Club: Swimming

If you ask anyone on campus if they know who ollie beard is I’m not sure there will be a single person who says they don’t; whether that’s because he is an avid SU fan or because of the other projects he gets involved with through the swimming club. When you try to decide who is the ‘Sports Personality of the year’, we believe it has to be someone who is well known and regarded around all of the clubs on campus because of the positive impact they have on their own club and to others as well.

Social Secretary:

• After joining swimming as a fresher, it was practically a foregone conclusion that ollie would be the social secretary for the swimming club this year. His commitment to running social events this year has been exceptional, and more people are turning up to them than ever before
• Not only is ollie just a socialite though, he is also a very talented swimmer. He has competed at BUCS competitions in both of his years with the club, and takes part in all of the London league events we so as well. He makes sure that everyone is encouraged to come along and organizes social events afterwards that allow everyone to get to know each other
• During Fresher’s week, ollie organized a pub crawl around the town, to allow fresher’s to get to know the area a bit better, and the majority of the people who came to that social are still a part in the club today.
• He takes the clubs campaigns very seriously as well. He helped to promote our mental health awareness week campaign, regularly volunteers at our partnered charity at a local disability swimming session and is also taking part in our big swimathon on the 9th March
• Ollie has a wide reaching impact because he has organized social events with other clubs that has allowed us to meet new people and broaden the clubs appeal around campus.

Personality:

• He is very well liked by all of the members of the club because he really tries to get to know everyone and cares for each member. On nights out, he makes sure that everyone feels included and has the best possible time they can.
• Ollie dedicates his time to making sure that he looks after the best interests of everyone in the club, but also other clubs as well. He is very well known around other clubs for being a bubbly personality

Overall, there isn’t a better person that comes to mind for the sports personality of the year award, and I’m sure no one from other clubs would be surprised to see Ollies name on the shortlist. Ollies hard work, dedication and love for the swimming club and university is the perfect example of why we have nominated him for this award, and the Students Union should be glad to have someone who is such an ambassador for Holloway sports clubs.

Club: Fencing

• She regularly forms and maintains good links with other clubs
• She is a positive member of the club
• She can often be seen around the sports centre both training at the gym, as well as going down to support other sports teams, such as Basketball and Rugby
• She regularly participates in charity events and campaigns run by other student groups on campus
• She has won the most recent BUCS Individual Championships for Women’s Sabre
• She is one of the highest performing members of the Women’s First team
• She has never missed a match in her two years at this university
• She is a sports scholar
• She finished 24th in the Junior World Cup in Budapest for Women’s Sabre
• She is currently on the British squad
• She is currently ranked within the top 200 U20s in the world, and in the top 15 in the U20s national rankings.

Club: Hockey

• Has played for the men’s 1st XI since his 1st year, and has consistently been an extremely strong and reliable player
  • Dan is an invaluable defender, saving countless goals not only this year but in previous years
• Has served on committee for 2 years
  • Club secretary last year
  • Treasurer this year
• As treasurer he has kept the club finances on track and been consistently reliable when dealing with invoices
  • Has implemented a new system to keep members informed of payments being processed
• Is invaluable to committee due to his levelheadedness and calm demeanour
• Has been dedicated to the club since his first year and goes above and beyond what is necessary to make the club what it is
  • He has been to every hockey event, match, training session and social this year
  • He gets on well with everyone and is quick to make people feel comfortable within the club. He is well respected and liked by everyone

Club: Men's Football

Colossus’ Sports Personality of the Year – Men’s Football

Men’s Football would like to nominate Jack Colman for ‘Colossus’ Sports Personality of the Year’. Being a fundamental part of Men’s Football; his dedication to sport goes further than just Men’s Football with his involvement with wider clubs. This year he has been a continuous starter for the 2nd team and has supported the 1st team several times this season on their LUSL campaign for 1st place. His involvement with the club goes beyond that of the pitch being a part of several of Men’s Football campaigns around campus and local community such as; our hugely successful ‘Movember’ campaign, writing an article for the Orbital promoting our club, litter picking to keep our sports facilities clean and respectable, our ‘Free Hugs’ campaign to promote mental health awareness and positivity for all University students and finally, he has recently been on Insanity Radio to promote awareness of mental health in young people at universities around the UK with reference and contact with the charity 'Woking Mind'.

 

Jack’s interest for other clubs is mainly supported by his continuous involvement with Women’s Football being their 2nd team coach to positively develop the team and helped them during trials. Moreover, he has supported ACS by refereeing the joint charity football tournament with Men’s Football and coaching young children at the Community Sports Day hosted by Royal Holloway Sport. Jack’s enthusiasm to support other clubs and Royal Holloway Sport is demonstrated by appearing in this year's Varsity video, recently supporting Rowing in their sponsored row and thoroughly enjoys supporting at other sports games.

Jack’s Vice-President role has importance in the functionality of the club as his character and interaction with both, active and passive members in promoting positivity, integration and the enjoyment of the sport. His teammates have described him as “supportive”, “committed” and “inspirational”.

