BU athletes are certainly showing they have a spring in their step this April. TeamBU athletes have been called-up to represent BU and England in the Universities Tri-Nations Tournament this month, seen wins in golf and weightlifting, and are currently defending their international windsurfing titles in Mallorca. SportBU have also announced a collaboration with Volleyball UK and the British University and Colleges Sport to bring the national Beach Volleyball competition to Sandbanks in June.
Hannah Greer and Liam Driscoll will represent English Universities in the 2017 Tri-Nations Tournament against Scotland and Wales on 10 - 13 April 2017, playing football and rugby 7s respectively. Talking of her achievements, Hannah said: “This call-up is the highlight of my football career and I am looking forward to representing my university and my country at a high level".
As well as playing for national teams, our athletes have been successfully representing BU in the British University and Colleges Sport (BUCS) League.
BU’s team of 12 weightlifters secured a win at the Student Championships in London, bringing home 5 medals between them and the prospect of challenging for the top spot in the British Weightlifting Championships this July. Noorin Gulam, Nam Ahmadi, Elliot Brown, Ella Thompson and Jorge Camacho won medals in their individual events to make this possible. Team captain Ollie Cooke said: “After being with the club for nearly 4 years now, it is amazing to see how it has grown from humble origins to the incredibly successful and competitive club it is today!”
A little further north, Alice Kozlowski and six other BU students represented BU at the BUCS English and Welsh Women’s Golf Championship in Liverpool. Despite some demanding weather conditions Alice maintained a good start over the three day event, cutting her handicap to one and gaining a place in the BUCS Golf Tour Finals at the Prince’s Golf Club, Kent, on 10-12 April.
Meanwhile, BU students Rob York and Saskia Sills are currently competing against 833 sailors in the Trofeo Princesa Sofia sailing regatta in Mallorca – one of the largest events on the World Tour. They both have their sights on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games but ahead of that they will both be off to Marseilles in the summer for the European Championships. Commenting on their achievements Saskia said: “Myself and Rob would like to say a huge thank you to Bournemouth University and SportBU for their amazing support and contributions to our Olympic campaigns.”
Rob added: “The university have been massively supportive allowing me time off to train and compete, and also making sure I am able to get assignments done when I can.”
The success of our student athletes is a credit to all of our TeamBU athletes and to SportBU, who provide much-needed support, training and encouragement. As well as supporting TeamBU, SportBU staff will also be organising the first in a new BUCS Beach Volleyball competition.
Hosted on Sandbanks beach on 3-4 June 2017, the event is open to men’s and women’s pairs competing for the Championship, as well as a Trophy and Shield competition for lower ranked pairs. Entry applications will be confirmed on Thursday 13 April.
For details on all these stories and more, visit the SportBU news pages.
