Henry Tudor Student Development Awards 2014 Report
Contents Page Subject
Page
Introduction
2
Individual Awards (Volunteering in the UK) Voluntary Swimming Coach Charity Challenge for Vitalise Charity Challenge for “The Stroke Association” Charity Challenge for Link Community Development
3 4 5 8
Individual Awards (Volunteering outside of the UK) Netball Coach in Zambia Teaching in Morocco Teaching in China Volunteering in America Volunteering in Borneo Volunteering in Rwanda Volunteering in India
11 12 13 20 21 23 25
Group Awards (JCR Club or Society) Big Band Women’s Rugby
27 29
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Introduction Henry Tudor was the Senior Tutor in the 1950s and he left a legacy in his will to St Cuthbert’s Society to be used to help the college and its students. As a result of this, in 2006, the college introduced Student Development Awards to current members of St Cuthbert’s Society. There are 2 separate awards available; group and individual. The details of each Award and instructions on how to apply are given below.
Type of Awards Available Group Award We allocate up to 4 awards of £500 to a St Cuthbert’s Society JCR club or society. The Award is designed to help the club or society to gain financial support towards travel, living costs etc. for an event/project/visit/tour which promotes St Cuthbert’s Society. Individual Award We allocate up to 20 awards of £250 for individual Student Development Award. The Award is designed to help students gain financial support towards charitable or community work currently undertaking or planning to undertake on a local, national or international basis. It never ceases to amaze us about the amount of charitable work that is done by our students and how far they are willing to travel in order to do it. We’ve supported students who take part in the annual DUCK projects including last year’s trip to Borneo. Our clubs and societies have also benefitted from the Awards with money going towards a fashion show, a trip to meet the Pope, an Art in the Garden project and various rugby, football and choir tours and activities. Volunteering is a huge part of everyday life. We all volunteer in some shape or form without realizing it or being acknowledged for it. One of the aims of college life is to provide opportunities to allow students to gain further skills and experiences and, in doing so increase your chances of getting a job or a place on a course. The financial support given by Henry Tudor is often the reason many of our students have been able to take part in volunteering so don’t forget to submit your application by the deadline of 9th March 2015. The following reports are taken directly from the information provided by the recipients of the 2014 Awards.
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Voluntary Swimming Coach The high point of my volunteering was when a child said ‘that was the best swimming lesson- like ever’. The Cuth’s Student Development Award has been hugely beneficial for me, both personally and professionally. It has challenged me, giving me new skills to enable me to give back to St Cuthbert’s Society and the wider Durham community. The award was also crucial for the effective setting up and running of Cuth’s inaugural swimming society. At the end of June 2014, I began my training to become a level 2 Teaching Aquatics teacher. The purpose of me undertaking the qualification was twofold. I wanted to partake in some volunteering as a swimming teacher, and also needed to be sufficiently qualified to run sessions for the newly formed Cuths’ Swimming Society. I had previously been an assistant teacher, but it is only through becoming a fully qualified teacher that one can make a real difference. The qualification, as well as full-day courses of both theory work and practice teaching, also involved a substantial amount of ‘homework’. The course enabled me to learn more about the specifics of swimming, and to meet many other like-minded people on the course from many different walks of life and surrounding local areas. Despite being a fairly qualified and competent coach in other sports, teaching swimming poses different challenges. Children are participating in a ‘scary’, unknown and potentially life threatening activity, and have to concentrate, listen and behave almost continuously for up to 1 hour, which can be a real challenge. For me, the most rewarding aspect of the process was volunteering to teach Local U11 children. I participated in a ‘water safety’ programme educating children (including weak non-swimmers) about water safety and how best to cope with and survive an emergency. Teaching swimming is much harder than I initially