The AoC Championships came to a close, as two Team BC Athletes reached the national finals. Swimmer Beth Newton and Cross Country runner Eric Evans booked their place in the South West Team for the national championships in Newcastle in early 2016.

It would be another mixed bag for the rest of the team in sporting action from men’s Hockey, Badminton and Football.

Elite Hockey

It was a mixed bag of results for Team BC Hockey as the team showed a tremendous amount of resilience and spirt during their three games.

The tournament started with a loss to Richard Huish after a poor start, conceding within the first minute. The side found themselves down by three goals at half time; it was a deficit that the trailing side would be unable to reach, although they gave a dominant second half display, with skipper Sean Hedaux getting a consolation goal.

They were unfortunate to lose the second game 1 – 0 to Exeter College. The performance was deserving of a draw, going toe to toe with their opponents throughout the duration of the game, only to concede a scrappy goal which their play did not warrant.

The team finally got their reward for all their hard work during the day, beating Truro 2 – 1 in the final game, the pick of the goals a Liam Pigden saw his shot from a well-worked short corner hit the backboard.

Men’s Badminton

In the badminton championship it would be a tough learning experience for our athletes as they faced some very experienced players from across the South West.

The boy’s team, made up of Zack Mitchell, Tom Miller, Benji Douthwaite-Hodges and Peter Machnowski all remained in high spirits despite the challenge they faced. With most of the squad in their first year, it would also be their first taste of AoC action.

One of the many positives to take from the championship was the drive and determination. Although they were not winning every game, they remained focused and came away with a number of wins between them. Mitchell, a Team BC Activator said,

“I thought that it was a great learning experience and day for the Active squad, and it will help them to understand the competitive experience more.”

SLD Football

It was an exciting day for the SLD football squad as they narrowly missed-out on national qualification. The team battled their way to a thrilling win in their first game against South Devon College. After finding themselves 2-1 down at half time, Team BC battled to a 3 – 2 win after goals from Brandon Wood and Kyle secured the victory.

The team then faced Weston College in another challenging encounter and narrowly lost 1 – 0, conceding a fine team goal from Weston. Team BC knew that they had to win against SGS to give themselves a chance of qualification and put everything into their final performance, winning 2 – 1.

SLD coach Jack Hamblin said,

“We had a great day and I’m very proud of the lads performance, they put 100% into every performance. We’re disappointed not to qualify but now we look forward to try and qualify for the ECFA championships held at St Georges Park in the New Year.”

Swimming

In Swimming, Scholarship and Sport and Exercise Science Student, Beth Newton qualified comfortably for the South West team as she eased to the 50m and 100m Backstroke titles, which guaranteed herself a lane at the national championships. Amelia Heather narrowly missed out on qualification in the 100m freestyle.

Cross Country

Eric Evans qualified South West team in the Cross-country event as he finished eighth at Plymouth’s central park. Erin Martin narrowly missed a spot as she finished ninth in the women’s event.