment as Turner went on the offensive, winning 21-18, 21-17 to edge Loughborough out in front.

Her efforts inspired Vainio who had earlier seemed unfazed in taking a one game advantage

Studentsportmagazine.com///11

against Chapman, yet found herself 11-4 down in the second. She battled back but lost the game 21-18, however in the deciding game her opponent Chapman looked spent and couldn’t deal with the speed of intensity of Vainio’s play. She won 21-17 and Loughborough took a 4-2 lead with only two doubles matches remaining.

Hui Lin and Hui Ern set out to avenge the defeat inflicted on Smith and Ward and dismantled their opponents with precision play. They crushed Kaur and Brown 21-11 in the first game and repeating the feat in the second. This gave Loughborough an unassailable 5-2 lead and crowned them as champions.

It was fitting then, that captain Ward and her teammate Holly Smith should finish off the job. They defeated Smethurst and Pang of Leeds Met 21- 17, 21- 18 to put a gloss on proceedings and ensure every single member of the team contributed a point towards the victory.

A jubilant Sam Ward spoke to the Epinal after her final match: “It’s a fantastic achievement, we have played them twice so far this year and drawn once and lost once so it’s fitting we finally get the win that counts the most…..we knew it would be tight but Nanna [Vainio] got us off to a great start and everyone contributed which is amazing.”

When asked about the huge support they had received she stated: “It’s great for badminton, usually we don’t get much coverage so it was great to hear so many people cheering at an away fixture, especially our teammates.”

at the bucs gatorade nationals, she prevented loughborough from taking all titles. fontaine chapman talks to teamSSM following bucs big wednesday...

How much did it mean to win the Women’s Singles title and prevent Loughborough getting the clean sweep at BGN2013?

It meant a great deal to me to win the women’s singles not only for myself but for Leeds Met. I think it is important for players to give it their all in these university tournaments as it’s our way to give back to the uni for everything they do for us. Leeds Met and Loughborough have always had a rivalry so making sure they didn’t win all the medals was an added bonus!

it was all Loughborough at BUCS Big Wednesday, can you see this changing next year?

I hope so! I was very upset not to win my match at the big Wednesday as it may have given Leeds Met a closer chance at beating Loughborough but unfortunately I was playing with a slightly torn hamstring so couldn’t physically give it my all.

Both the Men’s and Women’s singles players at Loughborough played great though so no credit can be taken away from them, we [Leeds Met] just weren’t as good on the day.

What did you think of the BUCS BIG WEDNESDAY? I thought it was a great day. There was a real buzz around campus with so many sports teams from all different universities competing at our uni. We even had a crowd watching our matches which was great because we usually only ever have our other teams supporting us. It was also really good being able to go watch other sports where you knew it was the 2 best universities playing off & some of us picked a new uni to support if Leeds Met weren’t in the final!

life at University...

University life is currently crazy… I have just finished my dissertation (few!!) and so that is a big weight lifted but as I am in my third and final year I still have 3 more exams to go and a pitch to do before it’s all over! As I am training full time and in mid-season of competing I haven’t had many nights out recently (a celebratory drink was had after my dissertation hand in though!) but when I have finished all exams and tournaments in May, I will be celebrating with the badminton team and my course mates.

a typical week in training for you? Strength and Conditioning, Physio, Rest Days etc.

I train every day, 2-3 time starts at 7am every morni training for an hour then for 2 hours (or 1hour if I h then do Strength & Condit the afternoon at 1pm foll session for an hour or 2 (I over an hour after being k the 2 days we don’t have S on court session in the aft Vascular session on the bi week (sometimes 2 if I feel Spinning class session in t put on and I will also do a the week.

If I am not competing, I wil weekend (usually a Saturd session or play another sp

I also have physio twice a injuries over the last few advantage of the free mas has which helps me stay on feel during the week.

You mentioned being s what’s the worst injur

I have had a number a ver prolapsed disk in my lowe fractured left foot and to right knee ACL which lead reconstruction of my knee a new ligament created fr my hamstring… this was probably the worst in pain at the time but my prolapsed disk was scary as we didn’t know how long I was going to be unable to play for or if it would heal enough for me to get back playing at a high level again.

Best Achievement in your career so far?

My best achievement so far has to be reaching the finals of the English National Championships this year… and just last week I got my first international medal

es a day… Training for me ing as I get in some extra we do an on court session have a lecture at 9!). We tioning 3 times a week in lowed by another on court I usually only last just killed in the gym!!). On S&C, we will do a longer ternoon or a Cardio ike or tredmill. Once a l energetic) I will do the the evening that the uni a yoga session at the end of

ll have 1 day off at the day) and do a light CV port on the other day.

a week as I have had many w years. I also take full ssage clinic the university n top of any niggles I may

slightly injury prone, ry you’ve had?

ry serious injures… er back, orn my to a e and rom

e

(bronze) in singles and doubles at the Croatian International which was a goal I set myself this year!

FONTAINE CHAPMAN LEEDS MET ELITE

Hardest challenge you’ve been faced with in your career?

The hardest challenges I have faced would be recovering and getting back into playing competitively again after being injured. With both my knee and back, I was out of competitive play for a year and this is mentally one of the toughest things any athlete can go through. Training is hard already but when you’ve not done it for a long period of time it’s even harder and dealing with losing when you first get back competing is equally as tough!

with training and university, it must be difficult to find time to watch the soaps?

Haha! it is quite tough but luckily I don’t watch any soaps… all the TV programmes I watch are online from America – Greys Anatomy, Revenge, Suits, Cougar Town etc.. so when I am travelling or resting on an evening I can just stream or download them straight onto my laptop or Ipad and I’m sorted!!

Catching up on 4 or 5 different American shows is tricky sometimes though and I did have to ban myself from them for a while just so I actually got my dissertation done!

Your Sporting Idol?

Jessica Ennis… after her major foot

injury she had to learn how to run and jump again (but off a different foot with her jumping) and she missed a number of major events but she came back better and stronger and became the world’s best heptathlete! This is truly inspirational for me, especially after having so many injuries myself and missing a number of major badminton events during that time, I feel I can almost relate to Jessica. Plus I see her around Leeds Met when she comes to train & I have been to the same physio as her a few times!!

It would be great to achieve was Jess has done but in badminton of course!!

Best celebrity you’ve ever met?

Hmm I haven’t really met any celebrities…I did get to interview and sign out our Match of the Week with John Invedale at BUCS big Wednesday! That was a great moment as I would love to be as good a sports presenter as him one day.

I used to train at the EIS in Birmingham and so I have a few athletics friends like Phillips Idowu and Louise Hazel and they follow me on twitter haa!

Random Fact about yourself? when I was younger I wanted to be a dancer!!

the overview It was Worcester vs Leeds Met in the Men’s Basketball final. Reigning champions, Worcester, proved their provenence and settled a contested game with a 71 - 62 scoreline making it 3 Championship titles on the bounce.

UWIC faced a sturdy Loughborough side in the Women’s Championship final but were bested 76 61 at the buzzer.

Sheffield Hallam were crowned Champions in the Men’s Trophy Finals after a certain 78 - 59 victory over Edinburgh but a twist in fortune saw restoration of pride for the Scottish uni as the women’s team netted 89 points, against 34 from the University of Nottingham, to take the Women’s Trophy.

14///Studentsportmagazine.com

CHAMPIONSHIP

SHEFF HALLAM TROPHY

LOUGHBOROUGH CHAMPIONSHIP

EDINBURGH TROPHY

M F

Simon Roe

BASKETBALL WORCESTER

talk lives to develop to be a complete person; Your time at Basketball and we want to have high character people graduating our programme. In terms of Loughborough Leicester Riders? basketball, I do not believe there is just one thing. We have a holistic approach to Our partnership with the Riders is in relation to our players’ development here. Players crucial! The support they provide on must improve tactically, technically, off the court is tremendous and we Basketball and how and mentally and physically in order to take would not have been able to embark on their game to the next level. this journey without their involvement. it has developed They support the Loughborough Basketball Programme financially How often will the since then? but also in terms of their expertise, Basketball has changed alot since my experience and personnel they lend first teams squad first year as a student in Loughborough. to the programme. The Loughborough Loughborough basketball had Basketball Programme also include train in a typical three men’s teams and two women’s Loughborough College and Charnwood teams competing in three different College, both key partners in the growth week and what competitions. We have been able of the programme. to grow and expand thanks to the would it consist support of our many partners. We now What would you have 5 women’s teams competing in 4 of? (Strength and different competitions and 8 men’s say is the most teams competing in seven different Conditioning, Video competitions. As well, there are a lot important aspect of opportunities to play within our Analysis, Individual extensive intermural leagues and for a Basketball recreational sessions. It is awesome to Practices, Fitness, walk around campus on a daily basis and player to focus on see so much basketball going on.

Rest Days etc) during their time at Let’s take our women’s first team as How important an example; a typical week will look university? something like this. The team will engage is it having the with four team practices in preparation Our student-athletes’ education is the most important things for them to focus for two games (one BUCS and one EBL link between Division One). Each play will also then on. The student part really does come undergo 2-4 strength and conditioning first at Loughborough. This is closely Loughborough followed by what they are doing in their sessions and 2-4 individual work-out

kingbasketball teamssm speak to loughborough women’s basketball coach - joe pinchin each week depending on their needs.

If we have a player who has good skill sets but is out of shape then their timetable would be slanted towards the conditioning workouts. One thing we are always conscious of is overtraining so our team practices are normally around 90 minutes and we manage the player’s schedules to ensure that they would undergo a skill development workout immediately followed by a lift. This means they work-out for 90 minutes in total but achieve two things.

(45 minutes on court and 45 minutes S&C). We will have undergo video once or twice a week, normally as a learning tool pre-practice early in the week and then as a preparation tool later in the week. This is a typical week but will alter throughout the season as we continually manage our players rest, recovery and training loads.

workouts and games means that our players are in a position to be successful provided they commit, buy in and work hard.

sport in the world?

Wow, huge question… Everything! I guess the biggest thing for me is the culture of the sport, both on and off the court.

On the court, it is so inclusive. You have so many different people playing in so many different situations, it’s awesome!

The multi-cultural nature, the music, the art, the clothing, the mixtapes, the PEOPLE! The number of people I have We have a lot of aims as we move played with, met or worked with whilst forward. We have been fortunate involved with basketball that have enough to expand the programme to amazing stories or are genuinely great incorporate the major of the competition people is awesome! The passion for this outlets we would like to have in only game that so many people have is just so the second year of our programme. intense in comparison to other sports, Now we have a great opportunity to you can’t help but get caught up in the spend time on developing the detail love for the game. within the programme whilst adding the remaining aspects we would like involved. The Leicester Riders already do a tremendous job in the Leicestershire and Rutland community; we hope to expand this work in Loughborough and the surrounding area to give more young people the opportunity to play basketball as well as giving our players a chance to give back to the sport and develop off the court too.

Looking forward, what are the clubs aims for the future?

How important is it to have a good setup off the court to make sure the team perform to the best And finally, in your opinion, what makes of their ability?

It’s crucial. The work that our coaches, Basketball the best sponsors and staff put in behind the scenes to prepare for practices,

Images by Simon Roe

University of Worcester asserted their dominance once again in BUCS competition, beating home side Leeds Metropolitan University 71-62 in the 2013 BUCS Championship Final at BUCS Big Wednesday, to win their third consecutive title.

This year was the first that saw BUCS move away from the traditional ‘Final 8’s’ competition, which saw the final eight teams in the country battle over three days for the right to be called champions, and instead saw teams arrive in Leeds at the weekend for the quarter and semi-finals, only for the finalists to return for BUCS Big Wednesday three days later.

Different format, but same result, one that Worcester head coach Paul James was extremely pleased with: “It feels fantastic,” he said after the game.

“Fantastic for the University of Worcester, and the actual basketball programme at Worcester, so really delighted with it.”

It wasn’t as easy as many predicted. A feisty Leeds Met side remained within striking distance right until the closing moments, and James admitted that at times they had him worried.

“I thought it was a

very tough game,” he continued. “I thought Leeds came out and played really really hard, stuck to their task really well and I was worried there for a while, but we made some big shots down the stretch and came through in the end.”

Both teams had met in the finals the last two years, with Worcester coming out on top both times.

Stanley Ocitti, was a dominant force inside once again for Worcester, who were down by one point heading into the final quarter, but exploded for a 37 point period with Kazlauskas, PrezzieBlue and Ocitti scoring 10 points each

With it being Worcester’s seventh title in the last decade, they have created a dynasty that few teams can compete with. Could The game remained we see another three close right into the final straight championships? stages, but Worcester “Hey who knows, we’re were money at the line, gonna try, we’re gonna hitting their final 12 free try!” laughed James. throws to seal the game and a trip to the final.

Stanley Ocitti was named the deserved In the other semi, MVP, being unstoppable Leeds Met took on a throughout the Loughborough side who tournament, averaging were looking to prove 23.3 points per game, their worth after a most of which came year’s absence from the against double teams.

Final 8.

“My hat goes off to Leeds, they played very tough,” said a humble Ocitti after his MVP performance. “It was tough, everybody played hard, and at the end of the day it was fun.

“My hat goes off to my teammates, they passed me the ball so they really deserve the credit instead of me.”

In the first of the two semi-finals the weekend previous, defending champions Worcester took on Durham in a game many were calling the final.

WORCE

Top 3 moments from th Final 8s?

Would have to be Worcester pu off the three-peat - you just don that very often in any sport so be mentioned and appreciated.

Then the atmosphere in the Lee Loughborough game was a joy to BUCS is one of the few basketba competitions in the UK where yo chance of getting a really rowd and that game was a perfect ex it. The players fed off it and it b another level of intensity to th

The final one would be Uche Um poster dunk against Glasgow. Ca the rebound and rose up to plan on the defender! (http://www.yo com/watch?v=9xAMdrRoed8)

Best player from the F 8’s this year and why?

Leeds Met were heavy favourites going in after two of Loughborough’s star players, GB junior internationals Connor Washington and Jamell Anderson ((not to mention head coach Drew Sullivan), were absent due to Leicester Riders commitments.

Worcester's Stanley Ocitti was MVP and I think deservedly so. W unstoppable in the post and cam with a bucket whenever Worces needed one throughout the tour

In front of a raucous crowd, it was Leeds Met who came away victors, dispatching of the Loughborough side 74-62 to set up the Championship Final against Worcester on Wednesday.

Hmmm I've seen a lot of missed there was one at a summer leag

at hoopsfix.com you ha whole page on Fails. w the best ever fail you’ seen in a basketball m

SAM NETER - HOOPSFIX

ESTER VS LEEDS MET

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eds o behold. all ou have a dy crowd xample of brought he game.

mekwe's aught nt one outube.

Final ?

s the Was me up ster rnament.

London a couple of years ago called the Pro Classic. A player called Orlan Jackman, who's now in the BBL, had a wide open fast break and went to do a kind of windmill dunk but the ball slipped out his hand and it ended up being a missed layup. Me explaning it will never do it justice, you needed to be there, but it makes me laugh every time I think about it.

University Basketball over the next 5 years, where do you see it going in terms of Growth, Player Quality, Team Domination etc?

Good question. I really have no clue - basketball in the UK is such an unpredictable thing, if I could predict the future I'd be a very rich man! I think more and more universities that are looking to take basketball serious want to link up with either BBL or national league sides. This has been happening more and more over the past few years and doesn't seem to show any signs of slowing.

What can people expect to ave a look out for on Hoopsfix what’s over the next few months? ’ve Two months? Probably not so much match? other than the regular - news, features

dunks... gue in

and videos, but before the end of the year, hopefully a ton more clothing,

and other exciting projects we're working on; don't want to say too much just yet!

What’s so good about basketball?

It's fast, exciting and there's a whole culture associated with it. It goes way beyond just what happens on the court, it's a lifestyle that every true player embraces.

America, NCAA, Final 8’s, What do you think English Universities and others involved in university sport can learn from the set up they have?

It's hard to compare the two, it's a completely different ball game literally! I think the biggest thing that can be learnt is that it's about marketing the stories of the players and teams. There are some great stories in the UK game as well (Worcester being so dominant for one!) but I think so many university teams do a poor job of telling them and getting them out to the people. Obviously, the budgets beween the UK & US are so vastly different it's ridiculous, but it doesn't always have to cost a ton of money.

Universities have more resources available to them, arguably, than any other type of team in the UK - you've got

students on a ton of different courses; marketing, business development, video production - that want work experience! Get them involved!

Most universities have links with BBL teams or have the same team entered into the BBL, how important is it to have this setup in order to attract players to the University?

The BBL link isn't the be all and end all - look at Leeds who came second this year - their link was Division 1.

But yeah, if you want good players than a link with a club to offer quality competition to the players is of huge importance.

Predictions for next year’s Final 8’s?

All depends on what the qualification format is - BUCS are making so many changes at the moment it's hard to keep tabs on what is going on! Despite that, how can anyone bet against Worcester to take it all again!

WWW.HOOPSFIX.COM

the overview ‘Triumph in the face of adversity’, ‘Determination paves a path to victory’, or maybe: ‘Just have a crack and see where you end up’. If you were looking for the perfect moral to any underdog story you can take your pick from the Indoor Cricket.

UWIC are a pretty big draw when it comes to this sport, but when a newly established University of Sheffield club stumped the Welsh uni, who were looking to retain their men’s championship title, it was a fist in the face of probability!

It wasn’t all bad for UWIC, as their women’s team beat Exeter, but it is probably reasonable to assume that, come 2014, there will be war!

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CRICKET UO SHEFFIELD CHAMPIONSHIP

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october2012 - a group of mates decide to start a cricket club. march2013 - a team of national champions celebrate a pretty decent season... by will aitkenhead

“What do you mean ‘we don’t have a coach’?”...That was how the conversation went between the BUCS organiser of the National Indoor Cricket Final and the University of Sheffield cricket team when they left the field having beaten Cardiff Met to lift the trophy at Headingley on March 20th 2013.

No coaching, no funding, no professional cricketers, no facilities to train in, no transport paid for, nothing. Just gold medals round their necks and a hell of a lot of pride.

This team from the University of Sheffield train in an old school hall that they have to pay for themselves. But the thing is, they aren’t just a team, they are a club, with real members who care about each other and work for each other. And that is why they are national champions.

Let’s just have a quick recap of what happened in the

tournament prior to the final before we assess how big an achievement this is for the side from South Yorkshire.

This year, the format was changed to allow for more entrants and more cricket to be played by each side. The country was divided into ten groups of seven or eight teams, split regionally, resulting in over 70 institutions entering the competition. Sheffield were drawn in the North Eastern group with Leeds, Leeds Met, Bradford, Sheffield Hallam, Teeside, Lancaster and UCLAN. The fixtures were held across three weekends in the indoor centre at Headingley and first up Sheffield had Bradford, Hallam and Leeds. To progress to the Northern Super Sixes stage, essentially you had to win all of your games. Sheffield did just that.

Bradford were soundly beaten

and then Hallam were seen off in a thriller by four runs. In the final game of that first weekend they took on Leeds University, who are linked to one of the six MCC Universities and had an ex professional cricketer in their side as well as others who had played first class and minor counties cricket. They won, by four runs again, in a nail biter.

The next round saw Teeside soundly beaten by 81 runs having bowled them out for just 30, before taking on Leeds Met. Leets Met’s star player was Luis Reece, a left arm quick all rounder with a first class batting average of over 30. They also had other members of their UCCE squad playing as well.

Sheffield won. They bowled Leeds Met out for just 59 and then knocked them off for the loss of just one wicket.

In the final weekend of fixtures Sheffield’s serene progress

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continued as they eased past UCLAN by six wickets and then Lancaster by 70 runs to book their place in the Northern Super Sixes stage.

The six sides in the Northern Final, held at Headingley, were Sheffield, Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester Met, Edinburgh and Loughborough.

The six sides were split into two groups of three with everybody playing each other once and the winners of the two groups progressing to the Northern Final, essentially a national semifinal.

Sheffield were drawn in a group with Birmingham and Newcastle, they were once again big underdogs going into the day. They dispelled this myth immediately by dispatching Birmingham by 50 runs.

With a huge amount of support on the balcony Newcastle never stood a chance and having posted a mammoth 139, Sheffield won by a convincing margin of 27 runs to book their spot in the Northern Final against an impressive Edinburgh outfit.

The Scottish side batted first and posted 118 but Sheffield were up with the rate all along and needed just 41 from the final four overs. A series of run outs hampered their progress, however, and it was left to Sam Hickinbottom to bat on his own at the end with 15 required from the final ten balls.

He kept his nerve and saw them home. Somehow this small club from Sheffield had reached a National Final.

The opposition were to be Cardiff Met, formally known as UWIC and champions in 2012, who were unbeaten in 30 matches, a run stretching over two and a half years.

Unsurprisingly the Welsh side lined up as red hot favourites.

The final was a two innings affair and took place after the Women’s final, which was won by Cardiff incidentally.

Batting first, Cardiff posted a strong score of 109 from their ten overs and in reply Sheffield had reached 99/3 with one over remaining. In the final over of the first innings, the Cardiff bowler,

who shall remain nameless, went to pieces. Unable to cope with the pressure of a final and the relentless Sheffield support from the balcony he delivered a string of wides, worth three runs in this format of the game, which resulted in the last over going for 37.

Sheffield took a lead of 27 into the second innings. Cardiff batted very well in their second innings and posted 115, setting Sheffield 89 to win. In normal circumstances not a big score, but these were not normal circumstances.

A slow start resulted in Sheffield being just 16/1 off three overs, with Mark Williams, a veteran of seven years at Sheffield, back in the hutch having been run out.

Orban Holdgate, an exquisite touch player who has the perfect technique for indoor cricket, and Hickinbottom took the score to 35/1 at the half way stage. 54 required from five overs. It was anybody’s game from here.

With Hickinbottom run out soon after, captain Chris Murrall came to the crease and although he too was run out, it was down to 33 from the final three overs.

Will Aitkenhead joined Holdgate and the pair took it down to 22 to win before Holdgate was run out as well, a recurring theme in indoor cricket, so leaving Aitkenhead and Henry Eldred with 21 to win from the final two overs.

12 off the penultimate meant just nine were needed from the final over. With a three from the first ball it was Sheffield’s game to lose. Another three left just three to win with four balls left.

Aitkenhead hit the wall and set off, Eldred didn’t make his ground though and Sheffield were left

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needing two to win with three balls and one wicket left.

Aitkenhead smashed a short and wide ball straight at backward point, who didn’t have time to react and dropped a tough chance, Eldred sprinted through for the run and the rest is history.

Now, let’s just put this into some sort of perspective. Since 2005, the MCC have pumped £4.5 million into University cricket. But not every University, just the six MCC associated Universities, namely, Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, Leeds/ Bradford, Loughborough and Cardiff.

In 2009 they added a further £1.5 million and over £150,000 on MCC University tournaments, tours and training.

Now, many will argue that it is only indoor cricket but hang on a minute, Seren Waters, a Kenyan international played in this tournament for Durham last year, most Universities send their strongest sides and it is worth a serious amount of BUCS points for the winner.

For an MCC funded University not to win this tournament is embarrassing in many ways.

Sheffield train once a week in an old school hall, running two sessions, one for the performance squad and one for anybody else that wants to play.

Nobody gets turned away from this club, they don’t run trials, they don’t have cliques and they accept everybody and that is one of the main reasons why they are now National Champions.

With almost 30 vocal supporters at Headingley on Wednesday, Cardiff didn’t know what had hit them. It was more Studentsportmagazine.com///25

than just six men on that pitch.

Those six men were playing for their mates on the balcony, who had paid their own money to be there to watch them. And those six men were not prepared to walk off that pitch having lost.

Ma

There are many National Champions across all sports but none are more deserving than Sheffield University Cricket Club. A club that has to scrape around for cash to find just over £1000 to rent the school hall they train in. A club that prides itself on inclusivity and availability to all.

Club Captain, Chris Hooper, deserves more credit than anybody.

Having played every game up to the Super Sixes stage, Murrall had to make the heart breaking decision to drop one of his best mates in the interests of the team.

How Hooper took this was quite remarkable. He didn’t sulk or complain he just trained harder than ever to ensure that the squad and team had the best chance of winning the next match. The Club Sport Manager at Sheffield, Andy Cox, was chatting to the BUCS organiser at the start of the day and the man from BUCS asked who Sheffield were linked to. Cox didn’t really understand the question to begin with but the BUCS organiser explained that Cardiff were linked to Glamorgan, Leeds to Yorkshire etc. Cox just looked him, smiled and jokingly replied, ‘The Place pub in Broomhill I think!.’

And that sums it all up really, no egos wanting to be the star of the show, no prima donnas caring more about themselves. Just a team of mates who set off with a dream in October, who knew that if they won it would mean as much to them as it would to their friends watching, and on Wednesday they somehow achieved that dream.

Having guided Cardiff Met to back to back Men's Indoor finals and with the women winning this year as well, how important is the indoor game to your year?

The indoor game is big preparation for the outdoor season for us at Cardiff Met. The lads have been undefeated for two years until the final this year. The ladies team have been in two finals previous and hopefully we will be entering an outdoor team for next season. The indoor game has brought a number of different skills to each player as the intensity of the indoor game is high at all times.

From an indoor

perspective, how do you differ your training from practicing for the outdoor season?

We tend to practice more game scenarios with the indoor cricket, focusing on batsman getting to 25 (in the bin) and keeping the extras to a minimum.

And what are the key aspects you focus on for the indoor game?

Pick players that are able to Bat, Ball and Field/Keep as you cannot hide anyone in the indoor format. As above as many batsman in the bin as possible, keeping extras to a minimum and ensuring that fielders are in the correct places depending on the line and length that is being bowled.

ark O’Leary uwic head coach talks

to teamssm...

Do you find it difficult to element of adjust to coaching different coaching groups of players each students? on this?

Being able to assist the player’s year owing to the constant I think T20 is an option, however on top development and assisting them with other of the 50 over format, maybe a few day turnover in University areas away from cricket (university work festival with a different university being etc). The majority of students are at the sport? able to host each year. ensuring that a few first years are involved in the squad helps with the rotation of players. It works well that he rotation is big however you all loose good players after they have finished studying.

Is it difficult to prepare players for the University season given how short it is?

Yes very difficult. Cardiff Met CC did not play one second team fixture last year due to the weather. I try you build a big team ethos away from cricket this helps players work with each other when games are called off. Also as the students are from all over the country it is hard to expect them to travel back to play a game when they have to pay for it them selves. Overall the effort from the team is fantastic when they are selected to play.

What's the most rewarding

university for 3 years, as a coach you are able to observe and see differences from the 1st – 3rd year on and off the field.

What could be done, in your opinion, to improve University cricket?

I always get asked this question…. Not really sure what I would change as the cricket season is during exam period and not much else would be able to be changed.

Coloured clothing and pink balls could be one option however finance then comes into play.

Recently BUCS opted to change to T20 cricket for the majority of sides, but it was overturned after much protest, what were thoughts

the overview Cambridge and Imperial represented in both the Men and Women’s Championship Finals this year.

The Cambridge women struck the first blow against a strong looking Imperial team, but it was Imperial who took the Gold following a 127 - 117 win. It was then the Men’s Championship Final in which Cambridge were victorious with a 129 - 114 win over Imperial.

Imperial 2nd team were in action in the Women’s Trophy Final but were unsuccessful against Aberdeen losing 110 - 104. UCL managed to triumph in the Mens Trophy Final when they were up against Newcastle, 100 - 128.

CAMBRIDGE CHAMPIONSHIP

UCL

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IMPERIAL

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ABERDEEN TROPHY

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FENCING Studentsportmagazine.com///29 Leeds Metropolitan

feet and inches to victory...

Our journey to gold started with a train journey from London to Leeds, and when one of the team missed the train, it didn’t do much to settle our nerves!

Thankfully, we all made it eventually and started preparing ourselves for the upcoming match. We were in the position of having beaten Cambridge twice in the league leading up to the Championship, even though both matches had been fairly close. This meant we knew we were able to win, but if we had a bad day there was every chance that Cambridge

could prevail.

Fencing matches work on a cumulative score over the three weapons (foil, epee and sabre), with each weapon being contested up to 45.

Most teams want their strongest weapon last, because if the score is close you want the other team to get a few hits as possible. Normally, the two teams can come to an agreement, but Cambridge wanted to start with sabre and finish with foil, whereas we wanted the opposite!

A coin was flipped, which landed in Cambridge’s

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favour, meaning sabre was first.

Fantastically, Sport Imperial, who have given us a huge amount of support this season, had also travelled up to Leeds to cheer us on, so after a team huddle we were ready to go! The sabre team of myself (Zoe Robinson), Jing Quek and Emma Horrix got the match off to a great start, winning 45-32.

After this convincing win our nerves were calmed slightly and next up was the epee team. Charlotte Levin, Kat Young, Caitlin Jones and Paula Heister

(we were lucky enough to have a reserve in epee) also did an outstanding job against a talented Cambridge team and won 45-40.

With only foil left to fight, we needed 27 hits to win overall (assuming Cambridge would reach 45) and claim the Championship gold medal for the 3rd year running.

Expectations were high, and we knew we were capable, but it was most definitely going to be tough! Outi Supponen ended the first bout with us leading 5-0. What a good start! I continued onto a 10-4 lead, before Alice Mitchell brought us up to 15-8. This meant that Cambridge needed to score 37 hits without conceding more than 12 in order to

Cambridge

men win bucs big SWPIX.COM

take gold. By this stage the title was in our sight! Even though we lost the foil 4537, we had more than the 27 hits needed.

The overall score was 127-117 and the gold medal was ours! It was an exhausting day, but we were all ecstatic. I have never been more proud to be part of a team. Everyone fenced their absolute hardest and not one person gave up or let their head go down. We all pulled together to be the best team we could be, so that sense of achievement when we won was amplified by knowing we’d all won it together!

By Zoe Robinson team captain Imperial College London

wednesday

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THE UNIVERSITY OF

CAMBRIDGE

The Cambridge University Fencing Club, now in its 106th year, is one of the oldest and most successful University fencing clubs in the UK, having won the BUCS Championship on multiple occasions in both the men’s and women’s competition. It has fostered national champions and Olympians alike, and prides itself on fostering a highperforming but encouraging and inclusive environment for novice, intermediate and advanced fencers alike.

The 2012-13 season started with anxiety in Cambridge owing to the departure of almost the entirety of the women’s squad, although the men remained largely unravaged by vicissitudes of graduation. Strong recruitment in October, however, ensured that both elements of the club started the season strongly. For the women’s squad, led ably by captain Eleanor Wigham, the early rounds of competition established the Cambridge girls as a team to be watched, overcoming all opposition save that provided by Imperial. For the men’s team, a string of victories established the Light Blues as undefeated following the regular season.

The BUCS competition was then placed on the back burner, as both Cambridge squads prepared for the annual Varsity match against Oxford. A crushing victory to the women in all three weapons was a great confidence booster, with the men—although more evenly matched against their Dark Leeds Metropolitan

Blue counterparts—also coming out clear winners.

The Varsity match out of the way, the Light Blue squads then prepared for the BUCS direct elimination rounds. The men, being at the top of the table, hosted several capable teams at home, and emerged victorious against St Andrews—who had valiantly travelled down from Scotland for the day—and Durham to qualify as favourites for the championship final at the BUCS Big Weekend in Leeds. The girls were no less successful, facing down a number of other rivals, and even managing to defeat Edinburgh on its home turf—a feat that the men had been unable to achieve two years previously.

Another powerhouse of British university fencing, Imperial, followed a similar route to the Light Blues, and so, in a nice piece of symmetry, the BUCS finals in both the men’s and women’s competitions consisted of a

encing c

lub

however, a large number of talented recruits will be making their way to Cambridge to matriculate in October to maintain the team at full strength. If that doesn’t work out, Messrs. Zanchi, de Juniac et al might find themselves being asked whether they have considered the merits of an MPhil. For now, however, it is a time to celebrate, and to reflect with satisfaction on an immensely successful season.

CLUB PRESIDENT

As is always the case after a successful season, the Club’s eyes now turn to the

future. The women’s team— composed almost entirely of freshers—is expected to grow in strength and experience, with no team members due to depart and a strong line of succession in place. The men, however, face a year of rebuilding with the departure of Zanchi, former captain Nicolas de Juniac, and sabre stalwarts Simon Whitaker, Matthew Tointon and Bill Thanhouser.

As the grapevine has it,

BY CAMERON MILES

Cambridge versus Imperial match. Both were hard fought, with Imperial winning the women’s competition and Cambridge the men’s, with captain Niccolò Mario Zanchi awarded man of the match honours in the latter in his final appearance for the Light Blues—a fitting farewell for a beloved team member.

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the overview The Womens Championship Final was the only Football Match that went ahead at the BUCS Big Wednesday; Durham Vs UWIC both agreed to play on the 3G pitch and it was the Welsh university who took home the Gold in a 3-2 victory.

Loughborough vs Nottingham played last month in the Men’s Championship Final finishing in a shocking 6-0 thrashing by Loughborough, Loughborough women suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Glasgow in the Women’s Trophy and Nottingham Trent put 5 past Cambridge who could only muster 1 in return in the Men’s trophy.

Simon Roe

FOOTBALL LOUGHBOROUGH CHAMPIONSHIP

NOTTS TRENT TROPHY

GLASGOW

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Images by Simon Roe

paid off in the end.

Did it affect the team playing on the 3G pitch, How often would the what happened and how team be training in a did you make the decision typical week? to play on?

An average week would consist At around 10am on BUCS Big Wednesday we received the news that our game was called off due to water logged pitches at Leeds Uni. Both Durham and ourselves were eager to play so we were happy to accept the invitation to play the final on the 3G. Playing on the 3G slightly altered the way we played; as a team we try to keep possession, keep the ball moving and draw the opposition out of positions, but this was obviously difficult given the size of the 3G. We were restricted to how much space we had to play, but we kept to our game plan and it 36///Studentsportmagazine.com

of two technical sessions and two conditioning sessions. This coincides with external club sessions and games. Cardiff Met BUCS team consists of players who play for numerous teams such as Cardiff Met LAFC, Chelsea LFC, Bristol Academy FC and Cardiff City FC, and therefore requires additional training sessions and weekend games.

You’ve dominated the league and cup, what makes the team so good?

(Hours training, good

socials off the pitch, team bonding etc) As a team we bond really well, both on and off the pitch. This is my fourth year at Cardiff Met and I’ve never seen the team gel so well. We didn’t drop a point the entire BUCS season and I think that can be attributed to a number of things. As a squad we have strength and depth, and most importantly, we all share that winning mentality. Our training sessions are always of a high standard, both from the coaching point of view and the effort put in by the girls. As well as training and working hard outside of the training sessions, we all know how to have a laugh and that’s reflected in our team socials. We regularly have team socials where we all dress up and enjoy maybe a few too many drinks, but again

that’s helped us bond as a team and got us to form as a tight unit both on and off the pitch.

How much does it mean to the team winning at the BUCS big wednesday?

Having played a tough hand against sides in the Northern Prem to get to the final, winning was made all that better knowing we battled our way to the final with close games against Leeds (1-0) and Birmingham (3-2). Winning BUCS is the aim of any university team and to finally win that trophy as a strong knit team was an absolutely incredible feeling.

Personally, winning the BUCS championship was the highlight of my university experience and as captain, I am so proud of all the hard work each and every player has put in over the season. For

the full 120 minutes each player gave absolutely everything they had, working for themselves and that player next to them. Some of us senior players have waited as long as four years to lift the BUCS Championship trophy. In previous years we got knocked out by Northumbria in the earlier rounds, and every year we were gutted to watch someone else lift the cup. The hard work and commitment put in by the players, coaching staff and sports science team has finally paid off and we were rightful winners of the cup.

Aims and hopes for next season for the team? ...Fresher’s coming in, final years leaving etc, will the team be able to manage to retain all the

titles?

As always our aim for the upcoming season is to win the BUCS league and retain the cup.

We do have a lot of senior players in the team who may be leaving, but we have a talented squad and freshers who are able to cement their place within the team. Given Cardiff Met’s sporting success, there are always new freshers who are able to step up and continue to represent Cardiff Met at the highest possible standard. Cardiff Met have a brilliant set up; the coaching staff are dedicated to developing each player and this is fully supported by the sports science staff.

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University of Leeds Westwood site played host to both the Men and Women’s Trophy and Championship matches. Loughborough 2nd team were up against Edinburgh in the Women’s Trophy Final. Edinburgh managed to take home the Gold after a 3 - 1 victory in the early push back.

Manchester vs Birmingham 2nd team in the Men’s Trophy Final, with the match being separated on penalty flicks, Birmingham came out on top winning 5 - 4. The same teams as last year in the Women’s Championship Final, Birmingham vs Durham.

Durham came out on top last year and this year was no different with the exact same scoreline of 2 - 1.

However, Birmingham’s Men had a chance to lift the spirits of the travelling supporters as they were up against Hallam in the Men’s Championship. Hallam have been on top form all season and they managed to produce the goods with a 5 - 3 victory over the Birmingham side.

SHEFF HALLAM CHAMPIONSHIP

UO BIRMINGHAM TROPHY

DURHAM

CHAMPIONSHIP

UO EDINBURGH TROPHY

M F Andy Smith

HOCKEY

the overview

Hallam - 5 birmingham - 3

Andy Smith

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With 3 teams in the BUCS Finals this year, Birmingham hockey is a pretty tasty outfit! a typical training week for the Women’s 1st team?

Yes there is quite a lot for the girls to attend, we start the season by returning mid august for pre season, when things are based around Thursday to Sunday camps until term starts when our normal week is as follows; Monday 7-8pm video debrief, 8-8.30 fitness on pitch, 8.30 -10 pitch training Tuesday 1 hour at various times S&C Wednesday match or training Thursday 7pm-9pm training Saturday match With being an NPC site with EHB a few of the girls will have a second S&C session and an extra 2 pitch sessions, the remainder of the team will also

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How do you find how do you manage working with to keep the players Students, who are stereotyped as lazy, fresh when they tax-avoiding binge compete in both bucs and national drinkers?

This has been my eighth year with Birmingham and I can say that with the leagues? players I have coached in this time I have attend regular yoga, pilates or fitness sessions, which they choose which to do.

This is a testing area and over the past few years we have tried to make sure our development of second XI players is at a high level in order to keep a squad used to playing at high intensity who can then step up when the usual yearly migration of players happens.

This larger squad also enables us to rotate players in order to keep people fresh and hopefully prevent injury. This large squad also allows us the ability to give players time if they are injured and not rush them back. As we have alumni who play in the team on a Saturday it means our Wednesday team is 7 players different to a Saturday which in itself helps to keep the freshness of the group as we have different players playing together.

found them to be totally committed and conscientious with a fantastic attitude and always willing to learn.

What’s the toughest challenge you’ve been faced with as a Coach and how did you overcome it?

I would have to say this last season has been a massive challenge. From last year’s [2012] final team we lost 10 out of the 16 that played, and of those ten, seven were Saturday 1st xi players.

Now i know we all at universities lose

talkinghockey with Birmingham hockey coach

phil gooderham

U21 men in 2010, but I think personally my best and most pleasing is the Images by Andy Smith overall development players and that is part of our job to at Birmingham with the deal with, but to lose that many was a girls and our promotion to the premier little excessive, the other difficulty was division of the England national leagues that those 7 who played Saturday hockey in 2008/09. in the 1st team were all international players, so we were not just losing players but losing experience as well.

We managed to overcome this by the work we had done previously, as mentioned earlier, so we were able to bring up 2nd xi players who had been worked with over previous years. We had a few fresher’s joining, as all universities do, and we have then worked very hard throughout the year in order to start again and integrate the new players into our developed culture. To get to BUCS final again and stay in the premier division of the England Hockey national league we feel this year has been a big achievement.

Best Sport Coaching Achievement?

I am very fortunate to have had many achievements at different levels throughout my career to date, Junior success at Cannock hockey coaching teams to national final successes 1997 – 2006 ( when the competitions were schools and clubs ) international success with Wales, especially promotion the European “A” division with

a grueling preseason for UB Hockey, how do you get the players into shape after the long summer?

Pre season is tough, although the girls will have had a training programme to follow from july 1st. There are certainly a few gut busting exercises we use, which I am not sure the girls necessarily enjoy, but they get stuck in, New players get their induction into S&C and our sports performance department help a lot, as they do all year, in order to increase our strength and fitness levels in a short space of time, however, pre season also has a big focus on game play and developing new ideas. This period is therefore also a massive learning time as well as a development time on their fitness.

the best thing about

Student Sport?

I think sport in general is so character building, it gives people determination, strength of character, commitment, team play, communication skills, social skills....and I could go on, so I think this development for students at this next level, I feel gives the students a great opportunity to develop their life skills.

It is also there as a release from their studies and their ability to manage study and sport also gives a good start to their working life.

The level and quality of hockey over my eight years have dramatically increased and this is due to the professionalism that has been developed through the attitude within the sport, and I think this is invaluable for the students.

A lot of University of Birmingham players and fans were wearing Onsies, have you got yourself one? If not, we think you should get one.

HaHa... think I’m a bit old now. I have never been accused of being a fashion icon, completely the opposite, so I will stay with my style although i think they are great for the club.

Studentsportmagazine.com///43

BY RICHIE DAWSON-SMITH

progress for lufbra hockey The 2012-2013 season was very important for Loughborough Women’s’ 2nd team. As always with University sport the team had changed from previous years, but luckily for this group there was a strong core group in the squad that was bolstered by new players.

To start the year the team set a number of goals that they wanted to achieve by the seasons end, these were tough goals but the outcome of this was that there was a very strong sense of purpose within the group that could be seen through the effort put in by the team in every training session and game.

The team had a perfect

start to the season winning all encounters in all competitions. The first big test for this group came in the form of a semi-final in the women’s 2nd team cup against a strong Clifton team who won the competition the previous year. This game was well fought out with Loughborough starting the better of the two teams and going 2-0 up in the first half, Clifton fought back in the second half, showing their class, and pulled back level to be 2-2 at full time.

So the game would have to go into extra time.

In extra time both teams had chances to score but the game stayed as a deadlock and so was to be decided

in a penalty flick shoot out.

Unfortunately Clifton came out on tops in the pressure of the penalty flicks, which was devastating for the girls but they could not be faulted for their effort in every minute of the game.

Now the focus for the team was to win the remaining competitions that we were involved in. The team continued to perform in the weekend league but the tougher games came in the BUCS League and BUCS knock-out competitions.

The toughest games came in the knock-out competition after comprehensively winning, what could have been a difficult fixture away from home at Portsmouth,

Andy Smith

we progressed to the semi-finals and were drawn away from home again this time against our League competitors Oxford Brooks University.

The game started with a shock own-goal for Oxford Brooks putting them ahead after only a few minutes. This did not shake the Loughborough team and they took control of the game from then on in creating many chances but not converting.

The game ticked on and passed the 60 minute mark with the score still 1-0, but the girls still played the game and a break through came in the form of first year Kirsty Hoskins and then in the last moments of play Loughborough won a short corner and Kate Maxey scored to grasp a 2-1 win that was thoroughly deserved and booked

our place in the BUCS final against Edinburgh University 1st Team.

The team concentrated on their remaining games in the BUCS and weekend leagues and ran out winners in both, and were left to focus on the up coming final.

A snow covered Leeds was to host the BUCS finals, all the efforts of Leeds University and the BUCS committee were amazing to get the games started on time.

Edinburgh was a very strong team and had the lion’s share of the game and getting to half time 2-0 up. Even though we were under a lot of pressure we made a few chances and converted one part way through the second half to make it 2-1, but the strength of Edinburgh and especially their

centre midfielder and Scotland international Nikki Kid prevailed and came through deserved 3-1 winners.

The determination of this team throughout the season has been incredible and they have had a truly successful season, winning 2 leagues and a silver medal from the four competitions entered can only be congratulated.

Head Coach Michael Llloyd said; "The girls made real progress this season both individually and collectively. Their commitment and efforts both on and off the pitch allowed them to achieve or exceed their goals while also enjoying their hockey in the process"

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the overview Leeds Met Carnegie vs Cardiff in the Men’s Trophy in a repeat fixture from last year. The Leeds side were triumphant with a 14 - 8 scoreline, securing three consecutive Trophys. Cambridge 2s vs Nottingham in the Women’s Trophy Final, with a 14 - 6 victory for Notts’ Green and Gold. Loughborough faced the ferocious Durham side in the Men’s Championship and Durham certainly proved worthy of the adjective with a 21 - 2 pasting which cemented a 4 year undefeated streak. Durham’s Women tried to earn a clean sweep in the Women’s Championship Final but Cambridge retained their title in a 7 - 4 grueller.

DURHAM

CHAMPIONSHIP

LEEDS MET TROPHY

UO CAMBRIDGE CHAMPIONSHIP

UO EDINBURGH TROPHY

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LACROSSE Simon Roe

CAMBR Cambridge Lacrosse made it to both Women’s Championship and Trophy Finals. What would you put it down to?

It really was extraordinarily awesome.

We pride ourselves on being a non-hierarchical club; both teams practice together and we rely on the contributions of every single squad member.

This year, we benefitted from having top strength and conditioning coaching from Core Cambridge— they understand us as female athletes and have worked very closely to get us into peak shape whilst keeping things fun.

This was the second straight BUCS National Championship for the Blues, and it’s obviously been exhilarating to carry on the successful legacy of CUWLC. I think a lot of this success comes from our composed style of play and team chemistry.

The two cannot exist without each other, and our team balances hard work, heart, and skill with fun and humour. We have a lot of different personalities coming together and are all so close, and teams can’t win without being best friends. All of our

players bring outside experience, whether regional, international, or otherwise, and everyone contributes their own brand of thoughtful gameplay and ideas at practice. This year’s BUCS win was especially sweet after dropping the Varsity game—we re-grouped and bounced back without a lot of the pressure to be ‘perfect’ and everything came together in the end.

Our 2nds team, the Kingfishers, have always been a force in their league, and we were very fortunate to this year have a lot of young talent coming in and eager to step their game up to a high university level. In the past, the Kingfishers have relied on a lot of speed on fast-breaks, but with a very new roster this year we looked to adapt to suit new styles and strengths. We spent a lot of time with both the Kingfishers and the Blues watching video footage and holding classroom tactic sessions, and incorporated a more deliberate style of play for the Kingfishers in particular. It’s an absolute testament to the hard work and camaraderie of the Kingfishers that they were

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able to dominate Varsity and beat many other university 1st teams on the way to the Trophy Finals.

Who would you say was the standout player from the Women’s Championship winning side and why?

It’s difficult to pick just one player from the Blues squad this year; we are not a team that relies on all-stars, but rather on team chemistry. We have to give special mention to our defensive unit overall.

We lost nearly our entire defense to graduation at the end of last year, and going into this season Anna and I anticipated rebuilding the defense to be our biggest challenge.

Defensive units only work well when everyone is 100% on the same page, and so familiarity and communication is critical. Our defense was very young this year, but everyone stepped up and we were able to combine intelligent gameplay with well-orchestrated highpressure systems.

Suki Ritchie was critical in helping me organise the unit.

The defense

21 - 2 was the final sco in the Men’s Champions Final, was there ever a doubt that Team Durha would do the job agains Loughborough?

We were very confident in our a to win the final. We had been tra hard since our semi-final victor Bristol and were happy with the we had put in. We knew we were be playing on astro-turf so we tr on astro-turf in Durham in prepa We knew we were going to be in f battle against a big, physical, re Loughborough team, but we were confident that we were going to job done.

4th Consecutive BUCS Lacrosse Championship Win for Durham, a grea achievement. You must the team training ever What does a typical we training consist of for team?

We do adhere to a rigorous trai schedule of six days a week. It is rigorous training schedule that us to be at our best week in and w

JAKE FRATELLA - DURHAM

RIDGE - ERIN WALTERS

ore ship any am st

ability aining ry against e work going to rained aration. for a elentless e o get the

p at have ry day? eek of r the

ining s this t allows week

out. Being the best for so long paints a target on your back and every team in the country is looking to take us down, so we have to be sure we are at our best and not let our guard down. We are fortunate to be at a university like Durham that fully supports us. We have access to 3G (rubber crumb), astro-turf and grass pitches, which allows us to prepare for away games. We also have a great strength and conditioning staff that makes sure we are working hard and getting better every day.

season and why?

Durham really took the Game to loughborough in the final quarter; would you say experience was the big difference, if not what would you say was the biggest difference?

Lacrosse in the UK is coming along nicely.

The main difference between the US and the UK has got to be widespread exposure and experience level. Like I said, some of the Americans at Durham began playing lacrosse when they were nine or ten years old, where most of the British players at Durham began closer to 19 or 20. Those ten years of experience makes a huge difference when it comes to understanding the game at a high level, as well as developing the unique skill set/hand eye coordination needed to play lacrosse.

Experience is a huge factor. We have guys that have been playing lacrosse for 15+ years. We are also in excellent shape due to our training, as stated in the previous question. This allows us to continue playing lacrosse at a high level late in the game when fatigue normally sets in. I would say experience and our training are what allow us to play at a high level late in games.

Who would you say was the standout player of the

Goalkeeper Charlie DeSocio. He is one of the best goalkeepers I have ever had the pleasure of playing with and really makes a difference in games. He is the leader of the entire defence. Without Charlie in net we would have had much closer games.

How does Lacrosse differ over here in comparison to the US?

seen some very skilled lacrosse players considering the fact that they have only been playing for no more than a couple years in most cases. For example, our first team captain, Andy Nicholls, is one of our best defenders and is from the Manchester area. Another example would be our second team captain and frequent call-up to the first team Sam Hewitt (also from the Manchester area) who began playing just last year and is one of our most capable midfielders.

This aspect is promising for the future of English Lacrosse. The athleticism is clearly there; all that is needed now is the widespread exposure, interest from youth development programs and good coaching (which the ELA already provides). Once young kids start playing lacrosse, instead of football or rugby, English lacrosse is going to explode and will be challenging the US, Canada and Iroquois Nationals for World Championships. At the moment Durham remain top of the tree and I hope we stay there but the standard is improving all of the time.

Played 9, Won 9, Goal Difference 160, 27 Points, can anyone get near Durham Lacrosse in terms of competition and ability?

During my time playing in the UK I have

Durham University Lacrosse

set the tone in the BUCS final—it really cannot be ignored that we were able to hold a typically lethal Durham attack to only 4 goals.

knock and everything came together on the pitch in the end. Everyone’s very excited to see the new players who come in next year and keep building both teams.

Special mention, however, has to go to veteran midfielders Ellie Walshe and Laura Plant. Both are international players who played their last games for Cambridge in the final and have given so much to CUWLC over the past six and four years respectively.

What did you think of the BUCS Big Wednesday as an overall event, with all the different sports going on etc?

The whole BUCS week, with Trophy Tuesday and Big Wednesday, was a lot of fun and clearly very well organised. It made such Can you get both titles next a difference to play in the Year?

Finals at top facilities and be part of a big national event.

Absolutely! The depth of The team representatives our club is immense and from Leeds Met were although we will be losing friendly and helpful, and quite a few players on both the general excitement teams to graduation, I have was infectious. It was no doubt that players will fantastic to get to showcase continue to step up and lacrosse and have so much carry on where we left off in support from not only each 2013. Doubtful outsiders other and our families and saw this as a rebuilding year friends but also the event after many members of last organisers from BUCS, year’s BUCS Championship the ELA, and players from team left, but our other sports, teams, and camaraderie never took a universities.

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NETBALL the overview Birmingham were up against Northumbria in the Netball Trophy Final on the Tuesday. Northumbria were triumphant with a 39 - 31 victory over the Birmingham side. Bath were once again present in the Championship Final however their opponents this year came from UWIC. Team Bath were wanting to retain their title after last years victory over Leeds Met Carnegie however it wasn’t to be after a great team performance from the UWIC side. 42 - 50 was the final scoreline as UWIC were crowned Champions.

UWIC

CHAMPIONSHIP

NORTHUMBRIA TROPHY

F Leeds Met Carnegie

Images by Leeds Met Carnegie

the overview The Shield Final up first and Glamorgan faced off against Leeds. Glamorgan came out on top with a 58 - 10 victory over the Leeds side then Liverpool John Moores and Loughborough 2s lined up in the Trophy Finals with LJM taking the win 60 - 22. Leeds Met Carnegie have dominated the Championships over the years and the Loughborough side they were up against. Headingley Stadium was the location for the Championship Final face off between the two teams and Leeds Met struck again with 52 points to Loughborough’s.

LEEDS MET

CHAMPIONSHIP

LIVERPOOL JM TROPHY

GLAMORGAN SHIELD

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Loughborough suffered a disappointing end to BUCS Big Wednesday as the Rugby League first team were beaten 52-10 by a strong Leeds Metropolitan side. Leeds ran in an impressive eight tries to Loughborough’s two at the Headingley stadium.

There were big collisions early on as both sides look to gain the upper hand in the physical battle. This led to an over aggressive high tackle however and Leeds number eight Dan Parker was sin-binned.

Loughborough could not take advantage on the scoreboard even though they had the territorial upper hand. Both teams were completing their sets but unable to make any line breaks.

Good defence by Leeds stops Loughborough from scoring but the team in purple looked dangerous in the early stages.

Against the run of play, it was Leeds who managed to eventually take the lead through a well worked try down the right hand side scored by 13 Mufargo Muvouou. The conversion was missed by Gareth Hynes from out wide.

Leeds took advantage of further weak Loughborough defence to go over for a second well worked try. This time 60///Studentsportmagazine.com 60///Studentsportmagazine.com

it was scored by sinbinned Parker who went from zero to hero as he gathered a clever reverse kick through to score under the posts, Hynes converting for a 10-0 lead.

Tom Curroll then compounded Loughborough’s misery as he made a devastating break up the middle and offload for fellow interchange player Chris Bowler who dived over.

Hynes was again on hand to convert for a 16-0 lead.

Loughborough managed to grab themselves a lifeline as Anthony Squire collected a fumbled kick and evaded two tacklers to cross the whitewash.

James Plum converted and Loughborough were right back in it at 16-6.

However the visitors shot themselves in the foot by giving away a penalty for a high tackle on the stroke of half time which Hynes kicked from 40 metres leaving the half time score was 18-6 in favour of Leeds Met. Leeds came out in the second half and struck a killer blow immediately as captain Michael Sykes crashed over for a converted score straight after the break to extend the lead to 24-6.

An unfortunate slip from Mike Bewick then allowed Leeds to add a further try

through Nathan Fozzard as a hole opened up for him to stroll through.

The conversion was no problem for Hynes.

Minutes later Jamie Love put the game out of sight for Leeds as he crossed out wide after a great break from Gaz Fairhead.

Sykes was unable to convert making the score 34-6.

Chris Bowler then crossed for his second try as Loughborough’s defence began to look ragged, Sykes converting to take Leeds up to 40 points.

Loughborough conceded twice more but managed a consolation effort through the last play of the game to run out eventual losers with a score-line of 52-10.

The Epinal spoke to captain Mark Wilson who praised both his team and their opponents: “You know when you come up against these [Leeds] it’s going to be tough, they consistently do the right things and put you under pressure.

We didn’t take our chances early on but I’m proud of the boys for sticking at it and having the final say there at the end”.

LEEDS METROPOLITAN - 52 VS 10 - LOUGHBOROUGH

RUGGED

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for lufbra...

by SAM HOPKINS

The Epinal

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NOTTINGHAM TAKE LEAGUE TO LUMPUR...

british university rugby league goes global by anthony bowyer

On June 7th the University of Nottingham's Rugby League Club will be undertaking a development programme in Malaysia. The majority of work will be carried out in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, on a trip which should help further develop Rugby League at grassroots level in the country.

Seventeen representatives will fly out, and will run coaching workshops in several primary schools, before introducing the sport to two of the city's Universities.

The Midlands Premier outfit have taken great strides this season, and are hoping to forge a permanent link with Malaysia RL. The University of Nottingham has a Campus on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, which presents the club with a great opportunity to increase participation in an educational environment, and the team will also donate a playing strip to one of the schools. At the end of the programme, the 'Green and Golds' will take on the Kuala Lumpur Bulldogs representative team in what promises to be a high-profile occasion. ''We realise how significant this could be, as we look to form a lasting partnership with Malaysian Rugby League. Plenty of work has already been done to lay an RL foundation in the country, and we have a great opportunity to get a generation of kids playing sport. Some of these kids aren't as fortunate as us, and often aren't presented with the opportunities we have. Rugby League is a game that rewards intelligence and accuracy over just sheer size and strength, and there will be a lot of potential in some of the children out there, and I guess we just want to help develop it''.

In order for the trip to go ahead, the club need to raise a total of ÂŁ10,000 by June, and would be hugely appreciative of any help. They are in desperate need of sponsors, and are running a number of events in order to raise the money. If you would be interested in sponsoring the team, or donating to their cause, please contact Mike at michael_butcher@live.com, or visit the website at nottstokl.moonfruit.com for further details.

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University level rugby league has become one of the most competitive sports on the BUCS roster in recent years. There are currently twelve fully competitive divisions in the UK as well a merit league, which is used

by Universities who want to start up or develop without the stress of having to play week in week out.

It has been the city of Leeds that dominates the game both at professional and University level, with the Rhinos taking the Super League Grand Final and Leeds Metropolitan University side retaining their crown in 2012.

However unlike the pro game which is seeing the M62 corridor of clubs become closer and tight nit, at University level the scope for success is far wider.

The merit league is a big beneficial factor to this with both Northern and Southern Universities giving more people the chance to try out the sport at a safer and more controlled environment.

Southern Universities such as Bath and Reading are making big names for themselves already, producing a good fluid brand of rugby, whilst progressing through the

BUCS ranks. They have both seen an increase in numbers and have announced extra playing squads for the 2012/2013 season, a big indication that the sport is growing a wider audience.

This is all part of the 20112015 strategy, which aims to get more people playing the sport, and a greater affiliation with the RFL. They are trying to take the game to new levels in terms of the professional game, with their extraordinary rugby campaign, whilst the Universities are enabling them to hit different markets and expand the sport through the playing culture.

One of those who is encouraged by this strategy is ex- Huddersfield University player Jared Priestly, who is now working in a journalistic capacity with clubs in the north. He believes this expansion can only benefit the game. “Rugby league at University level is good, not only on a social level, but also for the development of the game.

It is unearthing new talent, with players who may have never had the chance to play rugby league before because of where they live or for other reasons.

“The creation of university teams in southern universities, as well as other areas away from the 'heartlands', is also encouraging the creation of leagues in the local area. In London and the southern region new local leagues are being formed, with several players playing for both their university and these teams,” he said.

With the pro game cashing in on the 2013 home World Cup too, taking the increasingly popularity boom in the Super League through Sky Monday night games, universities are the next big step in this development.

This will see them host a University World Cup in 2013 with Universities from around the world showing off their talents in the home of Rugby league.

A testament to the quality on

show in the university standards means that the top clubs regularly get entry into the professional Challenge Cup every season, with Leeds Metropolitan claiming a scalp recently over Bradford Dudley Hill.

One of those who is proud of what is going on is former Huddersfield Giants U20’s player Aaron Nicholson. He said: “Clubs are forming partnerships with pro clubs, Huddersfield are forming some sort of partnership with the Huddersfield Giants so they are training more and taking the team more seriously.

I cannot actually play anymore because of my commitments to Keighley but it shows the strength at University level.”

The game at University level continues to bring in more stars that have played in the professional game. With players such as Rob Worrincy, who used to play for Castleford Tigers and

Hull FC, who is now one of the big names at Leeds Met whilst also playing for semi pro club Halifax.

There are even more players who have made a name for themselves and have gone on to the pro games after a successful career at the BUCS level. Every year the finals are played at The Carnegie Stadium, Leeds, and are televised on the Premier Sports channel 433, showing the interest in the sport.

There are also GB university squads that give the elite players a chance to battle it out with the best students from around the country.

So with rugby league expanding at a great rate of knots, the game that has been historically dominated in the north could well find a new home in the south.

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the overview Birmingham managed to get themselves to every final at the BUCS Big Wednesday. The Women’s Trophy Finals were up first where the Birmingham 2s were up against Leeds Met Carnegie. 3 - 1 was the final score with Birmingham taking the first Gold on offer to them. Plymouth had a chance to put Birmingham’s Gold Medal haul to an end but Birmingham were just too good in the Men’s Trophy Final winning 3 - 2. Leeds Met Carnegie ceased the the Gold Streak in the Women’s Championship Final 3 - 1 and Birmingham were edged out again in the Men’s Championship by a strong Nottingham side who took a 3-2 win.

NOTTINGHAM CHAMPIONSHIP

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It’s been quite a season for the University of Birmingham squash club. Collectively the six teams have amassed three league titles, and the squad’s strength in depth is illustrated by the fact that they’ve recorded the second highest BUCS points total of any university club, behind only Loughborough’s powerful swimming set-up. Both the men and women’s second teams won their BUCS Trophy finals on the Tuesday, with Peter Fozard and Charlotte Losson playing starring roles, and it was now left to the first teams to travel to Leeds as part of BUCS Big Wednesday in an attempt to cap off a remarkable year by beating Nottingham and Leeds Met respectively.

At two sets to one up in the pivotal second match of the men’s final, it looked as if Oliver Rawlins was going to ensure that Birmingham would indeed return with gold medals. On court two, Rob Luke, promoted to the first team in the most important match of the season 68///Studentsportmagazine.com

to replace the unavailable Ashlee Harris, had got the men off to the perfect start by impressively seeing off his ganglier, less mobile opponent Alex Dakin in straight sets. And having narrowly lost the first set 11-9, Rawlins had shown superb battling qualities to haul back the tenacious Rory Birtwistle, and needed just one more to set up what could have been an unassailable 2-0 lead for Birmingham. Alas, Birtwistle stepped it up in the fourth set, using his fitness and agility to keep the ball alive during some gruelling rallies to force errors from Rawlins, whose play became slightly too passive in response to the resurgent Birtwistle. The Notts number three seed, who was awarded player of the tournament at the trophy presentation, was able to hang on in an attritional fifth to win 11-9, 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, and land a key psychological as well as mathematical blow to Birmingham’s chances.

Although Oliver Mapp played a blinder to defeat Nottingham

number one Dave Wardle in four, the absence of Birmingham’s usual top seed Harris took its toll, as Josh Taylor and Scott Young succumbed in straights to tough opposition, giving Notts a 3-2 overall victory. Birmingham were bitterly disappointed to lose to a team who they had beaten to the league title, but skipper Taylor was rightly proud of his side’s achievements in the aftermath. ‘It’s been such a strong season for us, we won the local league, won the BUCS league, it’s just unfortunate we couldn’t finish it off with a big win here. All the guys fought really strongly so it’s just one of those things.’

Earlier in the day the women had also fallen short when losing 3-1 to a strong Leeds Met outfit, who claimed their fifth successive BUCS Championship title. The difficulty of the task had been spelled out immediately by the hosts, whose player-coach Kirsty McPhee played at her imperious best to dispatch long-time rival Katie Quarterman 11-5, 11-4, 11-5. This could have

birmingham squash boast unforgettable season set the tone for a one-sided contest, but Birmingham rallied when Hannah Vaughan, having lost the first set 11-7, found her rhythm and consistency to set up game point at 10-9 in the fourth against Carnegie’s Sophie Wallis.

A stunning 30-shot rally ensued, in which Vaughan retrieved the ball from every position on the court before eventually forcing a botched volley from Wallis to put the final in the balance at 1-1. ‘I reassessed the situation in between the first and second game, and just went back on court, played my own game, stayed calm, and it worked out’, explained Vaughan, who now assumed a supporting role as Jess Mudge and Nia Davies attempted to force an unlikely victory.

Both Mudge and Davies played some super squash in their respective matches, but a sense of what might have been lingered after both contests. Mudge, playing against the stony-faced Chloe Pearson, who was ranked number two at England under-19

level last year, was outclassed in the first two sets, but, sensing complacency, battled back in the third and created a game point before going down 1210. Similarly, having lost the first two sets, Davies was the better player in the exciting third set of her clash with Jess Dixon, when she manufactured a number of game points but unfortunately couldn’t take them, allowing Dixon prevail 15-13 and wrap up the Championship for Leeds Met. Mudge and Davies will be back next year for Brum, but the final represented an emotional farewell for Vaughan and influential captain Quarterman, for whom the overriding feeling was one of disappointment. ‘The whole team had trained so hard for this and I just really wanted us to win, so I’m gutted to go out on a loss’, she reflected.

A disappointing day for Birmingham, then, but two sets of gold medals and two sets of silver medals is not a bad return for this year’s assault on the cup

competitions. Indeed, it’s been a fantastic season for the club as a whole, in part down to the hard work of professional coach Jon Tate, who was able to take many positives from the day, and predicts a bright future for the teams. ‘We’ve been pleased with the strength of the squad as a whole, they work hard, they train hard and they’re trying to develop their games. We’ve got to keep trying to get as far through these competitions as we can, and keep telling people that Birmingham’s the place to come if you want to improve your squash’.

Birmingham’s performances in Leeds would have done no harm to this recruitment drive, and the club look well-equipped to make themselves a permanent fixture at BUCS Big Wednesday, where next year they’ll look to go one better and claim gold.

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the overview Loughborough dominated the Swimming in the Championship Team Final with Edinburgh in second place and Bath in third. Sheffield Hallam claimed top spot on the podium in the Trophy team Final, and Bath 2‘s took the Bronze. Plymouth edged out a strong Cardiff 2‘s team to take home the Shield Team Gold, resulting in Cardiff claiming Silver followed

by Surrey in Bronze medal position.

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SWIMMING LOUGHBOROUGH CHAMPIONSHIP

SHEFF HALLAM TROPHY

PLYMOUTH SHIELD

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Almost a month after the tremendously successful inaugural BUCS Gatorade Championships saw individual event champions crowned in Sheffield, the best of British Student Sport again converged on another northern sporting city to do battle. This time Leeds was the host, and BUCS Big Wednesday was the battle.

The top eight swimming teams in the Championship, Trophy and Shield Leagues met on a chilly Wednesday afternoon in March to decide the top University Team in the country for each respective division.

In the Championship, reigning champions and swimming powerhouse Loughborough University were prepared with a strong team of swimmers and were not to be hindered by a minibus breakdown meaning part of their team were unable to attend. Looking to challenge them were the Universities of Edinburgh and Bath, along with Nottingham and Birmingham among others.

The Trophy Division contained a second team from Bath, the current champions, and the University of Birmingham. Also hoping to make an impression on this division was the team from Sheffield Hallam who have climbed significantly up the rankings this year due in part, to the addition of London Olympians Rebecca Turner and Ellie Faulkner and their strong performances at BUCS Short Course and Gatorade Championships. A few teams had strong representation across the divisions, including Birmingham with one team in each league and Cardiff Second Team looking for some strong performances in the Shield Competition.

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Medley Relay showdown; in the Championship, Loughborough dominated both the men’s and women’s event showing no change in results from last year.

Following this came a stream of 100m events including Medley, Freestyle, Butterfly, Backstroke and Breaststroke for men and women.

Loughborough continued to show their metal claiming four out of these five titles; BUCS Gatorade Champions Emma Wilkins, Rachael Solway and Tilly Gray ensured these victories for Loughborough, with Silver Medallist from the BUCS Gatorade Championships, Corrie Scott, picking up a first win for Edinburgh in the 100m Breaststroke.

Loughborough’s men also had similarly dominant results in the 100m events, winning three out of five. However Kieran McGuckin from Edinburgh stormed to a win in the blue ribband event that is 100m Freestyle and the University of Bath taking the win in the 100m Breaststroke. Next up the longest event of the programme, 200m Freestyle; this provided wins for Loughborough’s men and threetime Olympian, Caitlin McClatchey of Edinburgh in the women’s event.

The final group of individual events was the 50m splash and dash for each stroke (Freestyle, Butterfly, Breaststroke and Backstroke) in which Loughborough’s women took two of the titles, Butterfly and Freestyle courtesy of Gray and Wilkins again, and Edinburgh took the remaining two, thanks to Scott and Sarah Eaglesham. Loughborough’s men dominated the sprints to take three of the titles leaving Bath to take the 50m Breaststroke.

The remaining event to be decided was the 4x50m Freestyle

Relay and judging by last years races, it was due to be a closely fought encounter. Edinburgh’s women took the lead going into the last leg of the relay only to be touched out of the contest

by Loughborough with the dominant Wilkins on the anchor leg. Although the men’s contest was much different; Edinburgh, Scottish National Record holders in the event, took a slight lead at the half way stage and continued this lead throughout to finish with a fair margin over the Loughborough men, with Bath touching in the third.

With the racing concluded there was nothing to do but to wait for the total points to be announced.

Starting with the Shield Division, third place taken by Surrey (173 points), second was Cardiff 2’s (195 points) and the winner by only a 5-point margin was University College Plymouth (200 points). In the Trophy Division, third place was Bath 2’s (176 points), second was Birmingham 2’s (181 points) and Trophy Champions were Sheffield Hallam with 221 points.

In the Championship, some solid podium places ensured Bath placed third with 158 points, in second was the University of Edinburgh (205 points) thanks to podium places in every event bar two, including six wins. Clear winners of the Championship were Loughborough with podium places in every event, including 15 wins. However, with a reduced points gap over the second placed team compared to last year, could there be a new challenge to face the might of Loughborough in the years to come?

by EMMA BIRD

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matthew bowe assistant COach loughborough university power house of british univ confident about top of the bucs a dominant aquatic force, Gold in Leeds? league year We don’t take anything for granted odds on favourite going into competitions and we knew after year...

Edinburgh and Bath would be tough The training, facilities and coaching opposition. But the team was up for for National certainly are a part of why we have it and we were confident that if we been so dominant. Also the reputation performed our best we could win the that we have built over the years Meets and on Gold has helped with recruiting good new student/athletes each year points They are has continued the momentum. a typical club which I would say that a major part of our the number one success is the attitude that we instil in the athletes…..Loughborough has a sport club in the week... tradition of winning, it’s expected, and A typical week generally consists of every member of the team buys into 9 swim sessions, 3 weights sessions, 2 that belief. bucs league... circuit/core sessions and additional running and prehab work depending on the individual.

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versity swimming

Can you see any developments threats from over the last rivals over the few years? coming years?

The strength and depth of competition has increased hugely over the last few years and it certainly has kept us on our toes. I think Stirling, Swansea, Bath and Edinburgh have all improved and are challenging us every year.

Apart from the University expanding towards the M1!! In terms of the swim team I think the athletes have become more professional and have realised that to succeed in swimming it’s not just about working hard in the pool. You have to be professional in all areas e.g nutrition, pre/post workout routines, land training, academics.

how does your history as a loughborough swimming graduate assist with coaching?

I think it helps greatly with understanding the culture of what is expected in swimming and swimming at Loughborough. But by far the biggest advantage is on the technical side of the sport. Not just in terms of the knowledge I have gained on technique as an athlete but having that experience has allowed me to translate that knowledge to the athletes more effectively.

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NOTTS TRENT CHAMPIONSHIP

UO SHEFFIELD TROPHY

NOTTS TRENT CHAMPIONSHIP

NEWCASTLE TROPHY

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It was an all Nottingham final in both the Men and Women’s Championship. Nottingham Trent came out on top in both; 3 - 0 was the score in the Women’s Final and 7 - 3 in the Men’s. Kent were unsuccessful in the Men’s Trophy Final where they were defeated 9 - 7 by Sheffield. Newcastle faced Bath in the Women’s Trophy match. 4 - 1 was the final scoreline with Newcastle taking Gold.

TABLE TENNIS

the overview

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notts city show Nottingham Trent University Men’s Table Tennis 1st team have had a year of total domination. Promoted to the Premier League at the end of 2011/12 season, they faced the prospect of the Northern Premier League with great excitement.

Under the guidance of

captain Daniel Lowe, and with the towering presence of England #6 Chris Doran, backed up with England #13 Sean

Cullen they beat all opposition to take the Premier League title with a game to spare.

They met a stiff challenge in the form of a very strong Cambridge team featuring some talented players from

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around the world.

With Cullen unavailable to play, the team that lined up against Cambridge featured Doran, Emran Hussain, Lowe and Joe Killoran – all products of ETTA’s youth programmes.

The form book showed that both teams have had an undefeated year, with Cambridge in Tier 1. It was the visitors that started the stronger, going into a 5-3 lead at the halfway interval with wins

by Chan, Kojima, Leung and Sun, whilst NTU were trying to catch up with Doran and Lowe contributing scores.

Two further wins by Doran and Hussain levelled the scores before Cambridge reasserted their lead to go 7-5 up, but Doran won his 4th singles match and Hussain his 2nd to level once more at 7-7. Cambridge won the penultimate singles match to put them at match point, before Killoran won his game and levelled to 8-8 with the doubles to come.

The doubles match mirrored the game, with its rollercoaster nature. Doran and Lowe won the first game 11-1, but lost the

wdown

by Andrew Shemeld

2nd 6-11. From there though, the quality of the NTU players showed through, and the 3rd (11-2) and 4th (11-8) games went to the home team, with NTU winning the match 9-8.

The team looked forward to playing the Final against close rivals University of Nottingham.

Past matches between the 2 universities have resulted in NTU wins (16-1 & 12-5), but the NTU team knew that they must continue their form to win on the big stage in Leeds.

The win in Leeds capped a year where NTU dominated University Table Tennis with the Men’s 1st team winning the Northern Premier League undefeated, winning the Championship final, and Doran winning Individual Gold in Men’s Singles, winning Gold in Mixed Doubles with NTU compadre Emma Vickers, and Men’s Doubles with Sean Cullen.

Cullen also won silver in the Mens Singles, and Hussain won silver in the Mixed doubles with Alice Loveridge. The Women’s team have also won their league undefeated, dominating the finals of the Championship in Leeds, and Alice Loveridge winning

Gold in the Singles, with Emma winning Silver.

The women reached the finals of the championships, courtesy of a victory over the only team to have ever defeated them in 3 years of competition; University of Manchester. That defeat was in last years Championship Semi final, and revenge was indeed sweet, with Vickers (England #5) & Loveridge defeating Manchester 3-2.

The final was, like the men’s, against University of Nottingham, and previous results have gone to the pink side of the city, with NTU winning 5-0, and nothing was to change at the BUCS Big Wednesday.

Trent dominated from start to finish taking both the Mens and Womens Championships in style.

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r t s r e k c i

v a m m e

m a h g n i t t no

e l b a t s ’ t tren

Yes I love chocolate! I think Galaxy has got to be the best. And yes it is true I am going to appear on Eggheads as part of a Table Tennis Team of others who have played in the BUCS championships, one from NTU and 3 from Sheffield University. We have already filmed it in Glasgow and it will be airing towards the end of the year, I won’t tell you how we did though, you will have to find out.

Hardest challenge you’ve been faced with in your career?

What’s life like at NTU? (Socials, Sport The hardest challenge I have faced would probably and how much the university have helped have been when I was selected as only a reserve for the you get where you are today)?

Commonwealth Championships in Delhi, however, I came back to win another two U21 National Titles.

Life at NTU is great, there is such a great atmosphere and everyone is very friendly. Recently our table tennis What’s a typical week in training for you? club has appointed a social secretary and we now have regular socials. NTU has helped me alot with my (How often, Strength and Conditioning, table tennis; I am part of the STARS (Student, Talented Physio, Rest Days) Athlete Scholarship Scheme) programme which gives us a financial bursary which enables me to pay for entry I train around 4-5 days a week during the season forms to events, travel expenses, accommodation and when there are a lot of competitions, I also try to go petrol to get to training along with one-to-one coaching. to the gym and also go running as much as possible.

We also have access to the physio and regular strength We also have regular meetings with a strength and and conditioning sessions with a special programme conditioning coach to go through our specially designed designed specifically for us. I like it that much that I have programmes. applied to do my Masters at NTU next year.

According to twitter you love Chocolate and are going on Eggheads! Firstly, what’s your favourite Chocolate? Secondly, are you really going on Eggheads?

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Winning at the BUCS Big Wednesday must have been great, not just for you but the team as well, how does it compare to other competitions?

y m r a t n re . . . e t i l e s i enn

et

Winning at BUCS is great, as knowing that we are the best University in Britain is a fantastic achievement. It is a great tournament to win and we always enjoy playing BUCS competitions as a team. You never know how good the talent is going to be as there are always some fantastic international students. I think I have around 10 BUCS medals now and I hope to win more.

Back to Chocolate, this can’t be exactly the best nutrition for you. Do you have a nutrition plan or is it more just try and eat healthy?

I don’t have a specific nutrition plan but I do make an effort to eat healthy on a daily basis. Although a little chocolate does no harm!

bio NTU Elite Table Tennis star, Ranked Number 5 in Great Britain (Senior Women) and self confessed chocolate connoisseur...

AGE - 22 Hometown - DERBY course - Psychology w/Sport Science

@Emma_Vickers91

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STIRLING

CHAMPIONSHIP

STIRLING TROPHY

BATH

CHAMPIONSHIP

DURHAM TROPHY

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TENNIS the overview Stirling 2nd team faced London School of Economics in the Men’s Trophy Final. Stirling came out on top with a 10 - 2 victory to take the Gold. In the Women’s Trophy Durham 2nd team didn’t mess about, 12 - 0 was the scoreline against Loughborough 2’s.

Stirling faced Durham in the Men’s Championship Final. Stirling managed to retain their title from last year with a 4 - 0 victory over Durham. Bath did the same in the Women’s Championship Final beating a strong Exeter team 4 - 2 to retain their title as BUCS Champions.

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IN PICTURES

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by SWPIX.COM

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Bath against Aberdeen in the Men’s Trophy Finals.

The match went down to the final set with a 3 - 2 victory for Bath. Aberdeen were present again in the Women’s Trophy Final, this time they went all the way with a 3 - 1 victory over Birmingham. Hallam played Northumbria in the Men’s Championship Final but it was Northumbria who took the Gold in a 3 - 0 victory.

Northumbria also represented in the Women’s Championship Final facing Durham. They did it again making it two championship victories Northumbria in a 3 - 0 victory.

NORTHUMBRIA CHAMPIONSHIP

UO BATH TROPHY

NORTHUMBRIA CHAMPIONSHIP

ABERDEEN TROPHY

M F

VOLLEYBALL

the overview

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THE

Playlist RUNNING • WEIGHTS • EUROVISION

WEIGHTS

Running

eurovision

Brianstorm

Rockafeller Skank

Making Your Mind Up

Arctic Monkeys

Fat Boy Slim

Bucks Fizz (1981)

Bounce

Can’t Stop

Puppet On A String

Calvin Harris

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Sandie Shaw (1967)

This Is War

Closing Time

Love Shine A Light

30 Seconds to Mars

Semi Sonic

Katrina and the Waves (1997)

End Credits

My Favourite Game

Ooh Aah...Just a Little Bit

Chase and Status

The Cardigans

Gina G (1996)

Shake It Out

All The Things I’ve Done

Save Your Kisses For Me

Florence and the Machine

The Killers

Brotherhood of Man (1976)

Get Lucky

Tick Tick Boom

One Step Out Of Time

Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams

The Hives

Michael Ball (1992)

Can’t Hold Us

R U Mine?

Beg, Steal or Borrow

Macklemore

Arctic Monkeys

The New Seekers (1972)

Toulouse

I Love It

Congratulations

Nicky Romero

icona pop

Cliff Richard (1968)

Make It Burn Dem

Pursuit of Happiness

Flying The Flag (For You)

Skrillex & Damian Marley

Kid Kudi

Schooch (2007)

So Good To Me

Gold Dust

I Can

Chris Malinchak

DJ Fresh

Blue (2011)

iPod

Whether you are a connoisseur of lyrics, beats or mucky bass-lines, listening to music is said to affect your mood and provoke a chemical change in your body that can make you cry like a newborn or turn you into a ferocious beast.

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Turn Me On Subscape

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Rage Against the Machine

Join us on facebook and let us know which of these tunes will be staying on your iPod!

SSM Playlists Weights Weights Running Running Patriotic Eurovision

>> > >> >

MENU

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The

Student Kitchen

TWEET! @StudentSportMag @UniNutritionUK

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Killing In the Name of

Graduate Nu fuel your sport whe Let’s set the scene. You’ve spent time, effort and money getting in the shape of your life at University. Perhaps you’ve played a high level of sport or just enjoyed the luxury of being able to train and eat when you like. It is this luxury that forms the foundation of your nutrition at university, for while you may not have money, you will likely have a large amount of time to spend cooking, eating and training.

The stark reality of a new job is that this luxury is taken away.

The grind of a 9-5 (if you are lucky) is that it is difficult to find the time to train, eat properly and avoid the temptation of alcohol and social events.

Rage Against the Machine

UN SOLUTION 1

3 MEALS PER DAY Anyone who has tried eating six small meals a day can attest to the fact that it does work. There’s a reason people do it. The real question is, is it necessary?

I would suggest it isn’t. Eating three meals a day, and making sure you hit your macronutrient intake (fat, protein, carbohydrate) is perfectly adequate to maintain health and improve athletic

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performance. You don’t need to spend two hours every evening preparing your meals for the next day, bringing with you an army of Tupperware and antisocially neglecting your work colleagues at the cafeteria.

So what are my macros? I wouldn’t suggest calorie counting or being too stringent with macros.

Roughly you should be eating 15-30% protein,

40-65% carbohydrate, and 10-25% fat. The reason these are so varied is there is no definitive answer. It depends completely on the individual, their goals and the amount of exercise they are doing.

The point is this though. Eating three meals a day (perhaps with small whole food snacks in between) is perfectly adequate.

utrution en university ends...

UNIVERSITY

UN SOLUTION 2

INTERMITTENT FASTING & CARB LOADING First of all, a note of caution. Intermittent fasting is still an emerging trend in the nutrition industry. I would not recommend this to someone engaging in high-level sport. However, for those looking either to put on muscle or lose weight, it does have some merit. There are a number of different ways of doing this; here are two of the simplest: Losing Fat: Alternate between having a normal diet one day and

decreasing your calorie intake to just 1/5th of its normal rate on the other day. Alternating between this will force your body to burn excess fat due to the fact it must do in order to give you energy.

So, if you usually eat 2500 calories on a normal day, the next day decrease this to 500 calories, and keep alternating.

Muscle Building: Essentially this consists of fasting 18 hours everyday. So for example, if you eat your

dinner at 9pm, go to bed at 10pm, you won’t eat your first meal the next day until 3pm. You then eat your normal calorie intake, getting in all your macro’s, in the last six hours of the day. Note, this still requires you to do regular resistance training.

Why do it?

Carb back loading and IF do work. Don’t be under any illusions though; they are tough.

Some articles have suggested that you can stuff your face to get

UN SOLUTION 3

food prep A common complaint is that the work place doesn’t have a cafeteria, or if it does it only has poor quality food. The obvious answer is to buy food at work, or prepare meals. The latter option

is time consuming and requires a lot of organisation and effort; certainly not ideal. So that leaves buying food at work: Picture this, you go outside your office

at lunchtime and you are faced with a variety of eateries: pret a manger, costa, starbucks, caffe nero etc. More than likely these contain poorly made and unhealthy sandwiches (which in

the remaining calories with any food’s you wish; this is incorrect, eating clean should still be a priority.

However, for a busy person, these are both practical methods for results. They don’t require you to rush around in the morning making breakfast, they don’t require you to prepare lunch and they don’t require you to take snacks to work.

All your cooking (pretty much) can be done when you return home from work.

UN SOLUTION 4

snack at work The key to taking snacks to work is that they are small and transportable:

Cottage Cheese like it or loath it is packed full of slow release protein.

Easy to transport, it’s a great snack at work.

Nuts are a great option If you dislike the taste (no, not salted peanuts try it with pineapple before you ask), or prawns (I wouldn’t I’m talking walnuts, advise together!), it’s macadamias and more expensive but cashews, full of healthy hey, you are working fats and protein. now.

my experience the majority of those at work consume).

So think, what are my other options?

I would hasten a guess that wherever you work there will be an express or convenience version of the nations’ biggest supermarkets. These are your best options.

Avoid the sandwiches and go for some cooked chicken, spinach or nuts.

There are a variety of options available that are far superior to the sorry sandwich purchased at the coffee bar.

by Sam Morrison

UN SOLUTION 5

Supplements You may have struggled to afford supplements whilst at University. This should no longer be the case. Supplements aren’t strictly necessary but they are a great option for bracketing out a workout. But how do I take them to work?

One of the best investments I used at work was the

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Natural Yoghurt is again easy to transport and easy to eat at work. Branded Greek versions are far superior, again giving you a quick fix of protein. Try it with blueberries for an even healthier option.

SmartShake shaker which has a few compartments to store a days worth of pills and powders. It allowed me to take my pre and post workout shake to work easily.

So there it is, these are just a few ideas to help you eat more healthily at work and avoid the middle aged paunch!

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COMPETITION!!!

WHAT VENUE WAS THE BUCS BIG WEDNESDAY RUGBY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL PLAYED?

WIN

Send an email with subject line ‘MAY2013’ along with your Answer, Name, Age, University, Course, Year of Study and Postal Address to: competition@studentsportmagazine.com Competition Closes on 15th of JUNE 2013*

TERMS & CONDITIONS. Winners will be selected at random and notified after the 16th of JUNE 2013. One entry per person. Age restrictions apply to alcohol products.

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Simon Roe

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