Annual Review
2022-2023
year
University
OF
THE
2024
Sports
University
15,311
UoN sport and
tness members
Over
2 million
footfall across our
facilities
Top
University for
team sport
in the UK
2.4
million
digital impressions
on our content
8,621
sports club
members
Front cover: University of Nottingham Sport scholars TJ Summers and Pat McGowan in action for our Men's Lacrosse team, who won the national
unviersity championship on home soil at BUCS Big Wednesday.
£8.2m
generated for
the University
through sport
Top
of the European
University
Sport Association
medal table
Sporting University
of the Year
Wrapping up an incredible year, University of Nottingham
has done the double – being named Sports University
of the Year by two inuential national university league
tables. We were crowned the best university in the UK
for sports by The Times and The Sunday Times Good
University Guide 2024 – the third time we have been
awarded the accolade by the publication since 2018. This
announcement came just days after also being named
Sports University of the Year by the Daily Mail University
Guide – in the rst year that the national newspaper has
produced its own UK university rankings and awards.
We’re very proud of everyone – sta, students and volunteers
– whose creativity, ambition and drive have made all this
possible. We were also recognised by several leading industry
bodies alongside the accolades from the Times and Sunday
Times and the Daily Mail including being named the winners
of ve British Universities and Colleges Sport awards and
the Colleges and University Business Ocers Association’s
Best Residence Life award for our Active Living programme.
At the heart of everything we do is our drive to be the
best UK University for sport, activity and wellbeing.
We strive to reach this goal by engaging and inspiring
our community alongside supporting our student-
athletes to excel. These awards reect our continued
commitment to sporting excellence and the importance
of sports as part of a university student experience.
Our student athletes have excelled across the board, and
we remain the top university in the UK for team sport in
the BUCS competition. Our teams won 42 league titles, 16
national championship titles and we hosted the biggest ever
BUCS Big Wednesday nals here in Nottingham for a record
fourth consecutive year. Our individual athletes also recorded
132 podium nishes leading to yet another record points
score, and 2nd place in the BUCS standings. Internationally,
we dominated the European University’s table tennis and
badminton championships, with a further gold in Taekwondo.
Our wider health and tness oer continues to be very
popular with more students purchasing our sports and tness
membership, competing in our campus intramural leagues
and trying new sports with our Just Play programme.
Our work is of course about more than just what happens
on the eld of play.
Our student sports leaders worked with 1,446 local young
people to introduce new sports and showcase University life,
our student-led campaigns proled important issues such
men’s mental health and LGBTQ+ in sport and we raised
over £120,000 for charity to name just a few highlights.
With so much happening, we had the enviable job of telling
these stories to our growing online audience of what makes
sport and tness here at Nottingham so special. Annual
hits to our new website broke the 2 million mark for the
rst time and we saw the highest increase in social media
followers (now at over 40,200) within the HE sport sector.
We would also like to thank once again those who work
alongside us to drive, enhance and support our oer – we
would not be able to achieve what we have without our
Sports Board, our generous partners and supporters.
We look forward to carrying this momentum ahead into
the next 12 months as we the release our new Vision for
Sport strategy and deliver new and innovative programmes
funded from the University’s Access and Participation Plan
which will allow us to engage with more students and
young people in our local community than ever before.
We’d like to take this opportunity to remember hugely popular
members of our sporting community, Grace O’Malley-Kumar
and Barnaby Webber who, alongside Nottingham local Ian
Coates, lost their lives in the tragic attacks in the city in June.
A talented junior international hockey player, Grace and her
teammates had won the national University championship for
Nottingham in March on home soil. Playing hockey, rugby and
cricket for his school, Barney had just been selected for our
Men’s Cricket squad in his rst season here. We also remember
Honor Edwards, a skilled lacrosse player representing the
University and charity secretary for our Women’s lacrosse
club. They are all very much missed by their teammates
and everyone here at University of Nottingham Sport.
Dan Tilley
Director of Sport
Sean Nolan
Students’ Union Sports
Ocer 2022/23
If you’d like to nd out more about University of Nottingham
Sport, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch at
sport@nottingham.ac.uk.
year
University
OF
THE
2024
Sports
University
32 Annual Review 2022-23 Annual Review 2022-23
“I love how the ResX and UoN Sport team include activities that encourage us to move our bodies
such as the Hula Hooping and Salsa dance classes. I’ve participated in some of them and I love how
they’re so inclusive and beginner friendly! Attending these short sessions have actually motivated
me to be more active during the week - I’ve started going to the gym at least once a week and have
tried out new classes oered like Spin class, which I really enjoyed!"
Nicole
Newark Hall
Developing our campus experience
to support the wellbeing of our
community is a key part of the
University of Nottingham’s
strategy and we’ve made signicant
investments into our residential oer.
As part of this, we launched a unique collaboration in
September 2022 between our Accommodation, Residential
Experience (ResX) team and University of Nottingham
Sport to introduce an Active Living package to 3,870
students in University-owned halls of residence. After an
incredibly successful rst year the project was awarded
with the CUBO Award for Best Residence Life.
