NewVIc sporting champs excel to The AoC Sport National Finals
33 NewVIc student medals at the AoC Sport London Regional Championships in cricket, table tennis and for the first time, women’s netball and men’s basketball.
Netball players Allison and Sofia.
NewVIc Sports Academy teams have had another impressive start to the academic year, with Basketball and Cricket Academy, netball and table tennis beating teams from Newham College, Leyton Sixth Form and Barking and Dagenham to name a few to convincingly winning the AoC Indoor Regional Cricket Championships yet again. NewVIc has a very strong group of sporting students who have successfully qualified for the National Championships and will be representing the college in Nottingham in April. It is the first time the college has had women's netball and men’s basketball players at this level.
The event has a long history, and 2022 will be the 42nd year of the Championships, after two years of cancellations from the Covid-19 pandemic. The AoC regional tournaments are open to students in AoC Sport member colleges and are held in the autumn term. The top teams and individuals in 13 sports qualify for the AoC Sport National Championships, where they compete for both their college and their region involving 1,750 of the best college athletes and players.
Netball player and A Level student Allison, said:
“Being the first women's team at NewVIc to qualify for the AoC National finals is something amazing. Many of us are planning on taking this amazing sport as a profession, many of us play netball for the pure joy that we get out of it. Personally I have played netball for quite a few years now and it makes me very emotional and happy that after all the hard work I have put in, it will finally be rewarded.
We can all say that we have made NewVIc proud with this achievement. I'm sure over the years all the sports teachers have always done their absolute best to bring success upon the students, and all of their efforts with students are all worthwhile.”
Netball player and Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care student, Gauri, added:
“Being the first women's team to qualify for AoC National finals is anything a young person, especially a female could ask for as a netball player, because to see the hard work and the dedication finally pay off from all our training sessions is really a proud moment for me and the team.”
Katie Harris, Sports Academy Coordinator, said:
“This year we had our biggest ever sign up for netball during our freshers fair and I knew during our netball trials we had something special! The interest in netball has been phenomenal this year and everyone has really stepped up and worked hard. The girls competitive side has grown massively. From 40 girls turning up to try out for a team of 7 players, I had my work cut out.
The NewVIc netball squad turn up to training each week, stay on top of their attendance and class work as to be selected to represent the college in sports we require a minimum of 95% attendance and for students to be up to date with all course work. They have set up their own social media group where they post netball drills and tips to help each other out. They attend training with positive attitudes and have become really good friends. Their hard work has certainly paid off as they won the AoC Regional Tournament which was held at Uxbridge College at the start of December 2021 and in doing so have become the first women's team in NewVIc history to represent London in the AoC National finals. I am so proud of my netball squad, seeing all their hard work and dedication paying off. Wish them all luck.”
William Twigg, Head of Performance and Development and Sports Coach for NewVIc Knights Basketball Team at NewVIc, added:
“This is a great opportunity for us as a young upcoming Basketball Academy. We really look forward to seeing how far we can go in Nationals. This has been on the bucket list for the academy to show and recognise who we are.”
NewVIc is already a very successful college with one of the highest sports participation rates in the country with 59% of their students taking part in some kind of sport or physical activity on 1 or more occasions. All of these achievements have required a lot of commitment and hard work from the NewVIc Sports Academy team and dedicated students that take up the opportunities available to them. The Sports Academy Team was honoured with a Silver Award for Further Education Team of the Year for their outstanding commitment to changing the lives of the young people they work with every day. This was awarded by The Pearson National Teaching Awards in 2020 and celebrated in 2021.
Find out more about AoC Sport here https://www.aocsport.co.uk/
Find out more about NewVIc Sports Academy here https://www.newvic.ac.uk/elite-sport-academies