Uni Girls Can hosted their first new event of the academic year on the 11th October; Come Have a Ball.
The inaugural event of the year welcomed 25 women to The Edge sports hall where activities included bubble ball and zumball; fun fitness activities using a range of balls from footballs to medicine balls. The University’s Islamic Society were just one group who joined us for the event and were really impressed with what our Uni Girls Can Programme has to offer.
Here’s what our participants had to say:
“Being able to be in an environment where you are not judged and it isn’t all about looks is really refreshing”
“I loved working as a team and it really felt like women doing it for ourselves”
“So much in how we are raised is about unhealthy competition between women, but this event completely wasn’t like that and was just about fun.”
“At Uni I find it really hard to find time for sports but I really want to do more. It was handy that this was just on my doorstep.”
For more pictures of the event, have a look at our Facebook album. If you are interested in signing up for future Uni Girls Can events, you can keep an eye out on both our website or Facebook page. These include a yoga and healthy treats session, a women’s only boxing session and a women’s only badminton session.
Rebecca Gallantree is one of Britain’s most successful springboard divers and has been welcomed into the University’s sporting hall of fame. She joins a number of notable sportsmen and women including Simon Mason, Carol Isherwood, Giles Long and Ray French.
Rebecca graduated from the University of Leeds in 2005 with a 1st Class Degree in Sports Science, during her degree she made her international debut in the 3m Springboard event. Following this she went on to win 4 consecutive British titles, the 4th securing her place at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
After London, Rebecca and partner Alicia Blagg won two silvers in the 2013 FINA Diving World Series and bronze at the 2013 European Championships. In 2014 the pair won bronze at the World Series before claiming the Commonwealth title at Glasgow 2014.
In 2015 Rebecca rewrote the record books becoming the first female British diver to be crowned world champion, winning this accolade alongside Tom Daley in the team event at the World Aquatics Championships.
Rebecca went on to win a gold and silver medal at the British Championships later that year and in 2016 she qualified for her 3rd Olympic games, representing Great Britain at Rio 2016.
“Diving has given me the incredible opportunity to represent Team GB at 3 Olympic Games and become a Commonwealth and World Champion.”
Rebecca Gallantree
Rebecca was presented with her hall of fame frame after her friend and world renowned coach, Ady Hinchcliffe gave a summary of her career. He spoke about the importance of Rebecca balancing her studies at the University with her training and the invaluable experience she gained. Ady also described Rebecca’s personality and how her grit and determination ensured she never gave up on her dream to become a world class athlete.
“It’s a absolute privilege to induct such an accomplished Olympic athlete to our Hall of Fame. Becky is so understated in her achievements and we are delighted to provide her with this recognition as she is a great inspiration to young budding talented athletes”
Suzanne Glavin, Head of Sport & Physical Activity at The University of Leeds
Rebecca’s frame will be on display in The Edge from November.
37 student athletes have been presented with their University of Leeds Sport Scholarships for 2016/17.
To present the athletes with their scholarships were the University of Leeds Vice-Chancellor, Sir Alan Langlands and world renowned Triathlon Coach Malcolm Brown.
The students have been awarded a University of Leeds Sport Scholarship to support them in their aspirations to compete at the highest level alongside studying for a world class degree.
The University has a unique approach that tailors each scholarship to the needs of each individual athlete. Athletes have their own personal mentor to ensure they are achieving a balance between academic and sporting excellence. As well as a specific strength and conditioning programme, physiotherapy, free access to The Edge and a bespoke financial bursary.
“It was lovely to congratulate our scholars on being selected and to wish them all the best during their time as a Sports Scholar at Leeds.”
Suzanne Glavin – Head of Sport & Physical Activity at The University of Leeds.
Among the Sports Scholars selected this year are Sam Dickinson who trains as part of the world renowned Leeds Triathlon Centre alongside the Brownlee brothers. Sam has won 3 Junior European Cup races and placed 8th in the Junior World Grand Final 2016.
Jack Perry is also a Sports Scholar this year and plays Wheelchair Basketball for GB U20s, he is aiming to compete in the World Junior Championships next year.
Sports Scholar Gillian Finnerty from Leeds Snowriders has been selected for the January 2017 World University Winter Games
Selections have recently been announced for the Great Britain Snowsports Team competing in the World University Winter Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Securing her place in the Snowboard Cross (SBX) team is University of Leeds student, Gillian Finnererty.
The international University Sports Federation (FISU) organise the World University Games, the Universiade, every two years. The Universiade is widely recognised as the biggest global winter multi-sports event for student-athletes with 11 days of competition and over 2,500 participants from more than 50 countries. There are 6 compulsory sports, 8 compulsory disciplines and up to 3 optional sports which are broadcasted by more than 100 TV channels around the World.
The 2017 Universiade will take place from the 29 January – 08 February 2017, with Gillian’s SBX event taking place on the 1st and 2nd of February.
Record breaking crowds of over 15,535 people watched The University of Leeds beat Leeds Beckett University in the Rugby Union finale event at Headingley Carnegie Stadium to round off an amazing few days of competition.
The 12th year of the competition between local rivals, The University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University was as competitive as ever and resulted in the final score of 32 – 31 in favour of Leeds Beckett University. This was one of the closest Leeds Varsity competitions ever where just one match could have clinched it for The University of Leeds.
This year saw the introduction of a new event, parkrun varsity in which over 100 students turned up to represent the University of Leeds and take an easy victory over counterparts Leeds Beckett University. There was also another new headline event with the women’s netball taking place on the Tuesday night with well over 300 spectators who cheered the University of Leeds to victory.
The finale day itself was packed with intense competition and both universities battled hard against each other throughout the day.