The Active Living package oers the same benets as our
UoN sport and tness membership, which includes our
tness suites on all three campuses, over 150 weekly group
exercise classes, swimming, climbing and our popular Just
Play programme. We also delivered a schedule of exclusive
events for these students in their halls, on campus and at
popular Nottingham venues. Examples included a World
Cup football tournament, salsa dancing, an afternoon
of water sports at the National Water Sports Centre and
even goat yoga! Disabled students are oered bespoke
support from our Inclusive Sport team to engage with
the oer; they can access supported sessions with our
trained tness team, workout during our Sensory Quiet
Time or join an inclusive Just Play session or sports club.
All 3,851 students living in halls of residence on University
Park and Jubilee campus last year – 16 dierent locations in
total - receive the package as part of their accommodation fees.
The key aims of the programme are to improve the health
and wellbeing of our students, make getting involved in
physical activity as accessible as possible, support students
to connect with their peers and increase their sense of
belonging to the University of Nottingham community.
The range of opportunities provided through Active Living
ensure there is something suitable for everyone, with a
focus on fun and trying new things with your friends.
To drive engagement through this programme, the
University has made a signicant investment into our
skilled workforce. As well as a new senior participation
sport manager, we’ve recruited an Active Living
Activator role, plus four part-time student ambassadors,
each leading on one accommodation cluster.
Data has shown extremely strong engagement with
96% of students engaging with physical activity –
22% higher than before the package was introduced.
Events registered over 13,000 attendances plus package
holders have visited our tness facilities more than 90,000
times. 96% of students surveyed reported that they felt
a sense of increased belonging to the University and their
halls thanks to the package. Finally, it’s making a real
impact to wellbeing – from the feedback received, it’s clear
students are making new friendships, feeling motivated
to stay active and trying new things with condence.
An award-winning
Active Living package
96%
of package holders
engaged with our oer
Winner
CUBO Award for Best
Residence Life
54 Annual Review 2022-23Annual Review 2022-234
University of Nottingham continues
to have one of the highest number
of sport and tness members in
the Higher Education sector – over
15,300. Our state-of-the-art health
and tness provision ensures that we
oer members an unrivalled package
and we’ve continued to invest in our
facilities with a £1.4 million aquatic
facility refurbishment and a £120,000
refurbishment at Jubilee Sports
Centre to enhance the functional
training room and tness suite.
Our three tness suites, across all three University
campuses, saw over 408,000 visits – a 3.8% increase from the
previous 12 months. Our highly skilled tness team supported
a record number of students and other members, delivering
over 2,000 free tness inductions and programme reviews.
Our new Personal Training service also proved very popular
with 578 sessions delivered in the programme’s rst year.
Our group exercise programme returned once again to
full-strength with 153 classes taking place across our three
campuses weekly. The timetable saw 54,200 attendances –
an increase of 15% from the previous year – demonstrating
the value of the in-person coached experience to our
students and members. For our Les Mills BODYPUMP classes
- one of the most popular on the timetable - we introduced
new Smart Tec equipment at David Ross Sports Village
which helps class goers to increase muscle activation,
maintain good technique and save time on their workout.
David Ross Sports Village’s climbing programme has
continued to grow with over 19,000 visits to the climbing
and bouldering wall – a 21% increase from last year and
our highest number since the opening of the facility.
These numbers were driven by the expansion of the
instructor-led programme, which includes courses
for novices, intermediate and lead climbers. Over
1,000 climbers attended a course – more than triple
the number of attendees compared to last year.
Our Sports Injury Clinic oer continues to grow,
supported by our close partnership with the School of
Health Science. 80 placement students worked alongside
our professional team, delivering a range of services
under their mentorship. The clinic treated a record 2,007
patients with 7,650 individual appointments delivered.
Finally, the last 12 months has seen extensive further
investment into our facilities to ensure we can
meet the demand of our community, as well as ensuring
everyone can enjoy the same excellent experience.
Our £1.4 million aquatic refurbishment completed in
July 2022 ensures our swimmers can now enjoy an
upgraded pool, a brand-new changing village, new
spectator seating and gender-neutral toilets. For
visitors with accessibility requirements, we’ve added
a Changing Places room and a Pool Pod – allowing for
independent and comfortable access to the pool.
We’ve transformed the Functional Training Room at
Jubilee Sports Centre with a £120,000 investment.
The exciting and motivating space includes new lifting
racks, cable machines and functional equipment and
brings additional gym space to this popular venue. A
new dedicated dumbbell area with a ooring zone has
also been added into the main tness suite at Jubilee.
Our continued commitment to oering the best training
environment for disabled students led to the addition
of brand-new inclusive tness equipment at David Ross
Sports Village and Jubilee Sports Centre – an investment of
£50,000. The new range of accessible pin loaded weight
machines allow for wheelchair users to stay in their
chairs whilst using the equipment. The project included
the development of training opportunities for our sta
across all three centres to give them further condence
and knowledge when working with disabled people.
