London Student » Sport

Win tickets to World Sevens Series at Twickenham

Ben Parfitt — Thu, 12 May 2011 18:58:36 +0000

ENTER THE COMPETITION TO WIN!

For the students of London, the sporting season is fast becoming a distant memory, flittering out as the exam season comes crashing in with petrifying pace. Fear not! London Student Sport is at hand with a cheeky little competition to keep your mind off the job in hand.

We have, at our disposal, a pair of tickets to the much sought after, eagerly anticipated two-day London stage of the World Sevens Series on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 May.

After a strong start to the series, England’s Sevens team will seek to extend their lead as they take on the likes of Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Fiji and France, in front of a home crowd.

England coach, Ben Ryan, was pleased with the start his team have made in Dubai and South Africa, but a home game for England is always more than points on the table. “The party atmosphere always guarantees that it’s one of the highlights of the season,” he said.

Held at the iconic Twickenham Stadium, this year’s tournament promises to be rowdier than ever as the organisers hope to breach the 100,000 attendance mark. ‘Beach Party’ is the theme. So, get bikinis at the ready for your chance to win this hot, hot prize.

To launch our brand spanking new website, here is a topical competition: As it is exam season, the guys and girls at London Student need more and more ways to procrastinate. Send in your favourite free online sports game along with a 100 word review of the game. The best game with the funniest review will win the tickets, outright – no replays!

All entries to sport.editor@london-student.net
Closing date: Sunday 15 May 3, 2011

If you don’t make the grade then you can always buy tickets. They are available from just £15 for adults and £10 for juniors from www.rfu.com/londonsevens or by calling 0844 847 2492. To find out more about the tournament and to get behind the England team check out www.facebook.com/LondonSevens

Take the ride of a lifetime… for charity

Andi — Thu, 05 May 2011 15:05:17 +0000

FROM LONDON TO NANTES FOR A GOOD CAUSE

It began on a whim, an impulse. Before I knew it the form was completed and my registration pack had arrived. It was not until I was stood in Brussels last July, bike in hand, with 300 miles of road before me that the exact nature of my subscribed feat began to dawn. The pledge in question? Three days of cycling that would take me through as many countries and would grant thousands of children better lives – so went the sales pitch.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this charity challenge. Right To Play, the beneficiary in question, is a progressive charity with a very genuine ethos and is a cause that lies close to my heart. The ride itself was refreshing. Clocking up to 100km a day, travelling across the flats of France and over the North downs alongside 200 fellow do-gooders was conducive to a cracking few days away from home.

This year Right To Play are running their third annual cycle ride. Beginning on 29 June, 200 riders will set off from Harlequins’ R.F.C homeground, The Stoop in Twickenham, to arrive in Western France to watch the first stage of the Tour de France.

Right To Play is the world’s largest sport for development organisation and, as the official BUCS charity, enjoys a rich following from students throughout the UK. Sport and play are used as tools for the development of youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world in order to teach important skills and qualitites including leadership, respect, self-esteem and conflict resolution.

Olympic star and Tour pro, Mark Cavendish, urged everyone and anyone to take part in the charity ride. “It’s the closest you can get to the tour without competing with me!” he said. Right To Play riders will have the privilege of a behind the scenes experience with Cavendish’s team, HTC-Columbia, on the first stage of the tour – a day that he is likely it be tipped for victory. “See you on the finish line in France,” said the 10-time Tour de France stage winner.

Though this event is sure to please and satisfy those who partake, there is most certainly a grander message: your efforts really will count. On hearing the success of last year’s rider’s Dr Khondker, Right To Play’s Regional Director of East & Southern Africa, congratulated and thanked all those who took part. “Great work. There stories always motivate us to strive to do better in the field.”

To find out more about this year’s London-Les Herbiers ride for Right To Play visit: http://www.righttoplay.com/uk/get-involved/Pages/Cycle.aspx

Men up their game to break University of London record at BUCS

Andi — Thu, 05 May 2011 15:03:50 +0000

THE TEAM

This year’s BUCS Outdoor Athletics Championships was held at Bedford over the long Royal Wedding bank holiday weekend. Universities from across the UK sent their best athletes to this prestigious annual event in the hope of earning an invite to the Loughborough International. University of London had strong hopes following a promising team performance at the previous BUCS Indoors.