The University of Leeds started the day off in style with a comfortable win in the indoor rowing, followed on with a strong start in pool for the biathlon who later went on to win both the men’s and women’s as they did in 2015. The university continued to dominate in the pool, effortlessly winning both the men and women’s swimming gala and water polo making them undefeated for the 7th year running. There was some fierce competition down at The Edge with the University hosting the badminton, volleyball and korfball. After some hard battled fixtures, the University came out on top in the korfball with an impressive 12 – 7 victory.
Meanwhile up at Sports Park Weetwood, the men and women’s hockey teams dominated over Leeds Beckett winning 7 out of their 8 fixtures with only the women’s 1st team narrowly missing out on a victory. Having suffered some heavy defeats in the previous year, the women’s football club also dominated, and took a clean sweep of victories against our local rivals.
Back indoors, the university netball teams put in a sterling performance with wins from the 2nd and 3rd teams. The impressive Tuesday night victory 33-29 clearly inspired the other teams to victory.
Fixtures were split evenly this year across the two Universities and it seems Leeds Beckett University enjoyed a home turf advantage with victories in all 6 tennis matches, both men and women’s lacrosse and the men and women’s handball.
The Varsity day culminated with the men’s rugby union finale at Headingley Carnegie Stadium. The overall scores were nail bitingly close leaving the rugby union side going out on to the field with everything to play for. With a record breaking attendance of 15,535, the 2016 Leeds Varsity is officially the biggest ever. The boys held their nerve and gave it their all to secure hard earned a 20 – 9 victory against league above side Beckett.
Coach Mark luffman said:
“The hard earned victory is a fitting reward for the boys as it shows just how hard the team have worked in pre-season and how much progress they have made over the past year. It was not an easy Beckett side to beat.
The crowd were fantastic and it’s great to have the support of so many students to give the team that extra boost when they need it.”
Claiming that final Varsity point settled the scores at 32 – 31. Congratulations Leeds Beckett University for their overall victory and well done to all players, coaches, volunteers, staff and spectators for the huge commitment and dedication to Leeds Varsity 2016. Thank you also to RAG for raising money for a fantastic cause, climbing out, and our student media societies for their coverage of the game.
A full list of the results can be found here, and keep an eye out on our social media channels for photo’s and videos from the day.
New to the Leeds Varsity programme this year was the headline Netball Varsity event, and the University of Leeds won in thrilling style.
Taking place at taking place at Leeds Beckett’s arena, the event gathered a crowed of over 300 people on the night who made for a brilliant atmosphere cheering on both teams.
The game was quick paced and tense right up until the final buzzer, Beckett started the better side taking the first quarter 8 -5 before The University fought back to take the lead and hold this until half time at 15 – 11.
The 3rd quarter went to the University who extended their lead 27 – 21 and then in the final quarter Beckett fought back. They brought the score to within one point of the University at 29 – 28 with just a few minutes to go, however the University crowd were the loudest and their chanting and support for the team lifted them to hold on and win the game 33 – 29.
It was a tense game right until the end and huge congratulations to our girls who fought hard until the final buzzer.
On Saturday 1st October, the first ever Leeds Varsity parkrun took place at Woodhouse Moor and it’s safe to say it was a huge success.
The event allowed current students, alumni and staff take part in Leeds Varsity, with the winning University being the one who had the most people take part, this included running or volunteering. At the end of the run participants were counted from each University and The University of Leeds had a huge 115 people take part compared to Leeds Beckett University who had just 25.
Co-organiser Andy Lockwood said:
“Its been great to be involved with the launch of this new Varsity event and even more fantastic that we were victorious in the process. Not only did we manage to get over 100 students out of bed and getting active early on a Saturday morning, but we helped to break the Woodhouse Moor parkrun record. I can’t wait to see how the event grows next year”
It was a fantastic event allowing everyone to get involved in Leeds Varsity and we would like to thank Sam and Frank from parkrun for their help and support to getting this event up and running.
University of Leeds Alumnus, Alex Lozowski has been named in Eddie Jones’s 45-man elite player squad ahead of Englands Old Mutual Wealth Series against South Africa, Fiji, Argentina and Australia later in the year.
Alex completed his Economic and Philosophy degree from The University of Leeds in 2014. Whilst at Leeds he played for Leeds Carnegie and the University of Leeds 1’s Team. After completing his degree Alex went on to play for Wasps and moved to Saracens this summer, starting in place of injured international Owen Farrell at the number 10 Fly half position.
Being chosen in Jones’s Elite Player Squad is a fantastic achievement and Alex will train with the squad at Brighton College from 2-4 October ahead of the opening game in the series against South Africa at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday 12 November (2.30pm).
The Edge has been shortlisted in the Regional Gym of the Year and Group Exercise Gym of the Year at the National Fitness Awards, an annual event which recognises excellence and achievement in gyms throughout the country.
The awards are organised by leading fitness industry magazine Workout, with support from headline sponsor ServiceSport, and in each category up to seven finalists have been selected, who will now go through to the next stage of the judging process where they will be out to impress by showcasing first hand the great work going on in their clubs.
This stage involves a visit to each finalist by a member of the Workout team who will take a look around the facilities and chat to members and staff before compiling a comprehensive report, which will then be passed on to an expert judging panel to decide the lucky winners.
Trophies will then be handed out a glittering awards ceremony on Friday December 2 at The Athena in Leicester, which will be hosted by boxing world champion Ricky Hatton and award winning personal trainer and star of The Apprentice Katie Bulmer-Cooke.
National Fitness Awards’ director Judith Halkerston said: “The quality and quantity of National Fitness Awards’ entries just keep improving year on year and everyone who has been shortlisted this year should be really proud of their achievement so far as competition was so strong and standards so high”.
“The team is really looking forward to visiting all our shortlisted clubs and seeing some of the great work that is going on in the fitness industry on a daily basis.”