expected as many things I take for granted as a swimmer such as aquatic breathing (including breathing bilaterally) can be very difficult for children and beginner swimmers to co-ordinate. The high point of my volunteering was when a child said “that was the best swimming lesson- like ever”. I recognised that through the use of games (encouraged in my new qualification) the swimmers in my group really progressed with their water confidence, managing to ‘get their heads under’ for the first time in a less pressured, more relaxed environment. I learnt that I really can be ‘thrown into the deep end’ and teach children to swim and really benefit them, despite initially not having vast amount of experience. I am hoping to move forward with my experience by continuing to help develop Cuths’ Swimming with our newly formed society and through the volunteering we are about to do at Durham Amateur City Swimming Club as part of the society. In the more distant future, I am looking to work in education, meaning so the swimming qualification I have gained has enormously helped my professional development and qualifications, leading me closer to continuing my career in education. Ella Holloway e.a.holloway@durham.ac.uk Studying for a BA (Hons) in Education Studies with Geography
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Charity Challenge for Vitalise The generosity and support shown towards this cause was fantastic and Vitalise and I are extremely grateful for the Student Development Award which will go a long way to easing life at the centres. On 6th April, 2014 I ran in the Brighton Marathon on behalf of Vitalise. Vitalise provide essential respite care and short holiday breaks for disabled people and their carers, offering a wide range of activities and excursions along with their state of the art facilities and 24-hour support staff. Having volunteered in one of their 4 centres in the UK, it is obvious that Vitalise are under immense scrutiny and the demand to deliver a quality service is extremely high. A lot of the time, caring is a thankless task and it can take its toll. 4 out of 10 carers did not have a single day off in 2013, 60% said a lack of time away from caring lead to feelings of depression and 1 in 8 of the adult population acted as unpaid carers. It is not only those with disabilities that need this break, it is crucial that carers are given free time as well and Vitalise go a long way to facilitating this problem. I was eager to help out and when the opportunity arose to be part of the Brighton Marathon team I was very happy to sign up. Running a marathon had always been on my bucket list and I feel extremely happy to have completed it, albeit at a struggle! I was helped immeasurably by the lack of sun that day and the crowds in Brighton made it an all-together unforgettable experience as I finished within my target time. Training did take a lot of effort but it was all worth it for such a cause and I definitely recommend it to anyone who fancies pushing their limits! The generosity and support shown towards this cause was fantastic and Vitalise and I are extremely grateful for the Student Development Award which will go a long way to easing life at the centres.
Ed Marsh edward.marsh@durham.ac.uk Combined Honours in Arts (Spanish & English)
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Charity Challenge for “The Stroke Association”. Through hours of silence, I have learnt I am a stronger, more determined person than I could have imagined. The money was used as a charitable donation as part of my fundraising for the Stroke Association through a 100km (63 miles) charity walk I completed with my sister in September 2014. The total amount we managed to raise through the walk and donate to the stroke association was £2100 so we were extremely pleased. Back in November 2013, me and my sister decided that we would like to do some kind of charity challenge in memory of our Nan who passed away 2 years ago from a stroke and for our Granddad who had suffered from 2 strokes. Having decided to take on the Thames Path challenge 100km walk from Putney to Henley in aid of the Stroke Association, this was certainly going to be a huge personal challenge as well as a physical one! Whilst at university, training wasn’t able to happen much aside from doing fitness classes to start building up my base fitness. So it wasn’t until I returned home in June after the summer term that some serious intense training was undertaken. We did fitness classes every day of the week to build up our short-term general fitness. And then every Saturday we would do a training walk; increasing the distance every week in order to build up our endurance to