Usually it’s the women who command the attention for the London athletics team but in this event there was strong men’s team, both in terms of number and finals places. Cross-country runner Joseph Morwood hadn’t much previous track experience, but ran the 5000m heats on Saturday to qualify for the final. Not content with just 5000m, he went on to run the 10000m final on Sunday, and finished 6th with a time of 32 minutes, 54 seconds. Understandably, Joseph pulled out of Monday’s 5000m final, both his knees and feet feeling the mileage!

Thomas Beedell looked comfortable in the heats of the 3000m steeplechase, and slashed his previous personal best time by 15 seconds to finish 5th in the final in 9 minutes, 36 seconds. The sprinters – Pete Edmunds, Nnamdi Umeh, Anthony Mah and Adrian Stamp – did not seem to have much luck in our individual events, but ran together in the 4x100m relay. Despite shocking handovers, this foursome earned a place in final with one of the top eight fastest times in the heats, also breaking the previous University of London record with a time of 44.48 seconds.

The final saw much smoother handovers but the strain of the long bank holiday weekend showed its toll. The guys delivered a time of 44.51 to come 6th, being pipped to the post by Durham. A photo finish confirmed a gap of just two thousandths of a second! This gave the men’s team an overall 13th place – a feat not to be sniffed at. This was the first time the London men have scored points in a BUCS event since they achieved the same position in the 2005 BUCS Indoor Championships.

Angela Barrett sadly had to represent UCL rather than London, but she jumped for the capital in spirit, at least! She held off the other triple jumpers on the very windy field to add the title of BUCS Outdoors champion to her Indoor title won previously this year. By doing so she earned an invitation to the Loughborough International. She also came 4th in the very competitive long jump with a new PB of 5.96 metres.

Charlotte Gaughan, who made the 1500m final at the Indoor Championships, did so again at the Outdoors with a new personal best time of of 4:36.97. In the final she finished 11th to take a point for London. Next year the team look forward to her showing her true potential in the final and not just in qualifying rounds!

Bridgid Eades fought through hamstring issues to make the semi finals of the 400m, which she unfortunately had to drop out of. Claire Day ran a personal best time of 18:31.68 to qualify for the 5000m final, where she finished 14th. In the 2000m steeplechase final, Emily Bliss narrowly missed out on the top eight by one place, but that run marked her recent return to the event. Last but not least, Zahra Akinpeju threw a all time best of 37.86 meters in the hammer final to finish in the scoring top eight.

A very successful BUCS Outdoors for London, and the team very much look forward to the 2012 BUCS Outdoors on home turf – as a London 2012 test event, to be held at the Olympic stadium!

Promotion slips, demotion teases as it hangs on one match.

Andi — Thu, 05 May 2011 15:03:04 +0000

ULU’s final lacrosse game of the season embodied all of their matches this year, tense from start to finish, drawing 9-9 against Northampton to save themselves from relegation. With only three points separating 3rd from 7th in SEMLA East 2 division, this match – played for double points – was huge for both teams as a win for either one would see them leapfrog the other, condemning the loser to relegation.

The match started frantically, with ULU getting an early chance from a James Porcas feed onto the crease, only to see the shot by Jacob Morris fire off the goalie’s shoulder. After a series of misses from both sides, the attack started to find their range, with ULU scoring first through Eric Lindemann before Northampton responded with a few quick-fire goals. With increasing ULU pressure Northampton started losing players through slashes and it wasn’t long before London capitalised from the man-up situations, Jacob Morris atoning for his earlier miss, followed by goals for Nathaniel Macdonald, James Porcas and Erik Lindemann.

With the score at 6-5 to London at half time, the match was poised for a hard finish. ULU took the initiative early, firing in a fast-break goal through Nathanial Macdonald, before Richard Pearse cranked a shot to give London breathing space with an 8-6 score line. While ULU hoped the floodgates would open, Northampton rallied together, scoring from the face-off. They then followed the goal by a well-worked sweep, scoring again to tie the game.

