Sports Awards 2022

As the academic year and university sport comes to an end, we were delighted to be able to bring our sports clubs together and celebrate their achievements at the 2022 Sports Awards. This academic year saw our students perform incredibly well and showed new levels of commitment, passion and determination. Team UoP have achieved so much in the past year alone and we can’t wait to get behind all of our clubs and cheer them on next year. 

Six of our teams were promoted to Division 1, we won four South East Conference Cups, and came runners up three times, our Sailing Club came 5th in the BUCS Yachting Nationals and we had an astounding total of over 300 committee members, helping to shape sport across the year. 

If Team UoP didn’t already do us proud enough, we also saw a whole range of individual wins, notably from our sport scholars. With a total of four BUCS Gold Medals, a Silver and a Bronze, and breaking a 20-year BUCS record in shot put at BUCS nationals, our scholars have helped to secure our position at 33rd in the overall BUCS table. Two of these wins resulted in Emily Niven and Ericas Luckauskas qualifying to represent the University at the European University Games in Judo and Taekwondo.

Not only did our scholars do us proud in representing Team UoP, but they also managed a whole range of wins outside of University sport. Will Grace ranked 1st in his age group for Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote and became the European Age Group Champion 2021. Serena Vincent came 4th in both the UK Athletics Indoor Championships and the European Throwing Cup. Victoria Vivona won a silver and two bronze medals at the Bracknell 21st Legend Open Shotokan. Fleur Schrader came 14th in Para-dressage at Tokyo Paralympics 2020. Emily Niven won gold in the Northern Irish Senior Open.

As well as performance sport and competing against other universities, we are also passionate about Student Development. We are incredibly proud to have had 53 student coaches in this year alone, 36 of which have upskilled through coaching and officiating qualifications. The skills our students have developed will perfectly complement their academic and sporting achievements helping to propel them towards achieving their goals in their future careers. 

It’s clear to see that there is so much to celebrate and our students are so deserving of an evening dedicated to them, their sporting achievements and their determination. 

The evening began with our Sports Reception which key stakeholders, our sports scholars and all the nominees for the reception awards attended. The Sports Reception celebrated sports performance, student experience and student leadership activities from across the year. 

Following the Sports Reception, the Sports Awards ceremony carried celebrations into the evening. The Sports Awards offered attendees a chance for club and team photos, arrival drinks, a three-course meal, photobooth access and of course the awards presentation for club, team and individual awards. 

We would like to congratulate everyone nominated, shortlisted and the winners of awards at both the Sports Reception and Sports Awards, we’re extremely proud of your achievements. All of the incredibly worthy winners and the titles of the awards they won this year can be found below.

Individual Awards

Contribution to Community

As a University we work hard to have a positive impact on the community we live in, to embed our civic footprint and be upstanding members of society.

Shortlisted:
William Harrington - U18 Assistant Coach
Jenna Davies - Netball Outreach Sec

Winner: Daniel Shoulders - U14 Head Coach

Daniel has been the Head Coach of the University’s U14 Girls’ football team for the past 2 years. Coaching teenagers can be challenging, but he delivers fun, engaging sessions and is committed to developing every player he works with. He has been committed to his own development as a coach and supporting other student coaches within the programme.

Student Official of the Year

Officials are integral to the delivery of University sport, and this award recognises those individuals who are committed to carrying out these roles to ensure fixtures get played within the laws of the game.

Shortlisted:
Alfie Hornby - Lacrosse
Cat Sonkur - Netball

Winner: Max Terry - Football

Max has been a football referee within the Referee Hub over the past couple of years. Max has immersed himself in our Campus Sport and BUCS fixtures across both the Men’s and the Women’s games, to gain as much experience as possible, refereeing over 200 fixtures this academic year!

President of the Year

This award aims to recognise the President that has demonstrated outstanding leadership and club development skills over the course of the academic year. They will have brought their club along leaps and bounds, and wholly demonstrated what it means to be an exemplary President within Team UoP.

Shortlisted:
Cameron Maguire - Athletics
Annie Couchman - Netball
Adam Morris - Sailing

Winner: Carolina Bastos - Volleyball

Outstanding Contribution to University Sport (Female)

The Outstanding Contribution award aims to recognise an individual who embodies the core beliefs and values of Team UoP.

Shortlisted:
Carolina Bastos
Annie Couchman 

Winner: Mia Elias - Team UoP Exec

Scholar of the Year - Special Recognition

Scholar of the Year (Special Recognition) is awarded to a student to recognise their dedication and engagement with the sport scholarship programme. This award reflects how much the student values the opportunities to develop themselves and is committed to every aspect of the scholarship programme.