the recommended halfway threshold; and even walking in the remnants of hurricane Bertha! This culminated in a 50km training walk 3 weeks before the event whilst on a week’s holiday in Cornwall where we walked from Land’s end along the coast to Penzance and then up from the south coast to St Ives on the North Coast. That was quite a tough walk due to the terrain but was good preparation. The week or so before, we took it quite easy, and travelled down to Fulham on Friday 12th September to get a good night’s sleep in a hotel. On Saturday 13 th September I got up feeling quite nervous and excited about the challenge. Our start time was 9.20am with our parents and brother at the start line to cheer us on and wave us off which was a great feeling. The first 10-20km passed by very quickly. There were rest stops at approximately every 12.5km and major stops at the 25km, 50km and 75km points where there was food, water, toilets, medical tent, steward tents for information and masseurs. At the beginning our rest stops were quite short. However, at around 30km into the walk, I unfortunately strained my left knee. So at the 50km tent I had to see a medic where they advised me to have sports massages at the major rest stops. All I can say is the one thing you least want them to do is dig their elbow into the back of your knee but that is the one thing they do! It did help once I got walking again though! Having stopped at the 50km rest stop for around a couple of hours, it was around 11pm when we left. The thought of doing another 50km with my knee was quite -5-
daunting but I really wanted to push through. At this point we joined up with an overnight trek master that the organisers were laying on. This was fantastic as it meant we didn’t have to worry about where we were going along the river Thames. And being part of our group of about 8 kept me going at low points of tiredness around 3am where I started seeing things due to the wall of darkness aside from the small patch of path that the head torch lit up. It caused a lot of strain on my eyes which made me feel even more tired and every kilometre signpost seemed to get further and further apart. This stretch of the walk was so tough but the group kept me going and it was heart-warming to listen to everyone’s personal reasons for raising money for their particular charity. However, sometimes there were longer periods of quiet where the only thing that could keep you putting one foot in front of the other whilst not being able to see more than a few metres ahead was your inner self and personal thoughts. We split up from the overnight trek group at 75km (we saw them again at the finish and I am still in contact with them) and after stopping for a couple of hours, carried on at a slow shuffle while our legs warmed back up. Even navigating bridges over the river was now such a huge effort at this point because our legs were just so stiff and painful. I found this stretch very tough too because the thought of 20km still to go was a long way. When we finally made it into Henley and crossed the field to the finish line, it was so emotional. My parents were waiting and cheering at the finish and a huge array of emotions came over me. My Granddad recently suffered a third stroke in July but has made great recovery in his speech and mobility. Both when my Nan and Granddad were in hospital, seeing people who would have been perfectly able before now unable, to speak and move was truly heart-breaking and has really stuck with me as well as the fact that there were also many young people on the ward. Therefore, the walk was a huge personal achievement when I finished. I can only describe it as that it would be different for every person with regards to their individual challenge but the thought of the physical achievement I had just completed and the people I will have helped with the money raised is an intense buzz and great pride. That feeling lasted a few days and when it began to fade, the knowledge of my personal accomplishment will never be taken away but I wanted the initial feeling back. During the walk I told myself never again but now I definitely want to do something like that again! The walk took a total time of 27 hours and 48 minutes. 2500 people took part. Approximately 31% of the 100km challengers dropped out. The money I raised from the walk was roughly £800 and my sister raised £500. My employer (Royal Mail) recently voted the Stroke association as their charity of the year and so everything I have raised has been completely matched by them to give a rough overall total of £2100. This will be used to give grants of up to £300 for survivors of stroke to help them back into the community.