Club: Trampolining

• Rich has been a dedicated member of trampolining since day 1 of his first year (2016) and since then we haven’t been able to get rid of him !!
• He attends every training session bringing his sparkling personality, as well as his sparkling gold shorts, every time
• Our training sessions would never be the same without him and his amazing array of music
• Rich is such an integral part of our team having been on committee for two years as firstly our social sec and currently our treasurer
• He is also one of our most successful members who this year has moved up a difficulty category, nailing his new routine in countless competitions
• This is reflected by the 4 medals he has one just this year out of 5 competitions, we can always count on him to come home with he goods !!
• At every training session and competition Rich brings fun, entertainment and such a supportive energy to everyone no matter what
• He will always manage to put a smile on someone’s face and make everyone laugh
• Not only is he super dedicated to our training sessions, he is unbelievably devoted to our socials
• Rich always puts a lot of planning and effort into every social, making new playlists, shopping for all the supplies and thinking of the best games
• He is also a key member in convincing others to come out and have the best night and always ensures everyone is having fun
• Every night out you will see trampolining covered in the most gorgeous array of glitter and this is all down to Rich. He brings his glitter wherever he goes, and we know he would be lost without it
• As well, this year trampolining is becoming a little more known for their scrunchie sales and Rich is always such an important person is organising and running them
• Every sale we have had he has been behind the table advertising our scrunchies resulting in over £400 raised for our chosen charity
• Not only does Rich impact trampolining, he also has many friends in other sports clubs such as netball, who I know adore him and love spending time with him
• Everyone on our team are absolutely gutted he will be leaving us at the end of this year and we already can’t wait for his frequent visits to training and our socials in the future !!
• Rich is honestly one of the best, most kind-hearted and entertaining people at this uni and trampolining are so lucky to have had him as such a dedicated member of our team for so many years
• I hope this shows you why Rich should be Colossus’ Sports Personality of the Year because we know our whole team thinks he deserves this award on his last Colours Ball at Royal Holloway

Club: Women's Rugby

We would like to nominate our captain, Gwen Richards, for this award thanks to her incredible commitment and dedication to the club this year. Although she is a committee member, Gwen took it upon herself to get each and every individual integrated into the club through training and fitness sessions, as well as by making sure that everyone feels comfortable as a student in general.

She has spent hours, every week, getting the club involved in workshops, campaigns and events such as the Refereeing Award, Inner Warrior Rugby and XRugby7s. Her incredible dedication to the club has proved worthwhile, as she has managed to work together with numerous clubs such as Women’s Football and Lacrosse, using her friendships and approachable character as a way for our club to get to know members of other clubs through socials and joint training sessions. Knowing the campus community and its members to such a personal level, Gwen is able to consult with members of the club and get everyone involved in a range of activities, all of which make our club a more close-knit and integrated one.

Not only is Gwen an incredible leader on and off the pitch, but she is an extraordinary player. As our hooker, she is the reason we secure the ball in scrums and lineouts, leading to innumerable try-scoring opportunities. Her force and strength enable her to break through defensive lines and her extensive knowledge of the game ensures that she is able to lead the team to victory. It is clear that Gwen’s involvement and dedication is unlike any other person’s, and her genuine passion for the sport and the club would make her the perfect candidate for Colossus’ Sports Personality of the Year.

Club: Cheerleading

Katrina Rutina is our social secretary this year and throughout the year has become known across many clubs for her bubbly personality and infectious positivity.

• She is on two teams this year, first team and hip hop, as well as being social secretary.
• She is a confident person that is always supporting other members of her team and the club and is not afraid to ask questions in training to better her ability.
  • She is incredibly enthusiastic and willing to try anything.
  • She is always positive even when training sessions are intense and high-pressure situations.
• She is a well-known person across campus and regularly uses her socials to bring together sports clubs.
  • We have had joint socials with Men’s football and American Football.
  • Through her club-wide socials she has encouraged friendships to be made between all of our teams and is always thinking about inclusivity
• Her dedication has been seen in the number of extra hours she has trained as a consequence of having a new flyer join her team not once, but twice
  • For several weeks in the run up to competing she has trained for up to 10 hours a week.
  • She was very patient with her team members and imparted her knowledge about the skills they required.
  • She is an active leader within her stunt group.
• She is also involved with other societies being the choreographer of a current Musical Theatre Society show.

Club: Mixed Martial Arts

Jack Wright has been a dedicated member of Royal Holloway's Mixed Martial Arts Society since he first arrived. Throughout Jack's first year with the club, he grew to be a well-known face among members and proved himself a dedicated team player at Varsity 2016 where he competed three times in one day. Jack has held multiple committee positions over the years. In his second year with the club, Jack became the Vice-President of the society and in his third was elected Team Captain. Moreover, throughout this year Jack has sat on the Student Opportunities Committee as martial arts representative and has actively represented the community at rhul (Muay Thai, Karate, Ninjitsu, and MMA). Jack has been a consistent member of the club, pushing himself to attend almost all our training sessions (four times a week), practising the styles of Boxing, BJJ, and Muay Thai.

Furthermore, in times where out Bjj coach was running late to training, Jack would regularly step in to get the session running, led warm-ups and prepare members for a training session. Jack has always been a vocal advocate for mental health awareness, particularly in sport. Throughout last November, Jack raised a total of £310 in aid of mental health awareness during 'Movember', running a total of 60km in the month. Furthermore, Jack has actively promoted the club on many occasions and its public events such as ANATD and Fight Night. If you're a member of Mixed Martial Arts Society, you're bound to know Jack and undoubtedly he is one of the most active, friendly, and passionate members of the club to both old and brand new members.