June 2019 - Sport & Physical Activity

Top Class Cricket at The University of Leeds

Beth Stanfield

June 28, 2019

The Leeds-Bradford MCCU Men’s Squad have had a very successful season and have been crowned 2018/19 MCCU Champions. Established in 2001, MCCUs are cricket academies which allow young aspiring cricketers to receive an unrivalled level of training and match-play whilst still furthering their education.

At the start of the season, many didn’t think they would do it. But, after a string of losses against county opposition, the MCCU squad had an incredible turnaround. Since those bad results in March/April, they’ve been on a great run of form.

They were level on points with Loughborough who they had to play in the title deciding match. Sadly the bad weather meant a wet ending to the MCCU Championship with no play possible between Leeds and Loughborough in the title decider. This meant that Leeds-Bradford MCCU finished top of the table and are the 2019 MCCU Championship Winners.

Director of Cricket, Andrew Lawson with the MCCU Championship Shield

Picture credit: @cricketyorks (twitter)

The MCCU squad also finished as runners up in the BUCS National League. They were tied on points with Loughborough but came 2nd due to a worse overall run rate. They also narrowly lost in the BUCS Championship final on Wednesday to Oxford MCCU.
The women’s MCCU team finished 3rd in the BUCS Premier North after beating Edinburgh twice in the season. It’s been a fantastic season for the MCCU squads, with 11 University of Leeds students playing for the men’s team and 8 playing for the women.

Leeds-Bradford MCCU squad photograph 2018/19

Picture credit: https://cricketyorkshire.com/

For the University cricket teams, we’ve also had great successes this season:

The men’s 1st team won their league and will be promoted to the North A
The women’s 1st team finished 4th in the Northern 1B
The men’s 2nd team avoided relegation and will stay in Northern 1A
The men’s 3rd team finished 2nd in the Northern 2B

University of Leeds Women's Cricket 1st team squad photo

Picture credit: @UOLWCC (twitter)

For more information about our cricket clubs, visit our webpage here.

Use 69 gyms nationwide at no extra cost

Tilly Hall

June 27, 2019

want free access to uni gyms across the country?

As part of the UNIversal Gym Membership scheme all staff and student annual premium Edge members can access 69 gyms nationwide at no extra cost.

This fantastic member benefit is perfect for anyone visiting friends or family across the UK who want to use the gym in a different city. It also means that students can use the University gym closest to them at home when back for the holidays.

How does it work?

Buy your staff or student Annual Premium Edge Membership online here
Pick up your UNIversal membership card from The Edge reception. Alternatively, if you aren’t in Leeds contact The Edge and get your membership card sent to your home address.
Take your student or staff ID card along with your UNIversal Gym Membership card to gain access to 69 University gyms across the UK

Can I get a UNIversal Gym Membership Card?

The UNIversal gym memberships are available to all staff and students who have an annual premium Edge membership.

If you’ve not got your Edge premium membership yet, buy it online now.

Student Membership Staff Membership

If you have any questions please email: edgemembershipservices@leeds.ac.uk to speak to a member of the team.

Which university gyms are included?

For a full list of gyms included in the scheme and for more information, visit the BUCS webpage here.

Netball Success – On and Off the Court

Beth Stanfield

June 10, 2019

The University of Leeds Netball Club are celebrating four awards after one of their most successful years to date.

Firstly, in February 2019, they were crowned winners of the Student Sport, Special Contribution category at the Leeds Sport Awards. They then went on to win ‘Club of the Year’ at this year’s Sports Colours Awards and Netball club captain, Annalisa Townsend was awarded the Gryphon Leadership Award for her outstanding efforts in steering the club.
Not to mention, a Leeds for Life citizenship award for ‘Project of the Year’ for their schools volunteering project alongside the Leeds Rhinos Foundation.

Social Sport

The netball club have contributed over 500 hours of volunteering this academic year. This makes them one of our best clubs on campus for giving back.
On campus, social sport activators Anna Blake & Rosie Tate also delivered weekly social netball sessions at The Edge. These sessions enable students to play regular netball without the commitment of being on a team.

“Being an activator helped me to improve my confidence & creativity. Each week we had to come up with fun, engaging ideas for the group.”

Rosie Tate, Netball Activator.

The University of Leeds also supports a huge social netball league with 36 teams competing each year. In order to run, a team of 20 volunteer umpires officiate 2 hours each per week during term.
Here’s what Elise had to say about her time as a Netball Umpire:

New Opportunities

The netball club have been a driving force behind a new schools volunteering pilot in partnership with the Leeds Rhinos Foundation. Seven members of the club volunteered in local primary schools, delivering netball amongst other sports alongside the Rhinos. Each volunteer also committed to achieving their ‘Level 2 Principles of Coaching Sport & Physical Activity’ award to prepare them for their placement.

“The Gryphons into Schools programme has been a fantastic experience for myself and the other netball girls who volunteered. Participating in the schools programme has given me the confidence to do more coaching and take on any challenge. Whether you have done coaching before or not I would highly recommend it – not only because it’s a great experience, but because of the skill set you develop throughout.”

Annalisa Townsend, Club Captain.

Volunteers with school children

Their volunteering enabled over 3300 participations in netball to take place on campus and across Leeds this year. Furthermore, the clubs voluntary activities carried an economic value of over £3500.

