Bridgwater College recently hosted their annual student Team BC Sports Awards to celebrate the sporting achievements accomplished by students within Team BC Performance, as well as celebrating the participation of those involved with Team BC Active.

The awards ceremony saw 140 staff and students come together to celebrate the success of Team BC. The ceremony began with the team awards, with awards for Player of the Year, Players Player of the Year and Coach’s Player of the Year being presented for each of the eleven teams. Some of the award winners included Tilly Heal, who won Coach’s Player of the Year for netball, Charlotte Cross who was awarded Players Player of the Year for female football and Charlie White, who won Player of the Year for men’s elite football.

Next was a celebration of those students who had won regional competition in their sports, and therefore went on to represent Bridgwater College, and the region, at the AoC National Championships. This included Rhianne O’Donnell for squash, Charlie Attwood for swimming, the Ability Counts disability football team and the male and female trampolining squads.

Within the interval Luke Buckingham, Sports Development Manager, introduced special guest speaker, Professional BMXer and Guinness World Record Holder, Matti Hemmings. Matti performed some of his best tricks, as well as giving staff and students the opportunity to ask questions about his BMX career.

Next came the presentation of awards for Team BC Active, which is the sports provision offered to all students at the College, to encourage them to be physically active. The Team BC Activators are a group of hard working student volunteers who help to promote and deliver these opportunities to their fellow peers. The awards included Active Team of the Year, which was presented to the mixed cricket team, and Volunteer of the Year was presented to Natalia Plywacz after her fantastic contribution to college sport.

The ceremony was concluded with the most prestigious awards of the evening, including Team BC Athlete of the Year, which was presented to Charlie Attwood. Charlie won gold in the 100m and 200m Breaststroke, breaking the British Junior Record in the 200m and only just missing the 100m English record by 0.04 seconds. He also made the qualification time for the first ever European Games in Baku, where he brought home two silver and one bronze medal. Other awards included Team BC Team of the Year, which was awarded to the male football development team and Team BC Captain of the Year, which was presented to trampolinist Tanzy Watkins.

Jason Gunningham, Head of Department for Sports, Outdoor Education and Uniformed Public Services at the College said,

“The evening was a terrific culmination of both student and staff dedication to their particular sports. We are extremely proud of all of our students involved in Team BC, whether they are part of our elite and high performing sports teams, or part of the incredible student Team BC Activators. It is no coincidence that a number of our students have received national honours and recognition from their achievements and involvement in Team BC Sport.

“My thanks also go to the fantastic coaching and sport science staff within Team BC and the quality provision and opportunities they provide our students week in and week out. It is a testament to their skills and experience, and a key reason why Team BC is growing from strength to strength. There is no doubt why talented sport students across the county select Bridgwater College to study and develop their sporting and coaching careers further.”

Charlie Fouracres, a Level 3 Sport and Exercise Science student at the College, commented,

“The Team BC Awards were great fun! It was an excellent night and a chance to spend a social evening with our teams. It was an unexpected honour to receive my awards, Team BC Hockey Player of the Year and Team BC Active Personality of the Year.”

Jeremy Kerswell, Assistant Principal of Land-based, Business and Sport said,

“It was a privilege to attend this year’s awards ceremony to celebrate the achievements of so many students across the college. It was inspiring to see the incredible individual and team honours achieved on local, regional and national levels, whilst the outstanding work of our Team BC activators has led to 100’s of other students benefitting from extended opportunities to enrich their time at college.”