Charlie Peters and Emma Ashley at the National Talent Inspiration Programme

Two STARS squad pupils were selected to attend the National School Games at Loughborough this August and take part in the Talent Inspiration Programme for 3 days, following the Staffordshire Talent Inspiration Programme at Keele University in June.

 

Charlie Peters has wrote this report about the event:

School Games 2016

I arrived at Loughborough University at 9:30am for the first day of the TIP school games. After filling a form out and collecting my accreditation and kit, I had to get changed into my kit and join in with team building games. We were then put into our groups and met our mentors, before being taken to a lecture theatre where we had our TIP opening ceremony and were introduced to everybody and informed of what to expect over the next 3 days.

The first activity we did was classroom work, setting goals and GB athlete World champion Thai boxer, Rachael Mackenzie (mentor for my group) delivered an inspirational speech. After lunch, we went back to the classroom and took part in various activities against each other to test our reaction times, which we then recorded in our booklets.

We were taken to the sports hall where UK SPORT sports scientists put us through our paces in various tests in their UK SPORT talent ID search for the next Olympic and Paralympic champions.  Activities included standing long jump, vertical jump, medicine ball throw and other jump tests which were all recorded.

After having our tea we were taken to our accommodation within the grounds of the university. Once we were at our rooms, we finally got to relax and go to sleep.

Day Two:

We had to be up at 6am to do a 1hour 30mins circuit program before going for a shower and then breakfast. After which we went back to the classroom where we met the male Brazilian Bobsleigh team who told us about their sport and their training and team building activities.

After lunch we went to a 3G pitch where we met the women’s Canadian baseball team, they told us about their sport, we were split into groups and played a game of baseball with them, getting a chance to try out all aspects of the game e.g. batting, bowling, and fielding.

After tea we attended the opening ceremony for the school games, there was a laser show, people performing on stage and various GB athletes fresh back from Rio. I finally got back to my room at 11:30pm.

Day Three:

We had to be up at 6:30am to leave the accommodation with our luggage before having breakfast. After breakfast we went to watch the wheelchair basketball, female rugby and the athletics. After having lunch we then attended the TIP closing ceremony and waited to be collected by our parents.

The things I enjoyed the most were the physical activities and the opening ceremony for the school Games. Overall, I really enjoyed it and it was a great experience although it was very tiring.

Charlie Peters

Check out our new NULC Academy of Sport video on you tube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hOrLVUBQmk&feature=youtu.be

Congratulations to Pieter Drijfhout who was the Winner of the Go Spike Speed Cage Competition.

It was a tough competition which saw some really high speeds recorded.


Pieter fought off the competition and won with a winning speed of 62km.


Thanks to everyone who took part, a lot of fun was had by all who took part, staff and students included.
 
Keep your eye out for more academy events coming up.

RESULTS 10.02.16

NULC Basketball B 102 - 17 TCAT

NULC Ladies Football 6 - 0 Walsall College

NULC Netball A 44 - 36 Hereford 6th Form College

NULC Rugby 10 - 10 Newcastle-under-Lyme School

 

NULC student heads to Rio Olympics.



A level student Florence (Flossie) Owen will soon fulfill a lifelong dream after being selected to volunteer at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Eighteen year old Flossie, who currently studies A levels in Photography, Media Studies and Psychology is also a member of NULC’s Academy of Sport where she plays in the Volleyball team.


Flossie said: “After attending the London 2012 Olympic Games as a spectator watching the volleyball and seeing the volunteers, I realised what a fantastic opportunity they had been given. I thought to myself that I would love to do this at the next Olympics.  So, two years later in October 2014, I applied.  I chose to write about my experience and passion for volleyball to influence the role that they could offer me.”


The interview process for volunteer selection at the 2016 Olympic Games began with an interview via webcam where candidates were asked to discuss what Rio 2016 meant to them. Flossie then had a tentative four month wait to understand the outcome of the interview, during which time she continued to update her application with new experiences and qualifications she had gained.
Said Flossie: “In December 2015 I was delighted to receive an email that confirmed I had been selected as a volunteer. Just one month later, I learned that I had secured my dream role of Field of Play (FOP) Indoor Volleyball Team Member.”