“The netball club have demonstrated a genuine passion for netball and created a culture of volunteering in the club in a relatively short space of time. Annalisa was the driving force behind all of this, influencing and supporting others to achieve more. They’ve really shown what can be achieved through hard work and commitment to others.”

Suzzi Garnett, Sports Volunteering Officer

Charity Work

In addition, the club have also dedicated time to charitable activities, such as the Christmas shoebox appeal, rainbow scrunchies during LGBT+ history month, as well as a joint social with Rugby League in aid of the James Burke Foundation and many more.

Finally, congratulations once again to the University of Leeds Netball Club on their achievements this year. As a result, they’ve already got 24 volunteers lined up to support various programmes next academic year.

If your club or society is interested in volunteering you can check out our current programmes here.
Meanwhile, applications for our Gryphons into Schools programme are open – individuals from any sporting background can apply and applications close on Friday 21st June 2019.

For more information about the programmes mentioned or sports volunteering, contact:
Suzzi Garnett, Sports Volunteering Officer
s.garnett@leeds.ac.uk / 0113 343 1544.

Cancelled August Swimming Lessons

Emily Halsall

June 7, 2019

We are investing £115k into updating and improving our state-of-the-art swimming pool to make it an even better place for you to swim. For us to be able to complete the works, we shall be closing the swimming pool for just over two weeks between Monday 29 July and Tuesday 13 August.

Due to the closure, swimming lessons will be cancelled on the following dates:

Saturday 3 August and Sunday 4 August
Saturday 10 August and Sunday 11 August

We are conscious that this is quite a gap in your child’s learn to swim journey, and so have been working hard to come up with a solution.

Once the pool re-opens, there will be extra weekday lessons running, in addition to the usual weekend lessons. These are for current swimming lesson customers only, and will be booked on a first come first served basis, and will cover all swimming stages. It is not compulsory to attend these sessions; we simply wanted to offer an alternative. If you do book onto these sessions, they will not cost you any additional swimming lesson credits. Details of these lessons are found below.
If you are unable to attend any of the alternative weekday lessons, your normal swimming lessons will resume weekend 17/18 August. Your total swimming lesson credits will be unaffected during the closure period.

Additional weekday swimming lessons

On weeks commencing 19 and 26 August, 30 minute lessons running between:

Tuesdays – 12.30 to 17.00

Wednesdays – 14.00 to 16.30

Thursdays – 13.30 to 16.30 and 18.00 to 20.00

Fridays – 10.30 to 12.30

These times will cover all swim lesson stages. Whilst we endeavour to do so, we cannot guarantee that these lessons will be with your child’s current swimming teacher.

If you would like to book one of the above lessons, please get in touch with the Aquatics Team, stating your 1^st & 2^nd preferences. The Aquatics Team will work through all requests and be in touch to confirm all places in advance. Please contact the Aquatics Team to book.

Adult Lessons & one-to-one lessons

These will unfortunately be cancelled during the closure period. All credits will be carried over and you can use these at a later date.

If you have any enquiries please contact the Aquatics Team.

For more information:

To find out more about the exciting investment project, please take a read here.

If you are interested in keeping up to date with the project progress, follow #EdgeInfo on Facebook and Twitter.

Swimming Pool Closure – £115k Investment

Emily Halsall

June 6, 2019

We are investing £115k into updating and improving our swimming pool to make it an even better place for you to swim. For us to be able to complete the works, we need to close the swimming pool for just over two weeks between Monday 29 July and Tuesday 13 August.

This is the first time we have had a major pool closure for maintenance works since we opened in May 2010. Some of the works are essential health and safety requirements; replacing equipment that is at the end of its life span, and whilst the pool is closed for these, we will also be taking the opportunity to make further improvements to the wet-side areas of The Edge.

We recognise that closing a facility for any period of time is inconvenient for our members, but we have worked hard with contractors; spending an extra £7k, to bring the closure from an initial four, to just over two weeks, and in addition sought to find alternative solutions for you to swim during the closed period, details of which are below.

The last time you will be able to use the swimming pool will be on Sunday 28 July 9pm (last entry 8:30pm), and the first re-entry to the facility on Wednesday 14 August 6:30am.

Project work to be completed:

Deep cleaning and re-grouting of the changing rooms and poolside floor.
The Sauna and Steam Room will undergo refurbishments.
Installation of new showers outside the Sauna and Steam Room.
Installation of brand new pool filters. It is recommended that swimming pool filters need to be changed every eight – ten years and this will be the first time this essential work has been carried out at The Edge.
Replacing broken poolside tiling.
Replacing the underwater lights.
Installation of a new colour swimming pool display unit.
New timing clocks so you can easily record your new personal swim best!

If you wish to swim during the closure period, we have set up an alternative arrangement with Leeds City Council local swimming pools;

If you are a University of Leeds Staff, Public, Alumni, NHS Trust, Corporate or Non- University of Leeds Student Edge member, simply show your green membership card at any of the below pools to enjoy a free swim.
If you are a University of Leeds student member, please come along to The Edge reception from week commencing 15th July where you will be issued with a green Edge card. Please take this with you to one of the below swimming pools to enjoy a free swim. Please be aware that your student card will not grant you access.

We recommend that you contact the specific swimming pool you wish to use in advance to check on their timetable, programming and availability.