Shortlisted:
Denesha Rocastle - Triple Jump
Emily Beach - Badminton
Joseph Ventre - Taekwondo

Winner: Simon Hall - Sailing

Simon has had a hectic competition schedule this year, both in BUCS and externally, but he has been committed to his training programme to ensure he is in the best physical shape to perform well. He has utilised mentor support from a previous elite athlete and sports psychology strategies to gain focus, and attended all workshops to gain insight into factors that affect performance. He has demonstrated determination, resilience, self-awareness and a positive mindset, and has been a joy to work with.

Club Awards

Sustainability Club of the Year

This is awarded to the Club who has participated in and helped to develop more sustainable practices within their Sports Club and the wider Team UoP community.

Shortlisted:
Fencing

Winner: Sailing

The Sailing Club kicked off the year by winning Gold in the Green Blue University Sailing Sustainability Challenge for the second year in a row. Not only this, they have worked hard to ensure sustainability is embedded in their club, delivering sustainability presentations, organising clothes exchanges to reduce instances of fast fashion, and most recently organising ‘the Big Dip’ to fundraise for local environmental charities.

RAG Club of the Year

The Raising and Giving club of the year award aims to reward a club that has been significantly engaged with fundraising events and opportunities throughout the year.

Shortlisted:
Athletics
Rowing

Winner: Dance

RAG has been a massive focus for the Dance Club this year, starting right from the very beginning with a raffle at their Freshers Fayre stall! In their first attempt post COVID, they delivered a phenomenal Sportos Dance Off event, raising an incredible £4622 from that event alone! As well as Sportos, members of their club have actively engaged with other volunteering opportunities, most notably continuing our good work with Portsmouth Food Bank. They have also engaged in national campaigns like the ‘Love your Leo’ campaign, aimed at promoting body positivity and tackling issues around body image within the world of Dance.

Most Improved Club of the Year

This is awarded to the Club that has shown the most significant improvement over the last year in terms of organisation and dedication.

Shortlisted:
Basketball 
Taekwondo and Karate

Winner: Squash

Squash started off this academic year with only three members, so the odds were stacked against them from the start. However, they now finish the year with 30+ members, coming second in their newly entered local league, and their first ever women’s team has not only completed a full year of BUCS, but won the league and came second in the cup!

Team of the Year

Team of the Year shall be awarded to an individual team within a club or a one-team club that has had an outstanding season in terms of performance during the previous academic year.

Shortlisted:
Basketball Men’s 1st Team
Squash Women’s 1st Team
Volleyball Women’s 1st Team

Winner: Netball 1st Team
The Netball team went into this season with high hopes after recruiting some excellent students and an excellent coach to the structure, this year the league was theirs for the taking and they certainly didn’t disappoint! Like Basketball, they also won both the Conference Cup and the league title, doing so in style, beating every opponent by excess of 20 points!

Special Recognition

UoP Sport Special Recognition Award is an award that recognises an individual, team or club on achieving an unprecedented level of success in exemplifying the values of Team UoP.

Winner: Basketball

After such a successful year for Team UoP, the Sport and Recreation Team felt that it was important to introduce an award, selected by the staff team, to celebrate an individual or team that exemplified the Spirit of Sport that Team UoP wishes to uphold. The UoP Sport Special Recognition Award is an award that recognises an individual, team or club on achieving an unprecedented level of success in exemplifying the values of Team UoP. These include, but are not limited to: sporting success, spirit of sport, community engagement and national recognition.

Club of the Year

The Club of the Year award aims to reward the club that has continually gone above and beyond across all areas of club delivery throughout the academic year.

Shortlisted:

Athletics

Netball

Volleyball

Winner: Gymnastics and Trampolining

An outstanding year for Club growth, growing from approximately 30 members to over 80 members! They hosted their first post COVID comp on behalf of UGC, with over 70 attendees! They have had an incredible community presence (litter picking post Storm Eunice, winning and entering Sportos Dance Off). Throughout the year they have been competing well on a national level in BUCS, including first in the elite female vault in the country! and a doubles synchro trampolining pair making the final for the first time in history.

Have you been inspired by our sport scholars, our student clubs, coaches and volunteers and want to get involved next year. To get involved it couldn’t be easier simply join one of our 36 sports clubs or get in touch and talk to them about how you would like to be involved. 

Think you have what it takes to perform at the top, while studying? Our sports scholarship applications are open now - apply before the 31 August for the next academic year.

If you want to get involved in coaching, volunteering or officiating for the next academic year check out our leadership and development pages on how to get involved.