Outstanding health
andtness oer
54,200
class attendances
(15% increase)
408,000
visits to our
tness suites
(3.8% increase)
2,007
patients treated by our
Sports Injury Clinic
76 Annual Review 2022-23Annual Review 2022-236
Raising the prole
of the University
through sport
University of Nottingham Sport play
a pivotal role in raising the prole of
the University nationally and globally
through exciting and original content
inspired by our sporting community as
well as hosting global sports stars at
our world-class venues.
Digitally, we remain the most engaging channel in
Higher Education sport, growing faster than any other
competitor channel (18% across 2022/23). With more
than 40,200 followers across Facebook, X (formerly
Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, our content
registered over 2.4 million impressions over the year.
We were delighted to be awarded the BUCS Digital
Engagement Award for our Movember campaign
content, as well as being shortlisted for the prestigious
CUBO Marketing Campaign award for the same project.
Fergus Stevens, President of our Men’s Hockey Club,
was also recognised for his work promoting the
campaign with a BUCS Special Recognition award.
Known for its sponsored grow a ‘Mo’ challenges during
November, Movember are a leading global charity tackling
men’s health issues including supporting mental health and
suicide prevention. Having raised over £265,000 to date
for the campaign, University of Nottingham Sport set out
this year to maximise the platform to prole men’s mental
health and how sport, and our linked welfare campaigns, can
support all our community to look after their wellbeing.
Backed by unique impact statements from students, the
University of Nottingham Sport team switched our main
digital channel to black and white for November in solidarity
with those suering from mental health issues and painted
a huge 45m moustache on our agship rugby pitch.
Turning all our content black and white resonated with
our audience – and our message registered - with over
200,000 views in Movember sparking new conversations
on this important topic. Our launch video alone was viewed
over 30,000 times and by the end of the campaign we had
raised £85,000 taking our cumulative total to £350,000.
Alongside the award-winning Movember piece, our most
popular content included our highlights reel from BUCS
Regatta, our graduation talking heads piece (both of which
reached over 21,000 users) and our BUCS Big Wednesday
wrap up video (reach of over 19,000). Our YouTube channel
more than doubled in terms of views from 16,000 to
36,300 across 2022/23. Top streams included our Hockey
Headliner (in partnership with Movember) and our BUCS
Super Rugby Season Opener against Leeds Beckett.
Our student ambassador team remain invaluable in ensuring
our content is relevant and engaging to their fellow students
and they lead on producing their own pieces such as
blogs, story takeovers, and even a Christmas lm edit.
We continued to develop our new website, going
over the 2 million mark for the rst time in terms of
annual website hits. This represented an 18% increase
in trac, again largely driven by engaging news
pieces which attracted over 47,000 views alone.
Finally, the elite sporting individuals and teams who train
at our state-of-the-art facilities are hugely inuential in the
sport, health and tness industry. Some of the high-prole
athletes visiting our venues during the last 12 months
include weightlifter Emily Campbell, Rugby Union’s Leicester
Tigers and the Northern Superchargers cricket team.
We have also hosted several international teams for
their competition preparations including the England
Roses Netball squad, GB American Football, British
Weightlifting and the England Lacrosse teams.
18%
increase in
website hits
(Over 2 million total)
18%
increase in social
media followers
(40,200 total)
Winner
BUCS Digital
Engagement Award
98 Annual Review 2022-23 Annual Review 2022-23
8%
increase in
Just Play attendees
(2,030 total)
5.5%
increase in rst
class and 2:1 degree
classications for
sports participants
compared to
their peers.*
297
teams taking part
in our Intramural
sports (IMS)
programme
Here at University of Nottingham
we pride ourselves on oering an
outstanding campus sporting oer
for our students and our sports
clubs and our programmes are key
to this.
Sport at University of Nottingham is so much more than
sport for sports’ sake and has been shown to have a positive
impact on student’s sense of belonging, inclusion, health
& wellbeing, attainment and employability, as well as
delivering against our recruitment goals and civic agenda.
This year, research conducted by the University's Careers
Department* and British Active Student Survey suggests
that those involved with sport and physical activity have
greater retention and attainment levels than those who
don't. The ndings of the British Active Student Survey also
found that those involved with sport and physical activity
had higher scores for personal wellbeing and social inclusion.
We understand that correlation does not imply causation,
however, there is an increasing body of evidence relating to
the positive relationship between participation in sport and
improved health, wellbeing, retention and student outcomes.
Our 73 sports clubs are at the centre of our award-winning
sporting oer. 8,621 students are part of a sports club
here at Nottingham and this year we added new club
– Touch Rugby – to further diversify our oer. We now
have 712 student volunteers on committees (an increase
of 4.5% compared to the previous 12 months) driving
these clubs. Delivering over 75,000 hours of voluntary
time, they run a vast range of sessions from inclusive to
Just Play, intramural teams to elite squads. Performances
representing the University of Nottingham have once again
broken records (see page 16) and o the pitch highlights
included fundraising over £120,000 for charity.
Our Just Play programme, aimed at beginners and social
participants, continued to grow with 2,030 unique participants,
up 8% from the previous year. The programme oered
37 dierent sports to try and in total our Just Play session
leaders – all student volunteers – delivered 699 sessions.