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From my experiences of stroke and the experience of the walk, I have learnt never to take anything for granted and appreciate all of the things and opportunities I am able to make the most of in life. After all, for those dreaming of, and learning to walk again, it can take months of rehabilitation; if my walk helps others to do this then it is completely worth it. Also, the walk was the toughest, most gruelling mental and physical thing I have ever done. Explaining to someone how far I had to push through a mental wall I have never pushed through before is difficult. Through hours of silence, I have learnt I am a stronger, more determined person than I could have imagined. Giving up is easy; giving up the mental desire to give up is what is hard. Emily Shipton e.r.shipton@durham.ac.uk Studying for a BA (Hons) in Geography
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Charity Challenge for Link Community Development The college gave me the chance to have one of the best experiences of my life, whilst simultaneously raising funds for an amazing charity in Link Community Development. The contribution of the Student Development Award aided me in reaching my fundraising target for Link Community Development’s Hitch Project. The money fundraised allowed me and my partner, Tom Johnson, to complete a hitchhike for Dover, UK to Tangier, Morocco in just under a week and raise money for developing schools in Africa and underprivileged areas of the UK. My partner and I set off from Dover on Monday 24th March and had a busy ferry crossing asking everyone if they were heading to the south of France, our first target. Whilst we were asking people we were fortunate enough to be offered a lift by a pharmaceutical distributor who was heading for Gibraltar. We still can’t believe that we were able to make it all the way through France and Spain on one lift! We made great progress once we got off the ferry and camped out the first night a little south of Tours. On Tuesday morning we were hit by heavy rain which stayed with us all the way through France and intensified into Spain so the second night Tom and I stayed in a Motel and dried out our camping gear. Wednesday saw us get our first bit of sun driving through Madrid which was a very welcome break from waking up to snow that morning. We arrived in La Linea, the Spanish town outside the Gibraltar, in the early evening and had a BBQ and camped on the beach. It got a little bit chilly but the sun rise in the morning at the mouth of our tent was definitely worth it. Thursday we wandered into Gibraltar and enjoyed a morning looking around and deciding the best way to cross the Mediterranean to Morocco. In the end we found a day trip for Friday out of Tarifa, Spain and took a bus there and stayed in an amazing hostel called The Melting Pot 5 minutes from the port. We had at early start Friday morning to catch the ferry. We were quite excited and got our passports stamped, which was a first for both of us. In Morocco, we were shown around the new and old parts of the city and saw the King of Morocco’s palace with his personal guards outside. We also went on a short camel ride, ate in a Moroccan restaurant and haggled with shop owners for our souvenirs. It was an amazing day and we saw so many things which I doubt we’d have been able to see if we hadn’t have had the guided tour.
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We had a late morning and looked around Tarifa on Saturday before getting the bus back to Gibraltar. We had a day doing a bit of sight-seeing and enjoying the completion of our hitch before heading for the airport and had our last camp out in the airport café. Sunday was spent travelling back to the UK. After such an amazing trip it was great to arrive home to a home-cooked chicken casserole.
There and Back Again “The money we raised will go a long way in helping the disadvantaged children in Northern Africa get an education that has been too often denied to them, and it is all thanks to the Student Development award.” The St Cuthbert's Society Student Development award allowed my good friend, Jenny Ferris and I to achieve the fund raising goal of £700 we set ourselves. Without the award, we could not have been as successful as we were and for that I am extremely grateful. The college gave me the chance to have one of the best experiences of my life, whilst simultaneously raising funds for an amazing charity in Link Community Development. The money we raised will go a long way in helping the disadvantaged children in Northern Africa get an education that has been too often denied to them, and it is all thanks to the Student Development award. The beginning of our journey should have been an omen for the entire hitch. We had not even got off the train in Dover before a woman offered us a lift to the ferry port, having heard us idly talking about how nice Sheffield was as a city. She turned out to be from Sheffield! On the ferry we hit our first difficulty. Most of the passengers we talked to were heading to Central or Eastern Europe, with only a few going south. My rather modest abilities in Spanish were tested on numerous occasions, trying to convince lorry drivers to take us with them, but to no avail. As we were getting to the end of the journey, a man approached us and informed us that he was delivering pharmaceutical goods to Gibraltar! After a quick conversation, he agreed to let us tag along, sitting on a wooden box in his van. Not the safest of places to be, but we weren't going to turn him down. We made good progress with him once