GM FORECASTS RADICAL CHANGE - The Founder

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
SPORTS
23
Sports
Editor’s Note
As many of you may (or
may not) recall, last
week’s issue brought forward
the discussion of a Holloway
mascot, which has turned around
some interesting responses.
Some people favor a mascot,
some don’t. Some readers informed
me about a former Holloway mascot
which seems to have faded
away. With permission pending,
I hope to print some of these responses
in upcoming issues, to allow
the voices of Holloway students
to be heard. Additionally, this week
I have been continuing to contact
“The Powers That Be” concerning a
sports-scoreboard for this section
of the paper. Hopefully in the next
few issues, there will be a scoreboard
bragging of all the accomplishments
of Holloway athletes! In
the mean time, please, continue to
comment on mascot names, gripe
about stories you don’t like, or make
note of ones that you do like! After
all, this is the independent student
paper, and we would like nothing
more than to please the students it
reaches. If you have ideas of stories
you would like to hear, issues you
would like to see investigated, or a
sport you simply don’t understand,
email me!
Allison Ealey
Sports Editor
Crunching tackles…
Lacrosse, a game with passion
By Daniel Griffiths
Lacrosse; a game similar to
hockey played with nets on
sticks. This is not just my thought
on what Lacrosse is, but the definition
given by the Oxford Dictionary.
As a spectator of a sport, of which
you know very little, it is not easy to
write an article which others will
find interesting. For example, I cannot
go into the technical details of
the game I saw on Sunday, even
comment on how well players might
have played in their positions (...
that is because I do not know what
they are)! Although, this might also
be the best possible way to get the
message across of how good this
game actually is.
Lacrosse is an active team game,
which requires pace, commitment,
and the ability to shout as loud as
possible. The game on Sunday saw
Royal Holloway up against the traveling
St Barts. There was a great atmosphere,
with both teams looking
Photo: Monkey Images
to attack and really push the other.
However, despite the almost deafen-
…all in a day’s work for Bethan Rees!
thefounder
allison@thefounder.co.uk
ing shouts of encouragement from
the sidelines (I actually felt pity for
St. Barts), it wasn’t quite enough
to overcome the playing style and
speed St Barts possessed. The team
talks during the breaks gave Holloway
some hope and encouragement,
even sparking a come back. The fact
that St. Barts goalkeeper was quick
to react and seemed engulfed by the
space around him, didn’t stop Holloway
from getting shots on target.
As the match came to a close, I
learnt that leaving a St Bart’s player
in space was not such a good idea
and the last goals were scored with
some great solo efforts from the opposition
(the final score being 11-5
in St Barts favour).
I think in conclusion, it is fair to
say that Lacrosse is a sport played in
good harmony, with a lot of passion
and is definitely a great team sport.
By Barry DeSilva
Like I promised in the second
issue of The Founder,
I mentioned that athletes
around Royal Holloway would be
interviewed regarding their various
sports. This week, I came face
to face with Beth Rees, a first year
who plays at the heart of the defensive
unit for the women’s 1st XI
Football team.
On meeting Ms. Rees she comes
across as a very passionate footballer,
who expresses a keen enthusiasm to
succeed. Her hunger to beat King’s
College in the ULU (University of
London Union) league on Sunday
is undeniable. She tells me that if
they (Holloway) beat King’s, the
Holloway Women’s team will then
go top of the ULU women’s premier
league, and ‘hopefully’ she says, go
on to win the league. Beating King’s
will however be no easy task, as they
put nine goals past the girl’s 1st team
earlier in the season, on the Nobles
ground, as they beat Holloway in a
thriller, 9-4.
Looking at the stats for the season
however, the Holloway girls have
the meanest defensive record in the
women’s ULU premier league, conceding
only 14 goals, in 5 games. If
you take into account the fact that
King’s put 9 past them in 1 game,
then conceding 5 in 4 games is a
fantastic record. As Beth was part of
the defence in those games, it’s fair
to mention that she has certainly
played a big part in the team’s success
this season.
Beth tells me that despite the
team’s multicultural personality,
they still seem to be able to gel together,
and produce clinical results
(the most satisfying being the 14-0
mauling of Queen Mary’s). That is
again one of the beauties of sport;
despite cultural differences, and diverse
nationalities, it binds others
together, which in the case of the
women’s 1st XI, has worked to make
them the highest scoring team in the
league, with an astounding 38 goals
in a mere 5 games. Two of the more
crucial cogs in the team in generating
these great results this season
have been the Captain Charlotte
Wheeler Quinnel, and top scorer
Kat Fiddler.
The social scene is once again a big
part of RHUL sport. The social secretary,
Ms. Tania Clayton, Beth tells
me, has been nothing less than fantastic
all year, organising various so-
Photo: Edward May
cial events like Pub Crawls going as
far as the now deceased clubhouse,
at Brunel. It sounds more like an expedition
than a social event, if one
is to travel that far! Ms. Rees mentions
the football dinner as being a
momentous occasion, with all the
teams in the club coming together.
If it was anything like the hockey
dinner I attended (which included
the delights of ‘ginning’), then I’m
sure it was special.
On starting at Royal Holloway in
September, Beth (who came from
Welsh school, Ysgol Gyfun Cymer
Rhondda) says that the training is
far more demanding than it ever
was at her previous school in Wales,
though she prefers the training to be
challenging as it boosts and maximises
your ability as a player, which
she says leads to greater rewards on
the field. Tiger Woods always said
that if you don’t practice, you won’t
get results, and in fact you don’t deserve
results either. That quote just
proves that training and practice can
most definitely get results; despite
how repetitive it may be, it leads to
a more fruitful performance both as
a player and a team on the field.
The next few weeks for the women’s
1st XI will likely define their
season, and hopefully it will end on
a sweet note, with them ultimately
winning the league. If you miss any
of the action, Beth tells me that you
will be able to catch the action of every
minute of every game (including
her own goals, and crunching
tackles) on an end of season DVD
– some people will do anything to
plug their merchandise!
Next week I hope to catch up with
a few more sporting personalities
around Royal Holloway, and deliver
some sporting results. The snow
last Wednesday morning however
made it impossible to play hockey,
which meant there has been a lack
of hockey news this week. Hopefully
(fingers crossed!) next week
there will be matches to report on.
For now, keep active!