BASKETBALL - IOAN NICKSONSecond year Business Management student Ioan Nickson recenly represented the Wales Basketball Senior team against England in Birmingham’s NIA. It was always going to be a tough fixture for Wales but they managed to keep pace with England for the first quarter. However, England’s superior experience eventually started to show as gaps in the Welsh defence began to open up before they built an unassailable lead by the final quarter.

Wales senior coach Steve Williams said: “Obviously we’re a very young team compared to England with only one player under 25. We knew it would be a tough challenge. We’re trying to raise the profile of Welsh basketball and I cannot fault the attitude and intensity of the team. If we could play England every week, we would a better team in 12 months time.”

Along with playing at International level Ioan also currently represents Glamorgan Gladiators in the GB National league and Cardiff University in the BUCS leagues. Having spent some time studying and playing in the United States he has already gained plenty of experience. which has

helped develop as a player and progress his game rapidly in the last 2 years.

CANOEING - GARETH FARROWDuring the last weekend of February, Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham played host to the annual BUCS Canoe Slalom Championships. Gareth Farrow (1st Year – Geology) was the sole representative of Cardiff University at the event and hoped to add to the 2 medals he won at the BUCS Canoe Wild Water Championships back in November.

With another large field of over 130 competitors it was always going to be a tough event but Ga-reth proved his quality by finishing a very credible 4th place. Canoeing isn’t a sport the University has excelled in over the years but we hope with the development of the White Water Centre in Cardiff Bay and the addition of athletes such as Gareth we can start to attract and develop some more of the best young canoeing talents in the UK.

A week or so before the BUCS event Gareth was competing in Llanion, France in their national race. After minimal slalom training yet this year he reached 2 finals finishing 2nd in both – A very good start to a season we wish him well for!

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HIGH PERFORMANCE PROGRAMMENEWSLETTER

CLAY PIDGEON SHOOTING

Cardiff University Clay Pigeon Shooting club recently attend the BUCS Champion-ships which were held at the West Midlands Shooting Ground last month. Both Nata-lie Davies (2nd Year Physics with Medical Physics) and Mark Hampton (PhD Physics) were part of the successful Women’s and Men’s teams who won an individual Gold as well as 2 team Silver medals.

This is another great result for the club who seem to become more successful every year. Mark has been part of the club and our High Performance Programme for a number of years and continues to lead by example as well as performing consistently well on the National and International stage.

Whilst only in her second year Natalie has already become an important figure in the Clay Pigeon club due to her knowledge, talent and experience gained whilst representing Wales at Senior level over the last few years. The time and effort both athletes put in with the club is highly valued and they must be thanked for assisting in the continued success at BUCS events.

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY LADIES CRICKETCardiff University Ladies Cricket Club became National Indoor Cricket Champions on Saturday 25th February as they beat Loughborough University in the BUCS finals staged at the SWALEC National Indoor Cricket Centre (Sophia Gardens, Cardiff).

This is the first time Cardiff have lifted the trophy and it is a testament to the hard work that has been put in to developing their cricketing skills over the winter months. The team got through the

qualifying rounds before Christmas by beating both Exeter and Plymouth. The hard work then started as the finals approached and with group fixtures against Durham, Sheffield Hallam and Brighton it was always going to be a tough finals day. The team showed great skill, nerve and resolve to win all 3 matches and progress to a final against a Loughborough side that hadn’t been tested at all throughout the competition. Cardiff did well to keep the Loughborough score in check before chasing down and beating their runs total of 107 in thefinal over.

A great way to win a British Universities Championship! Two High performance students were a key part of the team and must be congratulated on a great win along with the rest of the girls. Catherine Smaill (Scotland and 2nd year Physiotherapy student) and Heather Knight (England and 2nd year Biomedical Sciences student) both contributed throughout the event with Catherine being named player of the match in the final after taking 2 wickets and scoring an outstanding 39 runs not out! Both players and the whole squad have already begun preparations for the outdoor season which is due to start at the end of April.

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MENS CRICKET - DOMINIC REED

Congratulations to final year Business Management student Dominic Reed who has recently been selected as part of the England Cricket Board’s Unicorns squad for this year’s Professional Clydesdale Bank 40 over competition.

The squad is a development opportunity and thus mainly made up of young player’s who haven’t yet been awarded professional contracts as well as some more experienced player’s who are coming towards the end of their careers.

Last year was the first year the team had been put together and they performed well by winning 3 matches’ including a memorable 6 wicket victory over Sussex. It is a great opportunity for Dominic as he hopes to secure a Professional County Contract once he graduates this summer. First, there are of course finals and the University cricket season (as part of the Cardiff MCCU select squad) to worry about.

The Cardiff team have been hugely successful in recent years winning every trophy available to them and are the reigning BUCS Champions. With a record 7 Cardiff University representatives in the squad this year we wish them every success.

BUCS ATHLETICSThe BUCS Indoor Athletics Championships 2011 were recently held in the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. Both Caryl Granville (3rd year Biomedical Science) and Chris Discombe (MSc Sports Physiotherapy) performed well to reach the finals of their events and just missed out on medals. Chris finished 6th in the 3000 metres which is a good result in his first BUCS Championships and he now hopes he can push on towards the outdoor season and improve come the BUCS Outdoors Championships in May.

Caryl is a very good multi-event athlete and her skills in such events were tested as she reached the finals of both the 400 metres and 60 metre hurdles which were scheduled to be only an hour apart. Unfortu-nately Caryl just missed out on a medal in both events but her achieve-ments in the last 2 years both in BUCS events (3 individual medals last year) and National Championships have seen her become the most successful individual athlete in Cardiff University.

More recently Caryl represented Great Britain in an Under 23 combined events international match against France and England in Sheffield. The match saw Caryl compete in an indoor pen-tathlon which included 60 metre hurdles, long jump, shot, high jump and 800 metres. After 4 events Caryl was well positioned to win a medal and an outstanding winning performance in the final event - 800 metres saw her beat the rest of the field by 4 seconds which was enough to secure a Gold medal – Congratulations!

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BUCS

The 4th annual BUCS Championships, the pinnacle of the domestic university sporting season, will return to Sheffield this week. Last year the Championships were very suc-cessful for Cardiff University with our teams/athletes winning both individual and team medals in sports such as Volleyball, Water Polo, Judo, Athletics, Shooting and Table Tennis.

This year we are once again well represented in the various finals. Both the Ladies Fencing and Hockey team’s are in the final of the BUCS Trophy as well as the Men’s Squash team. The Men’s Volleyball team are in the Final 8’s of the Championships and are hoping to achieve a higher finish than their very respectable 4th place last year. Women’s Water Polo are also again in the Championship finals (to be held in Walsall this year) and are hoping to defend the title they won after some outstanding performances last year. We also have teams and individuals with high hopes of medals in Judo, Karate, Trampolining, Ultimate Frisbee, Rifle Shooting and Snooker.

Best of luck to all those High Performance Programme (HPP) athletes taking part in any of the events mentioned and here’s hoping further medals can be added to what has been a very successful year already. The efforts of all the HPP athletes in representing the University (and in doing so increasing the University’s sporting profile) are much appreciated.

I’ll report on all notable results in the next HPP newsletter as well as some recent successes in the BUCS Mountain Bike Championships and British Swimming Senior Championships! Further information on all BUCS events and results can be found by visiting www.bucs.org.uk.

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