we got off the ferry, and stopped off for the night, at which point it was raining heavily and pitch black, making putting up a tent very interesting. We packed away our soaked tent in the morning, and set off over the Pyrenees. Unfortunately the rain was worse the further south we went and not only were there no suitable stops for the night, our tent was still wet from the night before! We opted to stay for one night at a motel near San Sebastian, where we managed to dry out our camping gear. The next morning we woke up to snow, but the weather got better as we went further south, getting our first real bit of sun in Madrid. We made it to La Linea, the Spanish town just outside Gibraltar by the end of the day and we cooked dinner for Mark, our wonderful driver, on the beach next to our tent. The next day was spent in Gibraltar, trying to find a means of crossing the Mediterranean and doing a little sightseeing. We settled on travelling to Tarifa, a nearby town, and getting a ferry to Tangier from there. We arrived quite late, so we found a hostel for the night. -9-
The next day we made the early ferry crossing to Morocco. We had made it and raised over ÂŁ800 for Link Community Development thanks in no small part to our speedy journey south. Without the Student Development award from St. Cuthbert's society, none of it would have been possible. We would have had far less money to donate if we had not received it, we would not have been able to promote our challenge as effectively, and donations would have had to cover the costs of printing flyers and ingredients for the many, many cakes we made. We received feedback from Link Community Development, saying that the money we had raised was used to aid the construction of a new classroom in an Algerian primary school. Helping to create an environment where children can learn where there was nothing before is something that I am immensely proud of. I feel like the journey to Morocco changed me as a person, it made me more confident, more trusting in people, and it allowed me to experience some amazing places, as well as meet some incredible people, from Mark who drove us from Calais to Gibraltar, to David, a security guard at Gibraltar airport who went out of his way to let us sleep on the sofas in the airport cafĂŠ when the airport closed for the night. I could never show how grateful I am to have received the Student Development Award.
Shop in Tangier Market Square
Carpet Shop in Tangier.
Jennifer Ferris j.e.ferris@durham.ac.uk Studying for a Master of Mathematics Tom Johnson tom.johnson@durham.ac.uk Studying for a BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences - 10 -
Netball Coach in Zambia I am supporting Cuth’s netball team in offering coaching sessions to develop their team, leading physical activity sessions in local primary schools, and also volunteering for Team Durham in leading sessions for children in holiday camps and after school sessions. I was lucky to receive the Student Development Award which proved essential in my adventure as a coach in Zambia over the summer 2014. I have been involved in netball for over 12 years and had done some previous coaching before but never been given the opportunity to become a qualified coach. The award enabled me to complete my Level 1 Netball coaching qualification. I was selected to be part of the IDEALS 2014 team which involved coaches going out to Zambia for 6 weeks to work in schools and communities. One of the biggest reasons why completing the course was so important to me was because without it I would not be able to go. I was based at a community school called Chipata where I was appointed the Netball coach. My routine of the day changed daily and the audience for my coaching sessions differed in ability, age, and volume. From completing the coaching course I was able to apply the knowledge and useful tips that the tutors and other trainee coaches could offer. The best advice I gained was the ability to adapt a single drill in order for it to meet the requirements of all the players. This task became daily as I could never be certain of which players would turn up and how many of them would appear. On various days I would have only 4 players and on the next almost 30. I became very adaptable in my sessions which I learnt through completing the coaching course, but practised whilst in Zambia. The coaching course I attended opened my eyes to different styles of coaching, including different drills and activities which can be developed to become game-like and more difficult. The course was also a chance to improve my session planning to include more details and to always include a back-up plan (you never know when you might need it!) which I had never been taught before. Due to the successfulness of the course I was also able to set up a development plan for my team in Zambia. Near the end of my time I trained my captain to become a coach as I could no longer be there. I attempted to mirror the information and structure that I learnt from the course and offer my player/ new coach the guidance and confidence in her ability to lead the team. Without having recently completed the course myself through the assistance of the funding, I truly believe that my delivery would not have been efficient to enable my new coach to understand and follow coaching progressions. Since returning to Durham I have repeatedly used my qualification to help others locally. I am supporting Cuth’s netball team in offering coaching sessions to develop their team, leading physical activity sessions in local primary schools, and also volunteering for Team Durham in leading sessions for children in holiday camps and after school sessions. Ellen Blackwood ellen.blackwood@durham.ac.uk Studying for a BA (Hons) Sport, Exercise and Physical Activity - 11 -
