On Saturday 12th May the University of Brighton and Sports Federation celebrated its sporting achievements at the annual 2012 Sports Awards Dinner. The evening was celebrated by students, staff and community members involved in the sports programmes at the University of Brighton. The evening was hosted by Student Union representatives Ed Bending and Katie Price and was made all the more special by the appearance of guest speaker Jason Gardener MBE. Jason, Olympic sprinting Gold medallist from the 2004 Games, delivered an inspirational speech which highlighted his greatest achievement and the build-up to achieving his goal.
The awards were heavily contested this year with recognition going to a number of clubs. The sport of futsal had an extremely successful awards with both Eastbourne and Brighton based clubs featuring in the Colour, Administrator, Team and Most Outstanding Achievement of the Year award categories. This was a result of futsal having an impressive year with the 2nd team winning the national BUCS trophy and the 1st team winning the BUCS Premier League and finishing in the top 4 teams nationally in the main BUCS Championship.
Recognition also went to the Motorsport Club (pictured right). Winning the University of Brighton Alumni Association sponsored Club of the Year category, the club were recognised for their overall efforts in making the club a success. Being a specialist club which can often be expensive has often meant the club had been restrictive in its student membership. This year the club has made efforts to ensure that all students can access the clubs activities through open internal championships as well as entering two teams in the British Universities karting calendar. The club also got heavily involved in the overall Sports Federation though it’s social networking and by raising funds for charity during the SU’s Raise and Give (RAG) week.
Recognition also went to Jen Atkins as Volunteer of the Year. Jen had been proactive in both the Sport Federation cricket and hockey clubs which she takes part in as well as volunteering in the Parklife programme for badminton. Nicky Swift (pictured left with Adam Haniver and Jason Gardener MBE) a student coach of the trampolining club won Coach of the Year for combining both achievement and inclusion within the club sessions. Liam Plumridge of Eastbourne’s futsal club won Administrator of the Year. Liam had dedicated many hours every week to the club despite the fact he did not play in the teams.
The awards also included presentations of University of Brighton Colours. Colours are given to students who have been involved in sport to a high performance level. Full colours were awarded to Sam Murphy who plays for the England futsal team and Sol Pattni who is current 118lbs WMC World Thai Boxing Champion. Sol is looking to defend her title as well as compete for different titles this coming summer. Half colours were awarded to Takaki Yamagishi for winning the BUCS gold medal in boxing two years running and Laurence Curtis for his involvement in helping to coach the GB Universities Handball squad.
A summary of the awards presented are below:
Full Colours: Sol Pattni (Thai Boxing) and Sam Murphy (Futsal)
Half Colours: Takaki Yamagishi (Boxing) and Laurence Curtis (Handball)
Administrator of the Year: Liam Plumridge (Futsal Eastbourne)
Coach of the Year: Nicky Swift (Trampolining)
Volunteer of the Year: Jen Atkins (Women’s Hockey, Women’s Cricket and Badminton)
Most Outstanding Achievement Award: Futsal 2nds (Eastbourne)
Team of the Year: Futsal 1st (Brighton)
University of Brighton Alumni Association Club of the Year: Motorsport