We introduced new campaigns to engage with dierent groups
of students, who may not have tried activities with University
of Nottingham Sport before. This included Martial Arts
Week in November 2022 where 9 dierent martial arts clubs
welcomed 108 unique participants to a week-long timetable
of taster sessions. Timetable additions included Mandarin-
speaking, climbing and Girls Race Too (girls-only Go Karting).
Our Intramural Sports (IMS) programme, which
delivers campus leagues and tournaments, continued to
gain momentum. 4,072 players took part in the twelve
sports on oer with a total of 297 teams competing
on a weekly basis. Our large events were once again
popular; we started the season with over 200 new
students attending Hall Sports Day followed by the
returning IMS Finals and IMS All Stars showcases.
We also continue to oer our popular virtual challenge
app Moves. 1,481 new users registered in 2022-23
bringing the total community to over 5,600. Popular
challenges included an Exams Destress steps challenge,
Movember walk and International Students Day challenge
with challenges completed over 14,800 times.
A sector-leading
student experience
* Graduates who participate in sport at the University of Nottingham are 5.5% more likely to attain a 1st class or 2:1 degree (92.4%) compared to
their peers who not participate in sport (86.9%).
1110 Annual Review 2022-23Annual Review 2022-2310 11
Championing inclusive sport is at
the forefront of our agenda and we
work closely with the Students'
Union, Disability Support and Health
and Wellbeing team to ensure there
are accessible opportunities for
everyone. Thanks to a signicant
investment from the University, we
have expanded our Inclusive Sport
team to include four new sta roles
and three new projects to reach
more members of our community.
In Autumn 2022, we were awarded three Access and
Participation Plan funded projects to engage with
even more students through our physical activity oer
and support the University’s drive to level attainment
gaps between dierent groups of students.
Our rst project focussed on reducing the dierence in good
degree attainment (those getting a 1st or 2:1) between
black and white students. Our new Black Student Sport
Ocer joined us this year making us the rst in the sector to
employ such a role. Following an extensive period of research
and insight collection, our new Black Sport Collective
has now been launched. The Collective, supported by a
dedicated student workforce, brings together Black students
who are interested in sport and tness at all levels. It aims
to celebrate the achievements of Black students within
sport, inspire the next generation of athletes, leaders and
sports professionals as well as bringing together partners
to oer additional opportunities for Black students.
Our second and third projects both centred on reducing
the attainment gap between disabled and non-disabled
students has allowed us to appoint three new roles; a
Sport Inclusion Manager, Inclusive Fitness Instructor
and Wheelchair Basketball Development Ocer.
This enabled us to further expand our support for
students with a disability and / or long-term health
condition. We oered discounted UoN sport and tness
memberships to 303 students, delivered 132 supported
tness sessions and expanded our Sensory Quiet Times
in all three tness suites, aimed at those who prefer
working out in a quieter environment. Three inclusive
sports feature on our Just Play timetable with 125
unique attendees joining one of these sessions.
Our Wheelchair Basketball funding allowed us to
develop opportunities to play and volunteer through the club
structure. We appointed former GB international wheelchair
basketball player and Paralympic bronze medallist Joe
Bestwick as our full-time Wheelchair Basketball Development
Ocer. Across the season the club membership more than
doubled, with 58% of players declaring a disability.
Alongside our new projects, we have continued to run our
award-winning programmes and engagement campaigns
to encourage as many students as possible to stay active.
We ran four Girls’ Night In events – free evenings
of sports and tness activities – which welcomed 431
unique participants, a 14% increase on last year. 66% of
attendees stated that they do less exercise than the national
activity guidelines, so we believe these events are a great
opportunity to encourage students to engage in more
physical exercise. To further support females in sport, we
are also part of the University’s Project Period campaign and
now oer free sanitary products across all our facilities.
Our Let’s Talk Series, delivered in partnership with
the Students’ Union Sport Ocer, saw the delivery of
three inclusive talks focussing on men’s mental health,
para-sport and LGBT+ in sport. These events provide
a safe and invaluable platform for students to discuss
key topics and their experiences with panel members,
such as as alum Sophie Unwin (GB Paralympic Cycling
silver medallist) and Joe Bestwick (GB Paralympic
Wheelchair Basketball Bronze medallist).
“Through playing with
the university wheelchair
basketball team I am
rebuilding a sense of
belonging and team
membership that I haven’t
felt for a long time, this is
helping me improve my
mental health, self-esteem
and physical wellbeing.”
Student Wheelchair
Basketball participant
Our Rugby Minds campaign, focussing on improving
mental health within Rugby, continued to go from strength
to strength, with an increased prole through our new
BUCS Super Rugby set up. Conversations about consent
workshops were delivered by the Rugby Minds committee to
70 new male club players, all eight intramural teams as well
as players from our Rugby League side. Another highlight
were two new videos centred on a ‘Conversation about injury
and mental health', which attracted over 49,000 views.
Finally, our state-of-the-art facilities were also the
venue of choice for several para-sport organisations.
Key events hosted at the David Ross Sports Village
included the Boccia England Super League and National
Finals, the European Para Volley Championships (a
Paralympic qualier), British Wheelchair Basketball
training camps and the English Deaf Football league.
