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Introducing the Team Durham President
2011/12 Team Durham President
Helena Stolle Helena Stolle Team Durham President
Team Durham is the brand name for sport at Durham and is the overall organisational body for the University’s sport structure. This encompasses three main areas; College Sport, Performance Sport (the BUCS programme) and Volunteering and the Community.
innumerable options for sportspeople to compete at the highest level. However, even if students fancy trying something different at a serious level, some of the University clubs have development squads for beginners so there is lots of motivation to try a new sport with excellent coaching structures in place to help student development. Durham’s outstanding inter-college sports programme certainly deserves a mention. With thirteen different sports available and around 420 teams playing on a regular basis, “the college sport programme is massive” so there is a lot of scope for students to get involved that way.
Role of the President As the student president, it is Helena’s role to oversee the majority of student sport. She explains that there is a lot of administration involved as she organises the college sport programme, fixtures, results, and one-off events. With regards the BUCS programme, Helena organises transport for teams and ensures that all of the facilities are in a top condition to ensure its smooth running. She has a budget to work with and so has to collaborate closely with the treasurer (a student with a career development scholarship) to work out financial allocations for each club. She also has a college sports manager (another career development scholar) who helps with the input of fixtures and the overall organisation of the college sport side of Team Durham.
Sporting background Having played every sport available to her as a youngster, Helena has mainly dedicated herself to cricket and hockey having competed in both throughout her school years. Arriving at Durham in 2008, she played in the University 2nd team in her first and second years. Having now graduated, this year she has returned to the Hockey Club following a break last year. She is therefore kept busy training for her two sports during the evening and at weekends. With regards to cricket, she has always played at university, as well as being a member of the Middlesex County team and would regard cricket as her main sport. She comes from quite a sporty family; her father used to play rugby, stopping only due to injury, and both she and her brother have seen sport play an important role in their lives.
Opportunities for Students “Durham provides sporting opportunities for everyone.” At performance level there are 53 Team Durham clubs so there are
Most memorable sporting moment in Durham In her first year she “did the treble”; winning the BUCS hockey trophy, the BUCS Wednesday league and their
Collingwood Geography graduate and Durham University hockey and cricket player, Helena Stolle, is this year’s Team Durham President. Here she gives us an insight into her role and the way Team Durham works as well as her own sporting interests. Team Durham
2011/2012 - A Sporting Review
Saturday league. Helena enthuses about the great team spirit in her hockey team which was helped by the fact that the team was built from the same players throughout her first two years making it an “awesome experience”. Personal development Helena took over the University cricket captaincy in her second year and continued this role into her final year which she found to be very helpful in ameliorating her leadership responsibilities and improving her communication skills. This role of responsibility led her to apply for the Team Durham President position which she thinks is “brilliant”. She admits that it is a lot of work but that she has learnt a lot of skills whilst carrying out her role. “It has really helped me to develop as a person. In terms of working with others, administration and organisation it has been really good”. Other interests When she is not involved in sport, Helena leads what she describes as a “normal life”, meeting up with friends and going to the cinema for example. She admits to being “musically challenged” but says that she really enjoys listening to music. However her main love is, of course, sport. When not playing, she loves watching cricket and rugby and would love to go and watch Wimbledon one day. Plans for the Future Having studied Geography, she hopes to pursue a career in this sector. She is considering environmental work, perhaps in a water company or involvement in environmental consultancy, always keeping sport as a sideline alongside her work.