As momentum changed hands the match was finely balanced and Andy Watson pulled out some huge saves with pinpoint clears to lift the ULU team, making them work harder. With 10 minutes left, ULU managed to take the lead, only to see a strong Northampton attack pull it level again with six minutes to go. Knowing the game hung in the balance, the London defence tightened, squeezing the Northampton attack and forcing a turnover for the London midfield to run it up with 45 seconds left. At this point ULU made sure of the result and their position in the league by holding the ball, and, although a shot went wide on 20 seconds, they managed to recover possession long enough to see the final seconds through.

Final Score: Northampton University 9 – London University 9 [Erik Lindemann (4), Nathaniel Macdonald (2), Jacob Morris, Richard Pearse and James Porcas]

Unions stage campaigns for sport

Grace Healy — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:46:38 +0000

Over the last couple of years, Students’ Unions have brought to the attention of university administration, that although having Wednesday afternoons free are endorsed, academic study is still often scheduled for that afternoon. Indeed, the contentious issue of keeping Wednesday afternoons free is featured in the manifestos of candidates for ULU Vice-President, Emilie Tapping and Kaye Selby.

The issue has recently been raised at King’s Council and KCLSU are currently in the process of putting a motion to the NUS National Conference. In September steps were made at LSE through the Wednesday Afternoon Free (WAF) Campaign to ensure that the afternoons remained free from academic study to allow time to get involved in student activities, including sport.

The LSE SU campaign is led by Activities and Development Officer Charlie Glyn, who believes a national campaign is needed to ensure the same issue is addressed at as many institutions as possible. ULU Vice-President candidate, Emilie Tapping, has stated that, “we need to launch a co-ordinate campaign from all of the institutions in the University of London.” Opposition candidate, Kate Selby also identifies the problem. She says that, “many colleges are flouting the rule and restricting student participation in clubs and societies”

LSE SU has put their campaign into action and has given information about the current policy to students. For an undergraduate who has a lecture until 1pm, a video should be made available online as should not have classes after 12pm. In such a case, this should be reported.

Alma Mozetic, a UCL student from Slovenia, stated that ‘It is not about the Wednesday afternoon itself, but the organisation by people to arrange sporting activities. The importance lies in the many organised events on Wednesday afternoons.’

In the first term, we saw arranged events to try out the Kinetic Fitness Club and KCL SU arranged swimming facilities on Wednesdays at Guy’s Campus at no cost to students. Events such these are said to be great at motivating students to try something new and make the most of their free time.

Wednesday afternoons provide the opportunity to get involved in sports clubs, to gain fitness and also enjoy the social experience. KCLSU also has “Access to Sport” programmes which Emilie Tapping highlights as a means “for students to engage in sporting activities without being involved in a league or competitive sports – to take away the intimidating factors of sports and to allow people who don’t have time to engage in competitive sports regularly to have a bit of a kick around.” They also allow athletes the chance to train with like-minded individuals and compete for their universities. Internationally, although there is still emphasis on sport in the university environment, there is not a time slot that is set aside to encourage an uptake of student activities and sports. Have we got something worth fighting for?

RHUL launches Arsenal and Chelsea language lessons

Ben Parfitt — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:45:46 +0000

Everyone likes football. Don’t they? Well, at least that’s the basic logic behind a language program recently launched by Royal Holloway, University of London.

The college has paired up with Chelsea and Arsenal to teach Spanish and German languages through the medium of football. It is hoped that the themed lessons and incorporation of physical activity will inspire youngsters to pursue modern languages through to higher education.

Arsenal formed their ‘Double Club’ after years of experimentation. After the team’s ‘double’ winning season of 1998 – in which they claimed both the FA Cup and Premier league titles – a scheme that fused football with literacy learning was piloted. This involved a 45-minute literacy lesson aided with Arsenal-themed resources, followed by a 45-minute football coaching session. Thus the two halves of a football match are mirrored!

Today, in excess of 15,000 students have completed the Double Club and the subjects on offer are continuously being expanded. Subjects currently available include: science, healthy living, modern languages and geography. Having been inspired by the Arsenal story, 13 other football clubs currently offer similar programs.

The Widening Participation and Outreach team at Royal Holloway – responsible for encouraging collaboration between schools and the college – has adapted the existing language programs and provides football coaches. They also use undergraduate students from the department of modern languages to deliver the educational program.