Championing
inclusivity
132
supported tness
sessions delivered
125
unique attendees joining
an at least one inclusive
Just Play session
303
UoN sport and tness
memberships issued following
disability referrals
13Annual Review 2022-2312 Annual Review 2022-23
Inspiring our
local community
Sport plays a vital role in building
connections with our local community
and we’re proud of the impact our
student volunteers can have on young
people. Our delivery has continued
to grow boosted by the launch of two
new projects also supported by the
University’s Access and Participation
Plan funding.
Across 2022/23 1,100 students volunteered across our
Leadership Academy which included Sport in Schools,
supporting major events on campus as well as running
sports clubs on student-led committees. Together they
reached more than 1,440 local schoolchildren and facilitated
8,600 students to play sport. We couldn’t have achieved
what we have without these volunteers and we’re
extremely proud of their impact on and o-campus.
Our Leadership Academy oers our students the opportunity
to develop their leadership skills through sport and gain real
life work experience on campus and in the community. It’s
also a fantastic opportunity to engage with young people and
showcase University life. 392 students joined the programme
in 2022/23. These leaders were supported by our Qualication
fund, which oers nancial support to access certied training.
44 students took this opportunity (a 76% increase from the
previous year), completing 726 hours of training in total.
We added a new inclusive leaders programme, supported
by training through a partnership with the Activity Alliance
as well as in-house mentoring. Through these sessions our
trained student leaders worked with young disabled people
from ve schools to support them to be active. The aim is
that these student leaders will then have the knowledge and
condence to take back to their sports and make their oer
more inclusive for University students with a disability.
Another highlight of the Leadership Academy programme this
year was the new Active Row Nottingham initiative in
partnership with London Youth Rowing and the University’s
Boat Club. The project focussed on engaging young people
with special educational needs and from a low socio-economic
background who are less likely to participate in physical
activity. 20 students volunteered in 8 local secondary schools
engaging their pupils with rowing for the rst time.
Our facilities continue to be a valuable venue for our local
community and have welcomed thousands of visitors over
the last year. Our Swim School once again welcomed a
record number of swimmers, with 995 people learning to
swim with us – a further 20% increase on 2021/22. This
included 231 under-ves on our Early Years programme,
hosted in our state-of-the-art hydrotherapy pool and 588
children on our junior programme in the main pool. We also
added brand new Teenager lessons for the rst time to oer
an attractive learning environment for this age group.
Our climbing wall is also now a major hub for youth
climbing in the local area – we increased our provision
again this year growing the number of sessions
delivered by 13% to 3,460 sessions total. University of
Nottingham Sport became an ocial National Indoor
Climbing Award Schemes accredited training centre,
setting a new standard for this junior programme.
Finally, we continue to work closely with the David
Ross Education Trust (DRET) who continue to host
their agship Spring and Winter Cup events with us,
plus a Rewards Day for the rst time. Through their
programmes thousands of young people visit David
Ross Sports Village to play sport and meet top sporting
stars and University of Nottingham sport scholars.
1,446
schoolchildren reached
by our Leadership
Academy projects
995
swimmers on our Learn
to Swim programme
“Over the course of the programme, my leadership skills have massively increased. I’m
now condent leading and engaging large groups of children in sports activities focused
on certain skills and adapting my approach as I need to. I have gained and strengthened a
whole host of skills which I will carry throughout both my life and career. The Leadership
Academy is a real opportunity to make a positive impact on the local community and
allowed me to contribute to a greater cause.”
Ebony, Sport for Good volunteer
Over
4,200
voluntary hours delivered
by our student leaders
1514 Annual Review 2022-23 Annual Review 2022-23
Top UK University
for team sport
With 42 teams winning their leagues
and 16 team national championship
titles, Nottingham remains the
number one UK University for
team sport.
Boosted by 132 podium nishes from our individual
athletes, we nished 2nd overall in the BUCS rankings,
posting a record points score of over 7,800 - nearly
2,000 points clear of our third-place rivals.
Early 2023 saw the return of the rst major championship
event - BUCS Nationals in Sheeld which hosts the
nals for four sports. Our para-swimmers excelled – Owen
Say dominated his events with two national titles in the
Men’s Short Course 50M and 100M freestyle and Aliya
Bacakoglu took the gold in the Women’s 100M breaststroke.
We once again dominated the BUCS Canoe Sprint, Slalom
and Wildwater competitions with 15 golds, one more than
last season, including an incredible 6 national titles for
sports scholar Gabriel Keen and team golds in the Slalom
and Wildwater events. In addition, our Canoe Polo squad
won their third consecutive Open team championship
on home water at the National Water Sports Centre.
Nottingham is also quickly becoming one of the powerhouses
of university weightlifting with a fantastic performance
in Bangor in April. Scholar and England international
Emily Sweeney won the 87kg category, with teammate
Isabella Brown taking the 76kg category gold. In the
Men’s 89kg category it was an all Green and Gold aair
with Ed Smale defeating Chris Russ to take the gold.
