A night of triumph and celebration: The 2024 Edinburgh University Sports Ball

Amelia Tyler

During her first year at the University of Edinburgh, Amelia raced internationally and competed in a number of disciplines across the UK. She finished 6th at the British Road National Championships and was the best Irish rider at the Ras Na Mba.

Going forward she will represent Ireland and Alba Road Development Team nationally and internationally.

Volleyball

Edinburgh University Volleyball Club has striven to continuously develop disability sport, recreational and developmental team programs. Thanks to extensive collaboration with the Sports Union and Scottish Volleyball, they have promoted accessible volleyball to all and created an inclusive community. 

As of 2023, EUVC was the only club in Scotland to have a weekly sitting volleyball (LIIT) programme. This has been supported through coaching advice from Volleyball England and Scottish Volleyball. The programme engaged 83 individuals through the 2022/23 season. 

The recreational programme of the club expanded and now supports 9 hours of recreational volleyball each week. The programme supports free to play sessions and coached sessions. The coached sessions are run by team players, which supports player progression in the sport and creates cohesion between the competitive and recreational sides of the club. EUVC continued providing sporting opportunities to students through the summer months with its recreational summer holiday sessions on the meadows. 

The club has worked in partnership with participation events across the university engaging with EUSU Stressbusters, Active Health Just Play, and sessions partnered with Moray House. Furthermore, the club has supported participation in the local community through supporting Scottish Volleyball events for Edinburgh High Schools. 

Huge congratulations to the club, a very deserving inaugural winner of this award!  

Swimming and Water Polo

Swimming & Water Polo hosted a weekend long Alumni event with swim races, polo matches and a dinner, drinks and ceilidh evening. 75 returning Alumni attended to celebrate EUSWPC’s history, see friends and form new connections. In addition to the connections formed, £300 was raised for Health in Mind through the weekend.

The club regularly contact over 280 Alumni via Facebook and create content to keep them updated with EUSWPC. This engagement has helped to develop the support base of the club with many alumni supporting the teams at matches and through watching live streams. The club utilised the Development and Alumni database to expand their reach and reconnect with more club alumni, even receiving responses from members of over 50 years ago. These alumni links have also led to securing coaches for the Women’s Water Polo teams displaying the broad benefit of connecting with the club’s alumni.

Spansoc FC

Spansoc FC was formed in 2021 with a distinct purpose to unite a shared passion for football with an appreciation for Spanish culture. The team has continued to develop into a strong community on and off the pitch with a focus on inclusivity, ensuring players enjoy the game and can connect with Spanish culture. 

The team host weekly trainings and frequent group outings alongside their games to help build a strong community. They set up a secondary team playing friendly matches to bring the community to as many students as possible. 

They have engaged with Spanish company partners to sponsor their kit, providing necessary equipment and supporting the development of their team identity and vision. 

Spansoc FC are a terrific example of IM team development and community building, and are worthy winners of the Intramural Committee Award. Congratulations Spansoc FC! 

Handball

The Handball Club set out on a mission to grow handball at Edinburgh through their club values of inclusivity, enjoyment, development and learning. EUHC memberships increased by 50% in 22/23 and they saw success with both the Men's and Women's teams winning medals in the SSS league.  

Lauren Benseman – Shinty

Lauren was fundamental to club development and operation taking on multiple committee positions last year as well as playing, coaching and officiating.

She fostered a relationship between the Shinty Club and the Camanachd Association, the national shinty body, by starting to implement a scheme to recognise the development of the sport at university level.

Laurens supportive nature and welcoming coaching style led to new members joining and going on to become committee members.

Both Men’s and Women’s teams went on to finish second in their leagues under Laurens coaching and organising.

Lauren also started and coached an all-girls shinty training session to support female participation in the sport.

Women’s Football

In the 22/23 year, the club shared consistently high-quality content across all social media platforms including supporting campaigns, fixture and club updates.

They promoted several successful campaigns such as Football v Transphobia, sharing resources from LEAP Sports Scotland as well as sharing key resources for mental health & wellbeing with its members and the wider community.

