20/20 Cricket hits Newcastle-under-Lyme College

Newcastle-under-Lyme College played its first 20-20 cricket match of the season at Keele University  vs Sandwell College – the previous two games being cancelled due to the weather. NULC batted first and amassed a massive 189 – 7 with Kieron Bedford hitting 102. Sandwell were then bowled out for 51 with Harvey Collins taking 4 wickets.

The college is competing in the British Colleges Sport West Midlands North Division which will then progress into a play-off system with the south of the region.

You can keep up to date with the progress of the college at the link below:

http://bcsregionalt20.play-cricket.com/home/home.asp 

Students and teams recognised at Borough Council Sports Awards

Newcastle-under-Lyme College Academy of Sport Students and teams were recognised on Thursday 23^rd May by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council at their annual sports council awards. The awards were split into 4 different categories:

Individuals, Administrators, coaches and teams.

The Academy of Sport had 2 students nominated in the senior individual section, England ladies football under 19 captain Sherry McCue and England ladies football under 19 Goalkeeper Emily Horton. It was Sherry that came out triumphant as she was named Senior Individual Sports Person of the Year.

In the team category the Academy of Sport as a whole, and the ladies college football squad were nominated due to the incredible success that they have had this year. It was the ladies squad who won the award which is thoroughly deserved after being crowned national champions and West Midlands League Winners.

The ceremony which was hosted at the Civic Offices in Newcastle-under-Lyme was attended by Academy players Dominique Ford Gordon, Abbie Jackson, Jade Boulton and Sherry McCue.

The awards add to what has already been the college’s most successful year in participation, competition and trophies won.

Basketball squads excel at National 3 v 3 Championships

NULC took both the Ladies’ and Men’s basketball teams to the Nottingham Wildcats Arena to play 3 vs. 3 tournaments. Each team took on opponents ranging from Derby to London, after playing numerous matches both teams finished the tournament with smiles on their faces.

Both teams only went into this tournament with one goal which was to have fun, however for the lads things turned serious when them and both coach Jamison realised they could win. After only losing one game by a staggering 1 point the lads had achieved much more than they expected and became national champions.

For the ladies’ they played their matches with a range of results they won some, lost some and drew a couple. After playing a 9 minute 50 second match the last 10 seconds were to decide the winner.

Unfortunately the girls were unsuccessful and couldn’t stop derby from scoring their free- throw point which gave them the game. Unsuccessful the girls still left with massive smiles on their faces after securing silver medals, this was an exceptional performance from them as they have only every played once before and had no training. For NULC it was a very good and successful day and all coaches were very proud!

NULC Shine at National Athletics Championships

Sixteen NULC students competed against other colleges from all over the country in the BCS National Athletic Championships at Gateshead International Stadium yesterday and returned a haul of 10 medals with Lucy Hayes leading the way with a Gold Medal in the Ladies 800m. James Taylor won Silver in the 110m hurdles and bronze in the 100m with Chris Foster returning silver in the triple jump and Liam Hebbelthwaite a bronze in the 200m. Jaydene Thompson won bronze in both ladies 100m and 200m. Despite horrendous conditions in torrential rain and gale force winds both the mens 4x 100m and 4x 400m relay teams medalled with bronze and silver respectively. This yet again cements NULC Sport Academy as amongst the best in the country!

NULC STARS Squad Trip to the Velodrome

NULC STARS Squad - Trip to the Velodrome April 2013.
 

Newcastle-under-Lyme STARS Squad members along with Deb O’Neill and Keith Harrison went to the Manchester Velodrome, home of British cycling for the day on Monday 15 April.  They had an hour on the track, coached by a British Cycling coach in the art of track cycling.  
 
Our own STARS squad member, Sallie Birchall, is a regular at the track with her cycling training programme and she showed the rest of the squad how it is done, on her own bike.  The rest of the squad quickly took to riding up the banked slopes and showed their natural sporting ability sprinting around the track.  Sarah Mainwaring had a slight fall, but being a World Champion at Kickboxing, quickly got back on her bike to continue the session.
 
At lunch, the squad went into the BMX arena to find the GB riders training for the first world competition being held at the venue.  Shanaze Reade and Liam Phillips practised their starts and jumps over the track.  At the weekend both Reade and Phillips created an historic double-double for Great Britain at the first round of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup in Manchester, winning both Friday's time trial and Saturday's main event.

After lunch, the squad were given a tour of the arena and realised how steep the banking on the cycle track was from the spectator view, where they had just been riding!  Sallie Birchall and Connor Grimes went head to head in a Watt Bike session, where Team GB regularly train to maximum.  It was interesting to see how the arena is used for other sports, including Badminton, Basketball, Indoor Rowing and Netball.  It demonstrates how a facility can be shared between elite athletes and members of the local community in a profit making way, ensuring the future of such high standard facilities will be maintained.
 
Then the squad were fortunate to see some of the Team GB track team train on the track where they had just been training.  Phillip Hindes and Becky James and were just two of the superstars on show.  Hindes won the team sprint with Jason Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy at the London 2012 Olympic Games and received an MBE.  James is tipped to surpass Victoria Pendleton’s success.  In the 2013 UCI Track Cycling World Championships she gained two Gold and two Bronze medals, making her the first Briton to win four medals in one World Championships competition.  It was also interesting to see a Paralympic athlete train with the Olympic athletes -the Disability Programme runs alongside the able bodied Programmes and it has the sole aim of winning Paralympic Gold medals.

All the squad members thoroughly enjoyed the trip and the experience of training in a World Class facility.  Our next trip will hopefully be on the BMX track for a similar experience.
 
To find out more about the STARS Squad contact Deb O’Neill deborah.o'neill@nulc.ac.uk.

STARS FITNESS SESSION 3

MONDAY 22 APRIL 2013

12 STARS Squad members took part in their third and final fitness testing session at the Gordon Banks Sports Centre.    Matt Berrisford, Sports Scientist for the Academy of Sport, took the group through a series of aerobic tests to identify strengths and weaknesses within each athlete.  The session was held on the College 3G pitch and the tests included the Illinois Agility Test, the Agility Test and two sprint tests to measure power and speed.

Adam Jones and Sophie Goodfellow excelled in the boys and girls groups.

Then the squad went into a classroom with Deb O’Neill to complete a sports competition anxiety test (SCAT) to look at how they feel in a competitive situation and determine their level of anxiety when competing in their sport.  The squad were given information on how to reduce their level of anxiety prior to a competition in order to achieve more success.  This will be an on-going process.  Following discussions with the squad, more sessions on psychology of sport will take place in September.

College students get to play at Lords at Indoor 24 Competition

A group of 8 sport students attended the National Indoor 24 finals in April after winning the indoor regional tournament. Two members of the team had played Cricket at a regional level before but the rest of the team were inexperienced and had either never or hardly played before.

When the students arrived at the venue thet were straight into warm up and our the first game which they came away successful, this was then followed by 4 consecutive matches.

The students performed well as a team and enjoyed the overall experience of playing in a top class venue in a sport that they enjoiyed.

After the matches were complete the students went for a tour of the stadium and received their west midlands champions regional medals.

Overall everybody loved the day and the experience and all of us are going to continue cricket within college or outside.