Widening Participation and Outreach Officer, Tanya Popeau, commented: “Football is something that is loved right across the world, with famous footballers spanning across many countries and speaking many different languages. We have designed a range of exciting resource materials which we hope will inspire and encourage young people to enjoy language learning.”

Chelsea’s ‘Kickstart’ program is a spin-off from Arsenal’s Double Club. In the Spanish lesson, activities involve filling in the spaces of a Spanish interview with Frank Lampard and team mascot, Stamford the Lion, is often at hand to guide the student through the lesson.

Wendy Buddin, Acting Education Manager at Chelsea, explained the reasoning behind the newly-formed partnership: “We think that it’s very important for young people to have a positive attitude to learning languages. We hope that KickStart Spanish and German will give them an exciting experience which encourages them to continue studying languages when they get older.”

Gavin Byrom, a member of Royal Holloway’s team behind the scheme, is an avid Liverpool fan. “Growing up in football-mad Merseyside as a Liverpool fan, I wish there was a scheme like this,” he said of the Chelsea Kickstart program. “One regret now is that my modern language skills are awful. Maybe if I was able to learn Spanish with football I could have told Torres not to join Chelsea,” he joked.

Sikh soc saves the children

Ben Parfitt — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:45:03 +0000

THE 3-ON-3 TOURNAMENT RAISED £125 FOR CHARITY

Chillin’ out maxin’ relaxin’ all cool; they were shooting some b-ball in the sports hall. When a group of guys that just wanna do good, starting raising money in the neighborhood.

On the evening of Sunday 6 March, in a location far removed from Will Smith’s Bel Air, a charity 3-on-3 basketball tournament was taking place. Sikh society had teamed up with Basketball to raise funds for Save The Children. This combo made for a killer event that attracted competitors from far and wide.

Slam-dunks came few and far between for first year Politics student, Craig Gent, who turned up on a whim and got paired up with a bloke wearing jeans. “Last time I played basketball I was wearing some lost property shorts and a school shirt from year 10 PE, so not surprisingly I lost every game this time around too,” he said.

Craig wasn’t too disheartened though and was keen to avow the merits of taking part. Nothing could block Craig’s competitive hunger as he readily boasted of the team’s limited successes. “We even managed to get points on the board in the last game!”

Event organiser, Amarbeer Singh, of the RHUL Sikh Society said of the event: “The tournament was a great success from many aspects. We managed to raise over £125 for Save the Children but I think another major factor that led to the success of the event was the number of groups that got involved. We had Sikh Soc, the Basketball Club, RAG and Photography Soc all combining their efforts to produce an amazing tournament.”

Londoners regain ‘The Bottle’

Ben Parfitt — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:43:22 +0000

Each year one London institution humbly partakes in the second oldest varsity in the world. Unbeknownst to many, the origins of this historic match can be traced back to 1902. It is out-dated only by the infamous Oxford-Cambridge boat race which dates back to 1829.

The ancient rivalry in question puts Imperial’s Royal School of Mines (RSM) against their counterparts from Camborne School of Mines (CSM) at Exeter University, traditionally in rugby. The term ‘School of Mines’ originates from the 18th and 19th centuries and today refers to an institution focusing on engineering and earth sciences.

At stake at the varsity is ‘The Bottle’, a 3-ft tall beer bottle. Legend has it that this most unusual of trophies was ‘acquired’ by RSM students off the back of beer lorry in 1946. The destiny of ‘The Bottle’ hinges solely on the outcome of the Men’s Rugby match.

Only in the twentieth-first century did the varsity extend beyond rugby. The schools additionally now battle it out in football, golf, hockey, netball, basketball and squash, although these do not count towards the main bottle trophy.

Annually alternating between Cornwall and London, this year’s varsity saw RSM enjoy the advantage of a home crowd. Working hard over the weekend of 26/27 February, RSM edged a narrow lead of four games to three with wins recorded in golf, netball, squash and women’s hockey.

RSM tied up their string of wins with the all-important rugby victory, giving a total tally of 5-3. The team from London only managed to regain ‘The Bottle’ after an agonising match in which the lead bounced back and forth throughout. At the sound of the final whistle the score lay at 25-20, making this the highest scoring Bottle match in the record books.

RSM player James Scaife said of the triumphant victory: “It feels great to win back the Bottle. It’s where it belongs now and we’re not going to give it up without a fight again.”

