Seevic

Students were triumphantly welcomed back to the College on board an open top bus after competing at the British Colleges National Sports Championships, held at Loughborough University.

The National Championships take place once a year and are one of the biggest annual multi-sport events in the UK. Around 2000 students attend, representing regions throughout the UK, competing in 12 sports over 3 days.

Principal & Chief Executive of SEEVIC College, Sarah Wright, who went to cheer on the students in Loughborough said: “I was extremely proud to attend the finals this year. The atmosphere was brilliant. SEEVIC students did very well overall and returned with silver medals in trampolining and swimming. We sent 92 students to the National Sports Championships this year making up approximately 40% of the Eastern Region team, more than ever before.

“The event is so prestigious as the best sports' teams from all further education and sixth form colleges in the country compete. Basically it's where every college that offers sports provision wants to end up at the end of the year. Any college is very proud to send just a few students, to be able to go with 92 is almost unheard of and is a real accolade to the prowess of our students and the dedication and commitment of our fantastic staff.”

Students from SEEVIC College competed in areas including: Rugby, Netball, Volleyball, Hockey, Football, Trampoline, Tennis, Golf, Swimming and Cross-Country. They competed well in all areas and returned with silver medals in trampolining and swimming.

Medal winning Trampolinist Alex Tucker, 17, from Laindon said: “I competed for the elite trampolining team, there were 4 people in my team and we had to perform 2 routines each and get scored for them. Our team had the second highest score so we won the silver medal. I have been doing trampolining since I was 6 and train a lot so I am really proud to have won this medal.”

Craig Davidson, Head of Competitive Sport at SEEVIC College said: “In the final standings the East Region came a close second to the South East out of a total of nine regions, with SEEVIC students contributing just over a quarter of all the points for the East Region.

One of the highlights of the weekend was watching our men’s rugby team take on the best rugby academies in the country, the men’s team put in some great performances, most noticeably only being beaten by four points by Wales, and competing for a medal right up to the last game. The men’s volleyball team also put in an excellent performance and came within one game of winning a bronze medal.”

To celebrate their success a Sports Homecoming Celebration was held at the College where Deputy Mayor Cllr David Cross congratulated the students. The students were also taken on an open top bus to visit The Appleton School and The Deanes School to share their success.

Rugby player George Parmenter, 17, Leigh on sea said: “ I had a really great weekend. We started off the first day with four wins out of five, so that was a good day and the second day we had to play against the Welsh champions. We conducted ourselves well over the weekend, the coaches were proud of us and we are really proud of each other. We worked as a team and our aim was to put our name on the map and I think we done that.”