Engineers RFC

Following their success in 2021/22, winning IM Team of the Year, Engineers RFC had another outstanding season, securing the title for the 2^nd year running.

The club continued to grow on and off the field, giving opportunities for everyone to compete in the spirit of IM sport, winning local tournaments and charity matches.

They also raised over £8000 for 'Movember' and worked with various charities to host talks at socials, introducing the ‘TEDEng’ series of talks to raise awareness for important issues such as mental health and sexual health.

Orienteering Girls Team

The Orienteering Girls Team excelled in 2022/23 with consistent domestic success with wins at SSS Championships and the British Championships.

The team showed outstanding depth at 2023 BUCS Championships where they came 1st and 2nd in the BUCS Relay as well as seven athletes finishing in the top ten in BUCS individual Women’s A race. Many members of the team also ran internationally for their countries, yielding some impressive results. 

Kara Hanlon

Kara, a world class swimmier from Highlands and Islands, in the 2022/23 season she competed in the final at the European Championships, became British Champion in 50m and 100m Breaststroke and represented GB at the World Championships.

Kara continues to break Scottish records including 50m Breaststroke (long course and short course) and 100m Breaststroke (long course).

Charlie Aldridge

Charlie had an outstanding season in 2023, becoming U23 World Champion, Senior British National Champion and securing a U23 European Championship Bronze.

Charlie professionally races Cross Country Mountain Biking for Cannondale Factory Racing and competed in 4 rounds of the 2023 UCI World Cup.

Basketball

The Basketball club have excelled this year from club growth through participation pathways to outstanding performances in the SSS Championships.

Both EUBC Men’s and Women’s teams were crowned champions in the 2023 SSS finals. The women were also League Cup champions and went unbeaten in the Women’s National League.

The club also focussed on promoting inclusion and accessibility by breaking barriers for Interantional Students, hosting free Just Play sessions and organising a successful 3v3 tournament with OneEdinburgh for international students. They also created a structure that allowed student coaches to gain experience working alongside more experienced coaches.

Recognising the time and dedication students make to their sports clubs.

Aaron Walker (Gymnastics) 

Aaron is an incredible example of dedication within the sport of gymnastics, and his selflessness has allowed our club to reach new heights over the past few years. Following his positive experience of competing as a novice gymnast, he wanted to encourage other people in the club to start representing the club regardless of their ability.

Chiam Jane Yi (Badminton) 

Jane was badminton’s first-ever Vice President for Competitions and led all six of the club’s teams to competitive success, ensuring the club’s offering was both fair and of a high standard. She leads by example, inspiring all members to play their best, while competing at the highest level herself – and is also one of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.

Megan Leishman (Snowsports) 

Megan worked exceptionally hard in 2022/23 to increase female participation in Snowsports. She identified the sport was intimidating and male dominated and set up girl’s freestyle sessions and a women’s touring group to promote women’s participation in Snowsports. Both initiatives were very successful and the club has seen a huge boost in female/newcomer participation from Megan’s hard work. 

Natalie Bell (Netball) 

Natalie exceeded beyond the role of Club Captain by driving and supporting the club to successes on and off the court. She assisted in developing the clubs performance programme and created a development squad within recreation to aid the whole club's progression.

Philine Rouwers (Football, Women) 

Philine Rouwers has contributed an immense amount of time and effort as the Women's Football President and SU Vice President Inclusion last year. She developed the Women's Football club by supporting an increase in opportunities and continuing to improve the club culture. 

Sarah Denholm (Ladies Rugby) 

Sarah Denholm has captained the EULRFC 1XV for 2 years and is an embodiment of all the club stands for. She was Vice President last year and dedicated countless hours to the development of the entire club. 

Thomas Aarheim (Boxing) 

As Vice President, Thomas was key to the success of the club last year. He also completed his Level 1 coaching qualification. He has served as an assistant coach for the boxing club and sat on the Sports Union Finance Committee for the 2022/23 period.

Thomas Busby (Basketball) 

Tom is a great leader and role model in the club who truly went above and beyond in running their club last year. He set up a new Men's 4th team and development team to aid further participation in Basketball.