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Serious about Sport
Students also have access to high quality coaching in the sports of football, netball, hockey and rugby. Coaching sessions are delivered as part of the College programme and are concerned with developing techniques, skills and tactics at individual, unit and team level. Where a specific sporting discipline is not delivered, links with local clubs and organisations provide the coaching expertise.
The College has a record of sporting success in winning national championships in a variety of sports and can also boast 50+ international caps across a range of sports: judo, table tennis, hockey, rugby, netball, football, sailing, mountain biking and badminton. If you’re serious about sport, as part of the Sports Academy you will benefit from: b a structured training programme that is overseen by experienced coaches; personal performance monitored regularly by our team b training sessions and lectures are planned to avoid unnecessary clashes b the chance to compete in the successful NPTC Group of Colleges’ sporting teams b being part of national coaching schemes for your chosen sport. If you compete regularly in a sport for club, county or national teams and are interested in joining our Sport Academies, check out: www.nptcgroup.ac.uk RUGBY b Welsh Schools’ Cup Winners (8 times) b Welsh College Cup Winners (19 times) b British Colleges’ Cup Winners b Rosslyn Park 7s’ Winners b College Super 15s’ Winners
International Students b Ashley Beck b Justin Tipuric b Adam Beard b James Hook b James King b Eli Walker b Dafydd Howells b Adam Jones b Darren Morris b Spencer John b Leigh Davies b Arwel Thomas b Craig Mitchell
b b b b b b Dan Lydiate Lloyd Peers Dan Baker Duncan Jones Paul James Gwyn Jones
NETBALL b Welsh Colleges’ League Champions b Finalists at the British Knock-out Cup
International Students b Helen Jones (Case) b Chelsea Lewis
b b Amanda Cooper Nicola James
FOOTBALL b Welsh League Champions 2010-2011 and 2012-2013 b Welsh 5-a-side Champions 2013-2014 b Welsh 5-a-side Runner-up 2011-2012 and 2012-2013
International Students b Daniel James b Ben Davies b Connor Roberts b Joe Rodon
PARALYMPICS b Rob Davies (Table Tennis)
b b Joe Allen Jazz Richards
Dan Lydiate Ospreys, Wales, British & Irish Lions
Sports Alumni Dan Lydiate is a former Coleg Powys BTEC Level 3 Sport & Exercise Science student. A local farmer’s son from Abbey Cwm Hir, Llandrindod Wells, he went on to study a Foundation Degree in Strength & Conditioning at Brecon Beacons College.
A talented flanker, he then moved onto a professional rugby career signing up for the Newport Dragons where, in his first year, he was capped with Wales Under 20s.
Dan was named in the Wales National squad for the November 2009 international series, making his debut as a second-half replacement against Argentina on 21 November 2009.
He made his first test match start as flanker on 28 November 2009 after which he was named in the Wales squad for the 2010 Six Nations Championship.
He then broke into the Welsh first XV in the autumn internationals of that year, starting against Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, the match where he won the Man of the Match award wearing the Number 7 jersey for the first time in addition to being named in the team to face South Africa.
He played every match of Wales’ 2011 Six Nations Championship campaign as well as all four warm-up matches. In August 2011, he was named in the Wales squad for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, he also later made up the squad of the 2015 World Cup in England.
He played in Wales’ opening two games against South Africa and Samoa, as well as playing a key role in Wales’ quarter-final win over Ireland.
He finished narrowly ahead of Wales and Dragons teammate Toby Faletau to take the tournament’s top tacklers title. In the 2012 Six Nations Championship, he received the Player of the Tournament award after featuring in every game bar the opener against Ireland and receiving Man of the Match awards. It was in this very year that he was also nominated for the Welsh Sports Personality of the Year award.
In April 2013, he was named in the squad for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.
He left Newport Gwent Dragons at the end of the 2012/13 season to join the club Racing Métro 92 before becoming an Osprey in 2014, whose training ground is, in fact, the Colleges’ Llandarcy Academy of Sport,
He had been under the wing of former Sports Lecturer Chay Billen since the age of 14 when he worked with him as an under 14 Powys player. He still regularly uses the excellent training facilities at the Brecon Beacons College whenever his training schedule allows.
Talking about his time at the College, he said:
