'GLOVES OFF' WITH EMPIRE FIGHTING CHANCE

The Foundation for Leadership through Sport (FLS) team ran an event on Thursday 23 March at the Empire Gym in Bristol, as an opportunity to meet the team, athletes and staff from their Fighting Chance programme.

Bob Reeves hosted the day, which was spent with a wide range of people in sport, business and education from Bristol and further afield, to listen and learn from a project of theirs that has not only had a huge impact on Bristol, but more importantly on a number of young people's lives

Programme Lead Martin Bisp described the project as existing “to fight the impact of poverty and inequality on the lives of young people”. They have used boxing as the sporting driver to create a ground breaking fusion of boxing and psychology, to enable young people to overcome adversity that they face, and realise their very unique perspective

The day involved the chance to hear from some very impressive young apprentices who had joined the programme and become leaders within the gym as well as a point of support for coaches and new students who join Empire They spoke with confidence, eloquence, and passion as they told stories of personal challenges, bullying at school, and how they used this opportunity to reshape their lives, friendship groups and to create a pathway for themselves

Following on from the event, we are now in discussion with Empire to invite them to come to Coombe Dingle and visit the University, to spend some time with our staff and hear about our programmes We hope to show them that the University is a welcoming space for them. We will take our Vice Chancellor's Scholars to the Empire gym in September later this year to hear about the programme, get a chance to put on the pads and gloves and enjoy a session with their own up-andcoming athletes!

A truly inspiring day and place in Bristol that is doing so much in that space!

What. A. Season. As a year of main BUCS competition draws to a close, we have the chance to reflect on the 900+ BUCS Wednesday fixtures and 57 BUCS Events in which the University of Bristol was represented (so far).

We have; 11 league-winning teams, with 4 teams winning their respective BUCS Premierships. Four teams; Men’s Futsal, Women’s Football, Men’s Water Polo, Women’s Table Tennis, have placed Top 4 for their sport in the UK (earning them a place at the EUSA European University Championships in the summer)!

The University currently sits 9th nationally in the BUCS Points table of 164 competing institutions and we now wait with baited breath for the first ball of the BUCS cricket season to be bowled...

With the Cricket Men’s and Women’s 1st teams both competing in their BUCS Premier South leagues, and three further Men’s sides spread amongst our BUCS regional divisions, I am really looking forward to watching their performances this season

Looking further ahead, I would like to continue to see our BUCS programme offer the highest level of competitive student sport to our body of dedicated athletes, even in such challenging times as these. Through continuous review and improvement, we look to build on the successes of this season, keep our programme fresh, and offer the best student-athlete experience we can. Bring on season 23/24!