The University of Bath Handball club have had some amazing sucess over the past couple of weeks that I wanted to recognise - both in terms of performance, and fundraising!
University Championships
On the weekend of 2nd-3rd March 2019, the University of Bath Handball Club (including two men's and one women's team) travelled to Kent for the third and final weekend of the University Championships. Handball are not a BUCS sport (which is currently under review!) but compete in both a National League and this university-specific tournament.
Starting the day with a 6-3 win over Dundee, Bath Women's 1s lost their second game of the day to Warwick by 4 goals but then narrowly won their next 8-7 against Nottingham Trent to finish 2nd in their group. On the Sunday, the team beat Strathclyde in the final 16, and secured a place in the semi-final with a last minute goal against Leeds Beckett. The semi-final against AECC University College, the only team to beat Bath in the qualifying rounds before this weekend. After a hard-faught game which saw Bath take the lead early on, they were unable to hold out for the win and missed out on an appearance in the finals. Sadly, for the women's team, it was on to cheering on the rest of their club in the final!
Isabelle Williams said "I’d do it all over again – despite the tears and bruises, I’d go back to spend as much time as I possibly could with these girls on the pitch. Because, at the end of the day, I love them all and I’m proud to have led them on this journey”.
Whilst Maria Cundale commented "Being champions would have been incredible, but champions are only champions until the next competition and then everything is to play for again”.
Bath Men's 1s had a slightly easier ride through the group stages as Durham had to withdraw, who were expected to be their toughest competition. The team beat Warwick and Heriot Watt to head into the knockout stages on the Sunday. First up was a comfortable victory over Portsmouth, followed by a quarter final against KCL. The teams were evenly matches after beating each other once during the season, however, Bath took victory in a two goal win. The team then beat Nottingham Trent in a show of defensive talent, to put them through to the final.
The final was against Loughborough, who took a 3-1 lead early on. After a team talk by the injured captain, Chris Morgan-Smith, the team put on a defensive masterclass, conceding one goal in the final 10 minutes, and revitalised the offensive end, coming out with a two goal victory.
Gaspard Stocker (Club Chair) commented “An amazing performance from all three teams! I have seen them improve rapidly this year and I am sure they will keep pushing themselves in the next season. Ever since I joined the first team in first year, it was my dream to be crowned University Champion of Great Britain and I am glad it happened for my final year. We kept our cool, played as a team and we owed this victory to our injured captain and the rest of the club who had been cheering for us all this time!"
Bath Men's 2s (Bath Bombs) also made an appearance at the competition, and, for many of the team, it was their first time! The day started with a loss against a tough Dundee side. After a team talk which inspired more communication on defence, the Bombs then took a 5-3 win against Warwick 2s. The next game, against Bangor 2s, was possibly the Bombs' best offensive game of the season, rewarding them with their second victory of the day. With tiredness kicking in, Bath couldn't stop Kent who had beaten them twice already in the season. This led to Bath finishing 3rd in the group, meaning they had a tough draw against Liverpool. The next day, after some well-earned rest, the Bombs took on a talented team from up north, but unfortunately, were unable to progress to the quarter-finals.
Ethan Grigor (Captain) commented "the performance overall was really impressive. The group stage performance was astounding for first time players winning 8/12. Unfortunately, an early knockout during elimination rounds occurred. Even though this was a bit demoralizing it acts as a great learning curve for everyone. The whole team is looking forward to Uni Champs again next year, so I guess you could say a job well done!”.
In the vote by the students of the SU Sport Executive Committee, the Handball Club narrowly missed out on winning Team of the Week to the Swimming Club, who beat Exeter in their annual 'Varsity' event, for the first time in the events'
Fundraising
Away from competition, the club have also been really active in fundraising, both for their actual attendance of the above championships, but also for our very own Student Minds Bath. the Handball Club have been successful in raising over £2000 which was enough to help them attend the tournament where they were so successful, as well as raising money for Student Minds Bath, who will see 50% of all funds raised.
Isabelle Williams, who led the project for the Handball Club, said "I'm so proud that the whole process worked, not only were we able to go to uni champs, see our men’s team win the cup competition and enjoy a weekend of handball, we will also be able donate over a thousand pounds to charity which means a great deal. I'd like to thank the generous people who supported our cause!".
A number of the 42 donors (at time of writing) who contributed to the cause were part of the club's alumni. When asked why they chose to give back to the club, Tom Gleadhill (graduated in 2018) explained "It shouldn’t be a question that students don’t get a chance to be involved in these opportunities because they are not as well off as other students or because the club cannot continuously subsidize them as their overheads continue to add up". Richard Partington (graduated 2017) commented "The club has always been like one large family where everyone is welcome no matter their ability. It is a wonderful enabler for people of different cultures to meet due to its popularity elsewhere around the globe. I can only hope that assisting the club I have now left, provides others with the wonderful opportunities I was fortunate to have". Another donor, Vanessa Williams, said "giving to the Bath Handball Club was important to enable the teams to achieve their potential at Uni Champs. An added bonus for us was their aim to share the funds raised with Student Minds to help with the vital support they offer to students."
I asked Patrick Taylor, Chair of Student Minds Bath, how the money raised will be useful to his support group, he said "This money will be immensely useful to a cause dedicated to tackling such a prominent issue in higher education: mental health. In times when students' mental well-being is not always seen as a priority and often the relevant services lack funding: money like this is so, so important in making real change and improving student mental health across the country!".
If you'd like to raise money for your club using a secure, easy to use platform where you can benefit from an up to 25% uplift through gift-aid, check out the new Crowdfunding platform (Hubbub) brought in by the University Alumni Department.
Well done to everyone taking part in both the University Championships, and the amazing fundraising efforts. Hopefully there'll be more success to come both on and off the court and I'm sure Student Minds will benefit greatly from the money you've raised. Keep up the good work!