Blues 2015

 

Students, staff members, coaches, volunteers, Olympians and Paralympians were among those who received an award at the Blues ceremony, with more awards given out than ever before due to the outstanding commitment and support that has been provided within sport.

Below lists the recipients of all awards from this year. 

Sports Personality of the Year - Christopher Hotchen 

Chris joined the University in 2008 when he began studying for an undergraduate Masters in Chemistry and is now working towards a PhD. Even in his first year he was a valued member of the badminton men's 1st team, being part of the team to win silver in the BUCS team championship 2008/9 and winning a bronze medal in the mixed doubles at the European University Badminton Championships 2009. The high regard within his team made him the obvious choice to become men's 1st team captain in 2010 and later club captain in 2011. This year Chris also became Chairman of the badminton club, where he has actively engaged in the Inclusivity Award and Disability Sports Day, introduced coached recreational sessions and led the club to its highest ever membership. 

He works closely with the head coach, Pete Bush, and SU Sport to ensure that all six badminton teams are fully filled each week and turn up in the right place at the right time! He also was given the added responsibilty of coaching the ladies' University squad. Despite the many roles Chris has undertaken, he has still maintained excellent levels of performance,winning a bronze and a silver medal at the BUCS individuals badminton Championships in 2014 and 2015 respectively. 

Chris has been a superb advocate for the badminton club since he joined he University, encouraging beginners to take up badminton and be involved with all of the sessions available. He has helped the badminton club develop and progress over the last seven years and is the perfect role model for everybody in the club. 

 

The David VandeLinde Award - Niklas Rieger

After picking up the hockey stick at the age of 7 in Germany at his local club, Niklas won several local and national junior championships and captained the club's junior side from 2007 onwards. In 2010 he eventually joined Mulheim's 1st men's team and became a core member of the German Premier League squad in the following two seasons. In 2011 he competed with Europe's top hockey clubs in the Euro Hockey League. The team's biggest success was the German Vice-Championship in the same year. 

Niklas graduated from his local grammar school in 2011 and decided adter a gap year to undertake his undergraduate degree in Economics and Politics abroad at the University of Bath. He immediately joined the University hockey club's 1st men's team as well as the National League side of the Bath Buccaneers in 2012. This has seen him as part of the team that seized the first BUCS Premier League South title for the University's hockey club in 2012/2013. The squad managed to repeat this the following year, with Niklas as captain. 

The Ivor Powell Award for excellence in coaching - Mark Skimming 

In the most challenging year of delivery given the closure of our pool since September, Mark Skimming has produced one of the best seasons for swimming performance in recent history. In the summer of 2014, Mark had 4 athletes competeing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow including Jay Lelliott as part of Team England. 

In the BUCS short course championships, Bath finished second overall with 17 top 3 finishes and 4 gold medals. At the BUCS long course championships, the squad achieved 40 finals and 14 medals, again finishing second overall. After these two competitions, swimming have earned 290 BUCS points, exceeding last year's top score accross all sports with the team championships still to come. 

The Gethin John Bevan Club Member of the Year - Christopher Hotchen 

Chris has been at the University of Bath for seven years and is now in his final year studying for his PhD in Chemistry. Throughout his time at the University, he balanced his undergraduate and postgraduate studies alongside his responsibilties as club chair, club captain and men's 1st captain. 

In his years with the Badminton Club he has shown unwavering support for the development of the club, supporting the Head of Badminton as a volunteer coach for a number of years. Alongside his volunteer roles in committee and coaching capacities, he has maintained his perfomance as part of the men's first team, with enviable success. 

BUCS Team of the Year - Swimming Team 

The swimming team has faced a number of challenges this year, most notably the temporary closure of the university swimming pool, which has forced the team to face daily commutes to Bristol, as well as daily 5.00am training sessions. The team have managed to overcome these challeneges with little to no effect on perfomance, with impressive results at this season's BUCS competitions. The team also managed to perform well at the 2014 British Championships with 11 finals and 2 medals. On the international front, 4 members of the University team represented their country at the 2014 Commonwealth Games with 2 finals and 1 medal, as well as 1 representative at the European swimming championships, where he made it to the finals and gained a medal. 

Club of the Year - Badminton 

The badminton club has been a very popular and successful club for a number of years. However, this year has been exceptional. The club has surpassed its membership target by over 120 members, reaching a record-breaking 345. A thriving recreational section of the club has meant almost all sessions have excellent participation numbers, with these sessions supervised by dedicated committee. For the first time ever the club has introduced coached recreational sessions whilst also operating 'No Strings' badminton sessions which are accessible to the local community as well as students. The club is also renowned for winning a high number of BUCS points and this year has been no exception with the men and women's 1st and 2nd teams winning their respective leagues, projected to earn an incredible 273 BUCS points. 

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Honorary Blues

Gold Medal Winners:	Silver Medal Winners:	Bronze Medal Winners:
Judo	Athletics	Athletics
Medal Fletcher	Andy Robertson	Emily Diamond
Swimming	Eilidh Child	Shooting
Siobhan-Marie O'Connor	Jazmin Sawyers	Kristian Callaghan
Chris Walker-Hebborn	Danny Talbot	Swimming
Weightlifting	Judo	Calum Jarvis
Zoe Smith	Tom Reed	Andrew Wills
	Swimming
	Michael Jamieson
	Amelia Maughan
	Lizzie Simmonds

Honorary Blues

Awarded to any person who has made an outstanding contribution to the development of University Sport.

Stuart Gordon - Rowing 

Katie Holmes - Trampoline 

Kevin Edge - Services to University Sport 

 

Full Blues

Full Blues are awarded to students who have competed for a University 1st team for two years along with two years representation at international level.

Karate	Lacrosse	Netball
Laura Miles	Charles B J Kowszun	Indiya Augustine
Shakira Smith	Katie Stebbing	Lucy Bratton
Charlotte Durant	Jennifer Eathorne	Rebecca Johnson
Rose Nnando	Tim Lyne	Jessica Dudley
Daniel Barclay	Ross Freeguard	Harriet Shearing
Lan Pak Kee Kee Lioung	Rebecca Drakeford	Robyn Lousie Curnow
Frederick Daniel	Kelly-Jane Hughes
Lewis Gardham
Alex John Powell

Rugby (Union and League)	Rowing	Ulitimate Frisbee
Lucy Norton	Holly Cotton Foskett	Daniel Ryle
George Stephenson	Thomas Perison-Smith
Kieron Chandler		Waterpolo
Hamish Fletcher	Shooting	Jean-Christophe Heib
Luke Huelin	Hayley Whitehorn	Nina Rickards
Owen Nicholls		Holly Clemens
Ben Sanderson	Tennis	Christopher Vine
Toby Davies	Barbara Pietrkiewicz	James Sawley
Hugo Govett	Henry Ogden	Zoe Kennerley
Jonathon Wheeler
Harriette May Warner	Trampolining
	Nicola Williams