This year’s win extended RSM’s historic lead to an all-time tally of 41, ahead of CSM’s 34. Furthermore, RSM have now racked up 13 wins in the last 15 years. Since the inaugural match on 16 December 1902, there have been 6 draws while 28 years of results remain unknown.

Lacrosse match to decide the season

Jacob Morris — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:40:45 +0000

This year’s season for ULU lacrosse in the East 2 divsion has been on a knife-edge. While the highs and lows of the season have been determined by the odd last-minute (or in some cases, last second) goals, the team now faces a nail-biting encounter with Northampton Town to see what they have achieved this season. Either promotion or relegation may await.

As the first match against the Northampton Town had been postponed earlier this season, with no way to re-schedule the game, this upcoming encounter will be the defining match of the season.

It is possible that, with a win, ULU would gain promotion into East 1, the tier above their current league. What epitomised this most uncertain season is that a loss could cause the team to be relegated into the depths of East 3.

This on-the-edge tone was set with the very first match of the season. When playing Welwyn Warriors 2s ULU were a goal up with a minute to go and Dave Copple, one of ULU’s long-stick middies (LSM), uttered the infamous words “It’s ok guys, we’re going to win it, I can feel it.” A minute later, ULU’s dreams of a win were in pieces, as a quick goal, followed by a pass-come-shot, floated into the net.

Conversely, the penultimate match of the season, against Hitchin A, saw London on the reverse of such a result. The team were troubled from the offset with the KCL and RVC half of the team on tour and the star LSE goalie revealed that morning that he was flying to Innsbruck, Austria and couldn’t make the match.

Drafting our one-eyed attackman into goal, London trailed the entire match, going into the last quarter 9-11 down. With gritty determination London tied the game at 13-13 with a minute left, leaving it until 4 seconds were left on the clock to bag the winner, taking the match 14-13.

With the final match being played on the 26th of March in Northampton, the team will complete this intense season. With it all to play for between the promise of promotion and the threat of relegation, there will be no such thing as mid-table mediocrity.

Introducing: Baseball

James Atterbury — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:38:21 +0000

Baseball: is it just a super-sized, overpaid, neglect-worthy cousin of our beloved British rounders? This is a question that has subconsciously underpinned our relationship with round bat and ball sports for past centuries.

As almost everyone sticks to a spot of rounders at the village fete, the brave few in this country dreamed the dream and dared to step into the exciting world of baseball.

The sport as of yet does not have BUCS recognition but is instead organised through the British University Baseball Association (BUBA). The BUBA league has 10 teams, three of which are comprised of London Students – Imperial, King’s and the University of London Japanese Society.

So why join in? Having been lucky enough to watch a couple of ‘big league’ games in the States, I am no stranger to both the boring and the brilliant sides of this sport. As a spectator it can be slow and tedious and you can sit there three hours at a time for a 1-0 result, but it is all worth it for that home run moment – that unrivalled moment when the man with tree trunk arms utterly spanks the ball into a monumental arc, and all the crowd are captured in an air of silence before erupting into a chorus of ‘whoops’ and high-fives. It is pure poetry.

As a spectator it is all about this moment but as a player, there appears to be so much more to enjoy. Such a notion was validated when I spoke to Josh Kilpatrick, an Outfielder for the King’s College Lions. Josh, who only started playing last year, who encouragingly explained: “because it is not a popular sport, the standard is lower and for home students it is the chance to take up something new – I was a complete novice.”

So what is the most enjoyable aspect of the game? Josh confirmed my suspicions.“Batting is the most fun part – it is a team sport but when you are batting it is you against the pitcher: there is an individualistic element of playing in a team,” he said.

Josh believes anybody can pick up the rules and is sure to stress the welcoming nature of the Baseball scene. “Where baseball is still on the fringes of University sport, there is a good-natured, friendly atmosphere, not like the rivalry you might find in most sports between institutions like King’s and UCL.”

With the league’s Spring fixtures upon us, there’s no better chance to get down to one of the games and see this for yourself. Why not trade-up, embrace the spectacle and ditch our micro-sized, rolling-pin wielding game for its explosive American counterpart? Why not trade the village fete for a July 4th barbecue with hot-dogs galore and the chance of fireworks?