Staff and students from Bridgwater College attended the annual AoC National Championships at Northumbria University from the 15 – 17 April, after ten students qualified to represent the South West in their chosen sports, including trampolining, table tennis and cross-country.

The National Championships, now in its 38th year, is one of the largest annual sporting events in England. The Championships were held at the Northumbria University in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne for the first time in the game’s history, giving the students access to some of the finest facilities in Britain. The weekend was held with great success, with a weekend full of sporting brilliance and excitement. As a celebration of college sport, the competition saw a great turnout with nearly 1,800 students attending and going up against each other in 14 different disciplines.

The students taking part were aged 16 to 19 years and each had qualified to take part in the event through regional tournaments that took place in the autumn. As well as competing in their chosen sport, students competed for points for their region, contesting for the Wilkinson Sword. Swimmer, Beth Newton had also qualified for the games however due to British Championships in Glasgow the same week, couldn’t attend.

The competition began with the South West joining together, with speeches made by staff captains Carly Martin (Bridgwater College) and Paul Taylor (Weston College). The opening ceremony commenced later that afternoon, which allowed all 11 regions to come together and enjoy a display of break-dancing by a professional group, as well as an inspiring speech by guest speaker and England Women’s football player, Jill Scott.

The first to compete for the South West were the Women’s Trampolining squad, including Bridgwater College students Chloe Eggleton, Rebecca Harper, Jasmin Uminski and Lauren Usher. The students helped to make up a squad of six, and with strong routines from all, finished the Championships in third place, earning a bronze medal. Taking inspiration from this result, next up were the men’s team. The squad included Nathan Tabberer, Ross Vernon, Oli Price Bridgwater College. The team executed their routines superbly and ended their Championships in second place, winning the South West valuable points.

In Table Tennis Alisha Gardner and Harriet Vassalli-Collard secured third place victory in the doubles competition. They played in a round robin competition and battled their way to a bronze medals.

Eric Evans contributed to his South-West team by helping them to secure fourth place respectfully in a quality field at the Cross-country event held at Gibside National Trust.

A number of Bridgwater College staff supported the Championships by helping to organise events, with Helen Wheller as South West Trampolining Team Manager and Carly Martin as South West Team Captain. Jack Hamblin (Table Tennis) and Mason Galloway (Cross Country) also supported the athletes at the event, as well as organising the trip beforehand.

The Wilkinson Sword, awarded to the region with the most points accumulated over all the events, was won and retained convincingly by the South West region, beating their nearest rivals South East by 30 points. South West have now won back-to-back titles as the athletes performances contributed towards them being the most successful region at these Championships, showing they can win the championships home and away.

Carly Martin, College Sports Maker at Bridgwater College and South West Female Staff Captain said,

“It was a privilege to be involved in this year’s National Championships as Staff Team Captain. The students were a credit to their colleges and the event was both successful and enjoyable. I am especially proud of all of the Bridgwater College students, who gave it their all and demonstrated some high quality performances.”

Harriet Vassalli-Collard, L3 Ext Dip Manufacturing Engineering student and table tennis bronze medallist said,

“I had an amazing time at Nationals and I loved every single minute! Our south west team was one massive family and we all supported each other. It was great to be part of such a huge team! Thank-you to staff for taking us!”