Our archers, led by defending champion Louisa Piper, had
their best season to date. University of Nottingham took the
team gold at the Indoor Championships in March, followed
by the Women’s Gold at the Outdoor event in June. Piper
took both the Indoor and Outdoor Recurve titles with Sam
Cartwright and Kieran Rugg adding individual golds in the
Indoor Compound and Indoor Longbow respectively.
Other notable achievements included back-to-back
titles for James Harrison in the Men’s Karate Individual
Kata, Matthew Howell in the Men’s WTF - 68kg
Taekwondo event and rower Olivia Bates in the Women’s
Lightweight & Heavyweight Single Sculls titles.
Our team results were equally impressive. 42 teams won
their leagues, 4 more than last season, including eight top tier
titles. Outside of BUCS, our teams continued to perform at the
highest level. Our Men’s and Women’s Hockey teams cemented
their positions in England Hockey’s Premier Divisions in their
rst topight seasons and Men’s and Women’s Volleyball
retained their spots in the Volleyball England Super League.
The domestic season was topped perfectly at BUCS Big
Wednesday where over 50 team sport nals were hosted
for a record fourth consecutive time at the University of
Nottingham. We took home eleven gold medals, six of
these at top national championship level including double
gold for both Men’s and Women’s in Hockey and Table
Tennis. Our home teams were cheered on by a record
crowd with over 4,000 tickets sold for the event.
Our cohort of sports scholars were instrumental in this
year’s success – we supported 174 student athletes (59
postgraduates) to combine their studies with competing
at the elite level of their sport. We remain very grateful
to those who continue to support these programmes
notably Sir David Greenaway, Dr Deng Yaping and the
family of Martin Wynne-Jones for their generosity.
Our world-class facilities and sta are hugely important
in ensuring our talented student-athletes can reach their
potential. Our strength and conditioning team delivered
over 3,350 hours in our High Performance Zone throughout
the season, a 15% increase in delivery. In addition, our
partnership with British Weightlifting supported a
signicant refurbishment and upgrade to equipment
to further enhance our performance environment.
Our Performance Lifestyle
advisors supported 250 students,
delivering over 770 hours of guidance
and support sessions. Through
our partnership with the Talented
Athlete Scholarship scheme (TASS)
we continue to be the largest delivery
site for this programme in the UK
and this year supported 76 TASS
athletes – an increase of over 50%.
Finally, we were delighted to be
recognised at the 2023 BUCS awards
with our Women’s Table Tennis
team awarded Team of the Year,
squash star Gina Kennedy named
Sportperson of the Year and Lynn
Turton, our BUCS and International
Competitions Coordinator, recognised
for her invaluable commitment
with the Unsung Hero award.
174
sports scholars
supported
1
st
placed UK University
for team sport
174
league titles and
medals won
8,621
club members
1716 Annual Review 2022-23 Annual Review 2022-23
BUCS team champions -
2022/23
Archery Indoor – Overall
Archery Outdoor – Women’s
Canoe Polo – Men’s
Canoe Slalom – Overall
Canoe Wildwater – Overall
Cycling – Women’s Track
Football – Women’s
Hockey – Men’s
Hockey – Women’s
Judo – Men’s Overall
Karate – Overall
Lacrosse – Women’s
Lacrosse – Men’s 6s
Lacrosse – Women’s 6s
Table Tennis – Women’s
Table Tennis – Men’s
BUCS individual champions – 2022/23
Sport Event
Louisa Piper Archery Indoor Recurve - Female
Charlotte Chard, Hannah Evans, Louisa Piper Archery Indoor Non-compound – Female
Sam Cartwright Archery Indoor Compound - Male
Louisa Piper Archery Indoor Recurve - Female
Kieran Rugg Archery Indoor Longbow – Male
Louisa Piper Archery Outdoor Recurve - Female
Charlotte Chard, Hannah Evans, Louisa Piper Archery Outdoor Non-compound - Female
Miu Lin Ngan Badminton Singles – Women’s
Gabriel Keen Canoe WWR Sprint C1 Men
Sport Event
Gabriel Keen Canoe WWR Classic C1 Men
Luke Shaw Canoe WWR Classic K1 Men
Ed Dickinson, Gabriel Keen Canoe WWR Classic C2 Men
Ed Dickinson, Gabriel Keen Canoe WWR Sprint C2 Men
Zoe Clark, Becky Green, Katie Pocklington Canoe WWR Mixed Team
Toby Marlow, William Scammell, Reilly Vernon Canoe WWR Open Team
Gabriel Keen Canoe Slalom C1 Men
Reilly Vernon Canoe Slalom K1 Men
Ed Dickinson, Gabriel Keen Canoe Slalom C2 Men
Tamzin Brown, Rachel Ellis, Macy Kang Canoe Slalom Mixed Team
Ed Dickinson, Finn Johnson, Reilly Vernon Canoe Slalom Open Team
Thomas Lambert Canoe Sprint C1 Men 5000M