Trevor Humphreys, Academy of Sport Manager said: “This is an incredible opportunity, we are all immensely proud of Flossie’s achievement and determination to fulfill her dream. Volunteering at the Olympic Games is a once in a lifetime experience so we would encourage Flossie to make the most of her time in Rio de Janeiro. We hope that she will return and share her experience with her peers, inspiring them to pursue similar goals in the future.”
Flossie continued: “I’m so excited to have the opportunity to meet my role models and see what it takes to make an Olympic Games so successful.  I am going to enjoy every moment.”


After the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, Flossie aims to keep setting herself high goals. Her main aspiration is to qualify to become a volleyball referee which will allow her achieve another dream of travelling around the world.
For more information about the range of A level courses we offer and information about the West Midlands No.1 Sports Academy visit www.nulc.ac.uk

RESULTS - 27.01.16

NULC Basketball A 89 - 16  Gloucestershire College

NULC Basketball B 80 - 21 Walsall College

NULC Ladies Basketball 48 - 21 BMET

NULC Netball B 36 - 9 City of Stoke-on-Trent 6th Form College

NULC Ladies Volleyball 3 - 0 King Edward VI

Stourbridge College

NULC (Cat 1) 4 - 4 Preston College

NULC (Cat 3) 0 - 4 TCAT

NULC Netball A Beat St Joe’s (friendly)

NULC Badminton - Winners

  

 

National Volleyball student cup qualifiers

 

On Sunday 29^th November, Newcastle under Lyme College’s Volleyball Academy left in the early hours to compete in the Volleyball England Indoor student cup qualifiers at Leeds University.

A male and female squad both made the journey, both the men’s and the women’s squads were made up of NULC College students unfortunately due to injuries both teams could not get full strength squad’s; Men’s- Zakk Hadgett, Connor Grimes, Rich James, Matt Smith, Harry Dawson, Harry Kearon and Kamil Kempinski. Women’s- Olivia Burton, Olivia Beckett, Aimee Degg, Rita Magalhaes, Lucy Matthews, Florence Owen and Georgina Reah.

The student cup is a higher level competition compared to college volleyball which the students are used to playing against due to it being a University competition, other teams who competed were well-established University scholars and Academies.

The women’s team had a tough day ahead of them especially without some of their most experienced players; Rosie Barley and Georgie Reah who turned up to support the girls but could not play due to injury. Sadly the level of volleyball was too high for this young in-experienced side with missing two of their most experienced players and unfortunately the ladies did not qualify for the student finals but should be proud of themselves as they competed well throughout the day and gave a good account of themselves. The tournament was a great learning experience for the girls and really good preparation for AoC National Finals in April where they will be representing the West Midlands and for the next Student Cup qualifiers.

The men’s team had a tough start to the competition facing the group favourites Nottingham 1, a University team with a scholarship funded Volleyball programme, after a tough fought battle NULC lost the first game 2-1.

The next fixture saw NULC take on Nottingham 2, another University team, NULC went on to comfortably win 2-0.

The third fixture saw NULC take on Bristol with another convincing 2-0 win, after a tough fourth game against Oxford NULC again managed to come out on top with another 2-0 victory.

The final fixture of the day saw NULC men’s team take on Warwick; Warwick had also had a close game with group favourites Nottingham 1 losing 2-1 to them, so this looked to be a tough fixture for NULC. As predicted the game was a very close match seeing Warwick take the first set 25-22, NULC fought back in the second set and won 25-23 taking the game into a final set, the final set saw NULC lose 15-10 and lose the fixture 2-1, the long day and lack of available substitutions had clearly taken its toll on the NULC men’s team.

NULC Men’s Volleyball Academy managed to qualify for the Student Cup Final 16 where they will face the top teams from across the country such as Sheffield Hallam University and Essex University. The finals are due to take place in Norwich on the weekend 6^th - 7^th February. This is a massive achievement for the lads so Congratulations and a massive good luck from all at NULC.