Bridgwater & Taunton College students recently attended the annual Association of Colleges (AoC) National Championship at the University of Nottingham. This year saw the College’s first ever female basketball team qualify for the national finals, alongside College tennis player Yasmin Cannell.

The National Championship is the country’s largest annual event in college sport, with over 1600 student athletes from 10 regions of the UK competing in over 14 competitions. The weekend was a great success full of excitement and amazing sporting moments with every region aiming to accumulate the most points across the events in order to win the Wilkinson Sword. After some challenging fixtures the basketball team put on an impressive display in their final match to clinch 8^th place overall.

The squad (pictured above) are; Libby Rapson, Maya Fowler, Karla Hodson, Holly Dudridge, Luisa Bettini, Chloe Elswood and Elise Palmer.

Mason Galloway, Team BTC Basketball Coach, said,

“Even though the team had limited preparation time for the Nationals compared to some of the teams we were playing against, it was a huge achievement for the girls to finish 8^th (Out of the whole country)! The team was a huge credit to themselves and the College and were over the moon to have met and surpassed the goals they set themselves.”

Bridgwater & Taunton College student Yasmin Cannell also enjoyed a successful weekend as part of the South West Tennis team. The team played some brilliant tennis over the weekend and finished in 6^th place, a fantastic achievement considering the outstanding level of play from all regions.

Yasmin said,

“Having missed out at last year’s regional tournament but just a few points it was an amazing feeling to make Nationals this year! The standard of play was very high but I believe I represented myself and my ability very well.  Thank you to all the staff from Bridgwater & Taunton College who gave up their weekend to support me.  Overall my experience was brilliant!”

You can find out more about the Team BTC sports teams at Bridgwater & Taunton College here.