SUMMER BALL 2007 - Seren - Bangor University

End of yearreviewAfter many months of competing,the sporting season came to a closefor most of Bangor’s Athletic Unionclubs and sporting teams. After the awardsdinner, Athletic Union President AndrewRedfearn took the time to reflect on theyears events and the progress of the AU andBangor sports.He believes it has been a good year forBangor, especially for smaller clubs, as isreflected by the many awards been takenby our once smaller clubs. This seems tobe a good way forward, and when we’re soisolated here in our part of North Wales, itsnice to see some high class athletes comingout of the network. Tennis have had agood season and we will be entering bothMen’s and Women’s teams into BUSA nextyear. In a time when their facility has beentaken for the Ffriddoedd development, it isnice to have a club carry on regardless, andovercoming adversity and getting on with it.Golf has been resurrected in the past yearsand, led by Matt and Daniel, has gone on tocompete well in BUSA. While their resultsbarely do them justice, they have had the willand drive to succeed and we wish them thebest for the 2007-08 season. BUMS, again,have outdone themselves. Led by Theo theywent to BUSA and brought us back secondplace. Riding have also done well this year,and are able to enter two teams into BUSAnext year, their success is certainly inspiringconsidering the bigger universities that theycompete against. Canoe Polo have showntremendous gusto also, with travellingnot on their sides, the finances a problemand being the underdogs at many of thetournaments they enter could certainly haveheld the club back, however they have showntremendous fighting spirit throughout theiryear and indeed since their foundation,achieving success that will surely be takenthrough to the future years.Jack PeatAfter a year filled with physicalattainment, emerging diversity andcontroversy on and off the field,this years sporting events finally boil downto the AU dinner; where the university takesits place in recognising the personalities andteams that have excelled in their sportingfields. The prestigious event is to manyteams the highlight of the year, where alltheir hard work and effort is rewarded,and an outlook for next year can be cast. Tomany of the sportsmen and women leavingthe University, it also plays host to their finalnight in a team that surely played such apivotal role in their university experience.The awards are unique in that they aren’tspecifically designed to honour the clubsthat have won the most matches. They alsodon’t necessarily outline those who havetallied the most points. Moreover, they aredesigned to credit those who have showncommitment to their sport, outstandingeffort and achieving high levels ofparticipation. To many of the clubs that havespent the year building on their foundations,creating a buoyant team and in many casessignificantly building on their team of old,it is just reward for their outstanding effort.Andrew ‘Frodo’ Redfearn, the Athletic UnionPresident who has spent the last year dealingwith and monitoring all the clubs within theAU, has dealt with both the highs and thelows of the Bangor University sports. Hisjob as the Au President is surely made mucheasier by those clubs who maintain goodclub moral, and those clubs who endeavourto push themselves forward.The first awards of the night weredecided upon by the Colours Committee,who present the Blues awards, designedto recognise the AU members who haveexcelled in their chosen field, playing atthe highest level. The first of the four bluesawards was presented to Archer: ElizabethYork. Last year she won every competitionOn Sunday 29 th April the Athleticsclub held their Crazy SportsDay in aid of the North WestCancer Research Fund Institute, a centreof excellence for molecular cancer studieslocated within the School of BiologicalSciences at the university.It was perfect weather for the event with agreat turn out! Special thanks go to rowing,fencing, sub-Aqua team, women’s rugby,rugby league and Amnesty for providingsuch enthusiastic people to make up theteams!Various events were held throughout theafternoon with fierce competition as eachteam strived to be crowned Crazy SportsDay Champions. The shouting and cheeringfrom each team told the story – everyoneone was having fun, but secretly, all wantedto win! At one point the Athletics team evenmade an informal complaint towards theRowers for fielding the same person twicein the same event. This added to the fun andrivalry between the two teams, with eachteam being great sports!Eventual winners by the margin of onlythree points over the athletics club werethe Rowing team. They were very worthywinners, with each member receiving aprinted mug kindly donated by Blue RoomPromotions (www.blueroompromotions.co.uk). Other prizes donated by local businesseswere also given out for good performance invarious events.Of all the events, welly wanging wasparticularly close, with many tactics beingused to ensure the welly was thrown as far aspossible. Debates within teams were centredaround whether heel first or toe first wouldyield the best results. Even with these heatedSeren - End of Year Issue 2007discussions, some competitors managed tothrow the welly further behind them thanthey did in front, and this was met withmany laughs.The three-legged race was also quitestrategic, although at one point twomembers of the sub-Aqua team seemed toresult to crawling to try and get themselvesover the line. Unfortunately this was to noavail as Amnesty just beat athletics to theline to finish in first, with the dive teameventually bringing up the rear in style.Other events included the traditional eggand spoon race, wheelbarrow races, skippingraces, and many more.But this isn’t the only club with somecrazy facts to its name!Archery for example; apparently inChester you can only shoot a Welsh personwith a bow and arrow inside the city wallsand after midnight. Also, the first hockeypuck ever used was a frozen piece of cowpoo and a ‘face-off’ in hockey was originallycalled a ‘puck-off’.If you hear a rower bellow that he caughta crab, they aren’t talking about marinelife or an undesirable social disease. Whenthe oarblade enters the water at an angle,it can get caught beneath the surface. Theoarblade drives into the stomach, and hasthe potential to toss the rower out of theboat and into the water!For those tennis buffs amongst you,24 tons of succulent Kent strawberriesare ordered for The Championships atWimbledon each year!The origins of the frisbee flying disc arein