Luke Shaw Canoe Sprint K1 Men 500M
Luke Shaw Canoe Sprint K1 Men 500M
Ffyona Booker, Isabel Ellis, Tilly Gurney,
Gabriella Homer
Cycling Track Team Pursuit – Women’s
Rachael Lever Fencing Epée – Women’s
Sam Mostow Gymnastics Individual All-around – Men’s
James Harrison Karate Senior Kata – Men’s
Jordanna Williams Karate Senior Kata – Women’s
Aron Traves, Dylan Traves, James Harrison Karate Team Kata – Men’s
Waleed Alnoumas, William Huke, Toby Kidd, Liyoung
Magar, Nathan Preece, Eoin Purcell Dylan Traves
Karate Team Kumite – Men’s
Olivia Bates Rowing Regatta – Women’s 1X
Olivia Bates Rowing Regatta – Women’s Lightweight 1X
Luke Knight Rowing Indoor – Lightweight 2K
Aliya Bacakoglu Swimming Short Course 100m breaststroke
(para) – Women’s
Owen Say Swimming Short Course 50M freestyle (para) – Men’s
Owen Say Swimming Short Course 100M freestyle (para) – Men’s
Owen Say Swimming Long Course 100M freestyle (para) – Men’s
Matthew Howell Taekwondo WTF - 68kg – Male
Jacob Thorley Taekwondo Chang-hon Patterns – Male
Jiaqi Meng Table Tennis Women’s Singles
Shayan Siraj Table Tennis Men’s Singles
Shayan Siraj, Robert Pelc Table Tennis Men’s Doubles
Jiaqi Meng, Shayan Siraj, Table Tennis Mixed Doubles
Denise Payet, Jiaqi Meng Table Tennis Women’s Doubles
Caleb Chakravarthi, Tom Hands Tennis Men’s Doubles
Patrick Foley Tennis Men’s Singles
Emily Sweeney Weightlifting Female 87KG
Isabella Brown Weightlifting Female 76KG
Ed Smale Weightlifting Male 89KG
1918 Annual Review 2022-23 Annual Review 2022-23
Senior international representatives 2022/23
Full name Sport Course Country of
Representation
Finley Old American Football PhD Veterinary Medicine and Science
Lewis Thomas American Football MA International Security & Terrorism
Louisa Piper Archery BEng Aerospace Engineering
Robert Donald Para-Badminton BSc Computer Science
Harry Huang Badminton BSc Computer Science
Finn Cadell Canoe Sprint MA Social Science Research
Zoe Clark Canoe Sprint BA German & History
Hamidou Noah Dembele Canoe Sprint BA Ancient History
Beth Gill Canoe Sprint BSc Natural Sciences
Emma Russell Canoe Sprint BSc Mathematics
Luke Shaw Canoe Sprint BA Economics with Hispanic Studies
Katie Pocklington Canoe Wild Water MNutr Nutrition & Dietetics
Sammy King Cricket BSc Natural Sciences
Balint Csengoi Cycling BSc Sport & Exercise Science
Aurelio Calipa-Chitsiga Fencing (Epee) BA International Relations & Asian Studies
Rachael Lever Fencing (Epee) BSc Pharmaceutical Sciences
Florin Mirica Fencing (Epee) BSc Engineering & Physical Sciences
Foundation
Holly Thompson Fencing (Foil) BA Sociology
Sam Mostow Gymnastics (Artistic) BSc Finance, Accounting & Management
Darcy Bourne Hockey BA Sociology
Waleed Alnoumas Karate MSc Electrical Engineering for Sustainable and
Renewable Energy
James Harrison Karate BSc Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine
Jessica Maitland Karate BSc Psychology
Dylan Traves Karate MArch Architecture
Jordanna Williams Karate BSc Sport Rehabilitation
Emily Beazley Lacrosse MSc Applied Sport & Exercise Medicine
Annabel Boyne Lacrosse BA French & History
Dan Madeley Lacrosse MSc Marketing
Emma Savage Lacrosse BMedSci & BMBS Medicine
Dylan Whittington Lacrosse BSc Sport Rehabilitation
Ethan Treacy Short Track Speed Skating BSc Industrial Economics
Niall Treacy Short Track Speed Skating BSc Industrial Economics
Faiza Zafar Squash PhD Business & Management
Mari Baldwin Table Tennis BA Philosophy
Denise Payet Table Tennis BSc Sport Rehabilitation
James Skelton Table Tennis BSc Natural Sciences
Jasmin Wong Table Tennis BSc Physiotherapy
Ben Lucas Volleyball BA Criminology & Sociology
Iraj Safaee Volleyball MMeng Mechanical Engineering
Jessica Tasker
Volleyball
BA Music
Grace Kaye Water Polo BSc Science with Foundation Year
Emily Sweeney Weightlifting BA Criminology
“Being part of the table tennis and University
of Nottingham Sport community was a real
positive to my time in Nottingham. I loved
the training environment here and all the
coaching and performance team were hugely
knowledgeable – they were able to support
with all our needs as student-athletes. I grew
a lot over my time at the University and
that wouldn't have been possible without
their help. Winning the European University
Championship was the perfect way to end my
time at the University of Nottingham.”
Denise Payet
BSc Sport Rehabilitation
European and British Universities Table Tennis
team and women’s doubles champion
Commonwealth Bronze medallist
University of Nottingham students
have once again excelled on the
global stage over the last 12 months.
