Your VP Sport Dom Brown, tells us all the details of what went down at the very popular yearly event, Alumni Sports Day!
Alumni Sports Day never fails to entertain. The day was packed with familiar faces and tightly contested fixtures, which were all battling for the overall prize – The Handcock Cup.
What went down?
The day kicked off with Fencing, Badminton and Tennis. Men’s Fencing clinched a tight victory over the alumni, whereas the alumni was victorious over Women’s Fencing – the scores were 113-110 and 123-108 respectively. Badminton, was the only fixture to produce a draw (10-10)! On the grass pitches, Women’s Football alumni took a beating from the students with a result of 10-2. Similarly, the Men’s Football alumni team took a 2-0 lead, but ended up losing 6-2. Fitness definitely became a playing figure in both of those fixtures!
Alumni claimed wins in Ultimate Frisbee (13-6) and Women’s Rugby (50-10). However, the Men’s Rugby current students put the alumni to the sword in a high scoring game, with the final score being 63 points to the alumni’s 34. I was fortunate enough to hear both Women’s Rugby teams chant and dance together on the 3G at the end of their game, which was quite an experience! (Our very own Student Opportunities Manager Sophie Harrison, was a key cog in this chanting!)
We then moved inside the sports hall, where there were two extremely close Basketball matches.. The men’s current students beat the alumni by only 8 points in a fantastic match filled with a great atmosphere, leaving a final score of 76-68. The women’s match was even closer, with the current students taking a narrow 1 point victory in a 35-34 outcome. Well done to both Basketball teams! And finally, Netball’s students ran out as victors against the old guard!
Why Alumni Sports Day is so important
It’s amazing to see the connection and constant communication between alumni and current students throughout the year, with Alumni Sports Day, of course, being the height of this. Royal Holloway Sport was a massive part of student’s time at the University, therefore the fact that this event is possible and that we are able to invite former students back to campus is absolutely fantastic! It also provides current clubs and members with a great opportunity to learn about life after university by drawing on the alumni’s experiences. There were a few clubs that ran career keynotes with speeches and talks from some of the alumni, which was a great thing to do, and I would encourage other groups to jump on board in any future Alumni Sports Day.
A massive thank you and well done to everyone that was involved!
Dom Brown // Vice President Sport