New Haven Connecticut (USA) wherelong ago, people began tossing and catchingthe pie tins from the Frisbie Pie Company.For those speed demons out there, thecurrent world record for 500m course on awindsurf is 48.70 knots, that’s 56 miles perhour! However, spiking is volleyball’s mostdramatic and offensive manoeuvre, withball speeds reaching about 100 mph. Fasterstill, a badminton shuttle easily travels at112 mph!The flea can jump up to 350 times itsbody length. For a human, that wouldbe equivalent to jumping the length of afootball field! In basketball, dribbling onlybecame a major part of the game aroundthe 1950s as manufacturing improved theball shape. On that note, it is often citedthat rugby balls are oval shaped because thatwas the natural shape of a distended pigs19SportBangor sports teams compete in crazy sports dayin her category, she has been North Waleschampion in both 2005 and 2006 andover the summer she represented NorthWales shooting out of her category. Thesecond went to the Athletics Captain RobSamuel, who has had an excellent season.His performance placed him in the topfive of nearly every race he entered, hiscommitment and drive are second to none.On top of this, he successfully led the largestAthletics team Bangor has sent to BUSA inrecent years and his personal results therewere exceptional, with him being chosento race for the Welsh Universities. The thirdof the Blues awards went to Tom Laws, whospent the year competing in a sport that isrenowned for being non-competitive. Hisexpertise and contribution to the club overthe years has been excellent, organising andtaking extended coaching sessions for themembers. This year he achieved secondplace in his category at BUSA and is onthe UK level 6 sponsored canoe team. Thefinal blues award of the year went to RugbyLeague member Joseph Smith. Josephplayed every competitive game since hisclubs beginning and since arriving here inBangor three years ago he has been a largepart of the team and has done a lot to aidthe clubs progression over the years. He hasbeen selected to play for Scotland, he’s beenselected to play for Great Britain, and he’sscored a try at international level.Preceding the Blues awards were theAU awards, decided upon and awarded byAndrew Redfearn. The first of these to begiven out was the Spirit of the AU award.This is awarded to a club that has shownoutstanding effort and commitment. Thisyear it went to one of our smaller clubs,who have expanded over the recent yearsincreasing their participation dramatically.The Athletics Club have been enteringand achieving good performances inmany events, sending a big contingent toBUSA and achieving impressive results.The Women’s Badminton Team were thenext to receive an award for the Team ofthe Year. The team have trained hard andplayed even harder. They won 5 out of 7BUSA league matches placing themselves atthe top of their group, pushing themselvesthrough to the knockouts. In the knockoutsthey performed well but in the end theyunfortunately lost out at the university finalsin a close match against Sheffield. The Clubof the Year was the subsequent award to begiven. It is awarded to the club that excelsin any of the following areas: recruitmentand retention of members, excellence intraining members, excellence in managingthe clubs activities, excellence in socialsand fundraising and/ or high results in theirrelevant competition. The Fencing Club haveticked nearly every box, their membership isat a high, being one of our smallest clubs inprevious years it now has over 40 members.The training of their members is excellent,with a dedicated coach and skilled members,they’ve been training their new recruits andless experienced members to competitionlevel. Fundraising, with some cheeky salesand hosting competitions, they’ve rakedin the money allowing themselves toupdate much of their old kit and they arenow ready for next year’s intake. The tworemaining awards presented by the AU werethe Sportsman and Sportswomen of theYear. The sportswoman was the first to beawarded, and this year it went to ElizabethYork. Over her years in the AU, she has goneover and above what is expected of her,taking on extra jobs other than her role andensuring that they get done. She has singlehandily organised trips, meals and eventsfor her club and she is always on hand toshare her expert advice and knowledgebladder, the original rugby ball. Golf is theonly sport ever played on the moon - on 6thFebruary 1971 Alan Shepard hit a golf ball.Last but not least, since the beginning ofthe modern Olympic games, only Greeceand Australia have competed in every singleone!Now the Sports Day wasn’t the Olympicsbut people are already talking about trainingfor next year! The day was a completesuccess raising just over £140 for the NorthWest Cancer Research Fund Institute, muchneeded money for this very worthy cause…watch this space!Rob SamuelAthletic Union recognise sporting acheivementwith the clubs members. She draws a fineexample of outstanding sportswomanship.Her competition performance is excellenttoo and by her captain, she has been referredto as ‘one of the best archers this universityhas ever seen and will see for quite a while’.The Sportsman of the Year was the final AUaward. For his outstanding performancewhile representing Bangor at high levelcompetition and for sportsmanship duringhis time at Bangor, the award went to RobSamuel. In his years at the University,he has been instrumental in expandingand developing his club, organising theirtraining and always encouraging his fellowsportspeople. His personal performanceshave been of the highest standard setting thebenchmark of what he expects and alwayspushing himself to develop. With the aid ofhis committee, he organised an event for allstudents of Bangor, encouraging them to getout and raise money for charity.The last award of the night was apersonal award presented by the AthleticUnion President. It is for the contribution tosport and for overall outstanding service tothe AU and its members over the year. Thelast minute decision went to the RowingClub. The club has expanded a lot, theirparticipation is on the up and they are nowflourishing. They have consistently badgeredthe AU President and constantly raised theissues that really mattered to them, and theirefforts have paid off. Extensive work hasbeen carried out this year and more is dueover the summer. Led by two outstandingcaptains, Ed and Hannah, both of which willbe missed next year, the award was given tothem for their constant hard work all year.Jack PeatAndrew Redfearn