Our athletes won nine European
Universities’ titles and 42 were
selected to represent their country
at senior international level.
Following a stellar domestic season in the BUCS
championships, this summer saw University of Nottingham
representatives head to the European Universities Sports
Association (EUSA) championships in four sports; badminton,
table tennis, rowing and taekwondo.
Our badminton team dominated their event in Hungary in July,
medalling in all seven events and winning four earning them a
very deserved overall team title. Highlights included winning
all three doubles competitions, followed by a Men’s Singles
title for Harry Huang. UoN Table Tennis also showcased
their strength at European level winning the Women’s team,
Women’s Singles and Women’s doubles titles in the Czech
Republic; Denise Payet and Jiaqi Meng repeating the triple gold
they took in the BUCS championship. Matthew Howell added a
fantastic gold in the Men’s individual Taekwondo nal hosted
in Zagreb. A further silver came from the University’s rowers,
taking second place in the Women’s Quad Sculls in Poland.
42 University of Nottingham students were selected at senior
international level, representing eight dierent countries.
Seven University of Nottingham students featured in the
British Canoe squads, with ve also lining up for England
Lacrosse showing how inuential the university is in these
sports. Congratulations to all the student athletes chosen to
play for their national teams – we look forward to continuing
to support you to combine your education with competing at
the highest level.
Representing
Nottingham on
the global stage
2120 Annual Review 2022-23 Annual Review 2022-23
Ocial Charity Partner: Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre
Sponsors Partners National Governing
Bodies
EY Active Notts Badminton England
RedBull Activity Alliance Boccia England
MyProtein CIMSPA British American Football Association
Newitts Eleiko British Canoe
PlayerLayer Life Fitness British Fencing
Sliderfy National Water Sports Centre British Triathlon
VALD Performance Nottingham Hockey Centre British Weightlifting
Wraps n Wings Nottingham Tennis Centre British Wheelchair Basketball
Nottingham Trent University England Athletics
Nottingham Venues England Netball
Notts County FC England Squash
Nova Centurion Swimming Club England Touch
Richard Whitehead Foundation Football Association (FA)
Street Games GB Short Track Speed Skating
Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) Goalball UK
UK Anti-Doping Lawn Tennis Association (LTA)
UKSCA Rugby Football Union (RFU)
University of Nottingham Students’ Union Swim England
Watt Bike Table Tennis England
Wheelpower UK Ultimate
Volleyball England
Image credit: Lana Bradburn, ParaVolley Europe.
We continue to operate in a fast-
changing and complex environment.
This year, increasing demand to our
programme and facilities coupled with
the impact of the cost-of-living crisis
created new challenges for both our
nancial and sustainability goals.
University of Nottingham Sport are committed ensuring
our student activities are accessible and aordable. We aim
to do this by diversifying our income to meet our budgetary
obligations and reduce our environmental impact.
Over the last 12 months, our team have taken a range of
measures to reduce our impact on the environment and were
delighted to be awarded with the University’s Professional
Services Team Award for Contributing to Sustainability for
our work. We’ve continued to improve our metering
technology to closely monitor energy consumption, alongside
a changing behaviours programme. This has led to a 11%
reduction in electricity consumption and 29% decrease
in gas consumption.
Other initiatives include installing additional water-bottle
lling stations at all our venues to help discourage single-use
plastic bottles and a ‘latte levy’ in our Clubhouse Café which
promoted using reusable cups (over 6,600 hot drinks were
served in reusable cups last year alone).
We also partner with a range of organisations to support these
goals. For example, we now have JOG ON deposit bins located
in all three of our sports centres, where students can drop o
sporting footwear they no longer need. To date we have sent
over 500 pairs of trainers to the scheme to be repurposed.
For outdoor venues, external consultants are supporting
us to ensure practices are sustainable, for instance, use of
machinery, creation of soil improvers in-house, promoting
biodiversity and improving pitch resilience and performance.
Our venues remain a leading destination for major events
and we’ve hosted a wide range of sporting National Governing
Bodies and International Federations. This year has been our
largest year for major events to date welcoming thousands
of athletes and spectators to Nottingham - contributing to a
direct economic impact to the University of Nottingham of
over £3m. Working alongside Nottingham Venues, we have
hosted European Touch Championships 2022, World Hockey
Masters 2022, ParaVolley European Silver League 2023 and
the World U24 Ultimate Championships 2023.
Finally, we’re supported by a number of sponsors and partners
who provide over £150,000 to enhance our programmes
and delivery. This included the re-signing of our partnership
with our ocial kit supplier PlayerLayer for three more years.
Partnerships are incredibly important to the department, and
we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have
worked alongside us this year.
Building a
sustainable legacy
64
sponsor and partner
organisations
Over
£150,000
secured in external
grant funding
Winner
Professional Services
Team Award for
Contributing to
Sustainability
2322 Annual Review 2022-23 Annual Review 2022-23
For more information:
sport@nottingham.ac.uk
+44 (0) 115 74 87000
nottingham.ac.uk/sport
@UoNSport