Alissia Bevan - The Founder

22 The Founder | Wednesday 21 October 2009
Sport
Performance
Sports comes
to RHUL
Performance Packages swing
into action for five selected
sports teams this weekend
AU Communications
Royal Holloway has always been
renowned for its competiveness
within the University of London
Union (ULU). Situated as it is in
leafy Surrey rather than crammed in
the midst of urban London squalor,
the College sports teams will always
have the edge in outdoor facilities
over many of their city-based counterparts.
However, despite all the
green grass, fresh air and robust facilities,
Royal Holloway still ranked
a mere 62nd overall in the British
University College Sports (BUCS)
league overall last year, trailing behind
King’s, St Mary’s, Brunel and
Imperial.
Now five teams are the pioneers
in a push to firmly ensconce Royal
Holloway where it belongs, as one
of the top 20 sporting institutions
in the BUCS league over the next
5 years. Last year, BUCS teams the
length and breadth of campus vied
for the opportunity to become one
of the five sports teams, each of
which would receive a revolutionary
new performance package – professional
coaching, exclusive kit deals,
sports therapy, nutritional advice,
strength & conditioning and priority
training slots.
After an intense series of applications,
interviews, presentations and
planning, five teams that had shown
best their dedication and mettle
for RHUL Sports were chosen. The
Men’s Rugby 1st team, Women’s
Hockey 1st team, Women’s Lacrosse
1st team, Men’s Basketball 1st team
and Women’s Basketball 1st team
were all able to impress the selection
panel with ambitious targets and
meticulous training programmes
for the year which best utilised all
the resources provided by the performance
package.
New Women’s Lacrosse 1st team
coach, John Mills, is optimistic
about the new performance package
initiative.
“Lacrosse is a sport that progresses
quickly” John explains. “It’s described
as the ‘fastest game on two
feet,’ and its expanding all the time.
It’s a game that you can pick up
quite quickly. New players can learn
enough quickly enough to compete
in only a few weeks.”
Along with coach Louis Richardson,
John Mills’ mass of experience
playing Lacrosse both for Swansea
University and the Welsh national
Men’s team will be a massive boon
for Women’s Lacrosse in RHUL.
John is optimistic but cautious
about what he hopes to achieve with
his new team this year.
“A target? It’s difficult to say at the
moment, but I’d like us to be able to
compete in the league and look to be
in the top in the end. We’re going to
do this by looking to improve individuals
and the team itself.”
The new Women’s 1st Basketball
coach, Tasha Green, seems far more
confident. “I coached the Coventry
first team to position 1A in the
league, and its going to be the same
for Royal Holloway. You know, aim
for the top. Instead of concentrating
on long-term goals, I want to be
concentrating on one year at a time.”
It’s not just the new coaches that
are excited about the new performance
packages though. Royal Holloway’s
ULU-renowned Men’s 1st
Rugby team has been operating for
nearly 6 years without professional
coaching. That’s all changed now,
explains the Men’s 1st Rugby Captain,
Rupert Baldwin.
“Basically, training was student
led. Senior players from the 3rd year
would run the team, run the club.”
Already enjoying the benefit of professional
coaching for the first time
in years, the Men’s Rugby 1st has
wasted no time in planning their
new year ahead.
“As a team, we’ve already decided
on four goals for the year: to reach
the top 3 in the BUCS league for
Men’s Rugby, to win the ULU Gutteridge
Cup, to have a 100% home
victories, and to get as far as we possibly
can in the BUCS Cup.” Last
year, despite a lack of professional
training, Royal Holloway Men’s 1st
Rugby team battled through to the
finals of the ULU Gutteridge Cup
against King’s College, and astonishingly
reached the BUCS league
quarter-finals before being taken
out by sporting giants Bath University.
Whether or not the new performance
packages significantly boost
Royal Holloway BUCS rankings,
teams university-wide will all feel
the benefit of the increased focus on
RHUL sports over the coming years.
Higher-quality coaching techniques
will trickle down from the “Golden
five” 1st teams to the Freshers being
coached, captained and led by them.
Ts not all plain sailing from here for
the chosen teams though.
With the additional support, the
stakes have been raised, and the
entire College watches expectantly
with baited breath for results. It is
now up to the players themselves,
and their dedication to the backbreakingly
tough new training regimes,
to represent the name of
Royal Holloway against some of the
toughest university sports teams nationwide.
STARS
at Royal
Holloway
» continued from page 21
that they can complete their studies,
whilst still enabling them to compete
at national and international
competitions.
With the help the athletes receive
from the College, the athletes are expected
to give a little back. The College
holds community sports days,
and should a STARS athlete’s sport
be on the agenda, they would be
required to help out with coaching
and guiding children. The athletes
are asked to give talks to inspire others
and perhaps inform them about
their experiences and what it takes
to a top performer.
These RHUL students are the
present and the future of sport either
for Great Britain or their other
respective countries. British sport
has had a slow response to the idea
of nurturing our top class athletes
compared to America or Australia,
however, in the last 10-15 years it
has been realised that if you invest
long term time and money in our
athletes then the rewards will come
in. It’s great to see Royal Holloway
taking responsibility for the future
of these athletes and we look forward
to seeing our STARS athletes
shine now and in the future.
tf
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