Volunteer Teacher in Morocco The experience was particularly rewarding because the students took such delight in learning. In June 2014 I was fortunate enough to use the Henry Tudor Award to fund a week of voluntary teaching at a local secondary school in Rabat, Morocco. Although many private schools in Morocco teach English, the language is not currently on the national curriculum for government run schools, which rely on volunteers to give children English lessons. I was placed at a small secondary school in the medina (old-town) of Rabat, Morocco’s capital city, where I had a class of 10 girls aged between 11 and 14. I taught them from Monday to Friday, from 9am until 1pm, and they went back to their usual lessons after lunch. The girls had been specially selected because of their desire to learn another language. None of the girls had any prior grasp of English, other than saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’, and so when they required explanations of what we were learning I had to teach in French, which is the second language of Morocco, after Arabic. They absorbed the work at a rapid rate, were eager for homework, and keen to impress me with what they had learnt. In just one week we covered personal information, numbers, letters, time, school subjects, careers, surroundings, environment, family, past, present and future tenses, and religion. The head teacher was also keen for me to teach them about British culture, and I came up against lots of difficult questions from the students on this topic. For example, they found it difficult to understand the difference between a church and a cathedral, or to grasp that men and women have the same employment opportunities. I told them about my life and family, and in return they drew pictures of their own families and presented them to the class using the English they had learnt. On my final day with them, we turned to popular culture, and used the lesson to understand the lyrics of Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’, a song that they knew to be popular in Britain, and is also popular in Morocco. They then taught me about their popular culture, playing me popular music in Arabic and presenting pieces they had written in English on how they thought their culture differed to mine. The experience was particularly rewarding because the students took such delight in learning, and because the language could open up new pathways for them, enabling them to be more successful and have more options available to them in the future. I would never have been able to make this impact without the support of the Henry Tudor Award. Cressida Peever BA (Hons) English - Graduated in June 2014 - 12 -
Volunteer Teacher in China This overall experience was very maturing and helped me gain an enormous amount of self-confidence, as it made me realise that I could live, and flourish, probably anywhere in the world, no matter the cultural differences. In the summer of 2014, I travelled to China, as a part of IVSC (International Volunteer Summer Camp) to teach English to Chinese students. For the first ten days of the programme, I was assigned to teach English to five preliminary level classes at a boarding school, which is part of the SZT Education Group in Changsha, Hunan province. The welcome we received was very warm and we were all being treated by the school as actual teachers. Before the beginning of the lessons, we took part at a teaching training programme, which was hosted by the school. The training proved to be really helpful as we’ve learned how to lesson plan, how to approach children, and how to use our body language and gestures in the class. Teaching was not easy but was amazingly rewarding! A typical timetable included teaching classes in the morning and activities with the kids in the afternoon. After the completion of that programme, I moved to Yangzhou, Guangxi for three weeks to teach English at the Dahuwai School. The students’ age span at that school was 8-17 years old. Being able to teach 17 year old students was a different experience. It was more of a cultural exchange, even though teaching was still a big part of the experience. Dahuwai’s timetable was more activity-oriented than teaching-oriented. Some of the highlights of those activities were rock climbing, raft building and camping with the students. This programme has allowed me to visit places that before my application I did not even know they existed! Furthermore I was given the opportunity to meet people and build friendships that would last for a lifetime! This overall experience was very maturing and helped me gain an enormous amount of self-confidence, as it made me realise that I could live, and flourish, probably anywhere in the world, no matter the cultural differences. To conclude, this opportunity allowed me to live and see China through the eyes of its young children, which elevated this experience to another level. It was an experience that cannot be gained by visiting tourist attractions or reading books about China. This experience brought me one step closer towards understanding one of the oldest and greatest civilizations that ever existed. Moreover, a special bond has formed between me and Chinese culture. China has been transformed, through my eyes, from a shaded region on a map, to a part of me. It has gained a place in my heart.
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Angelos Michael angelos.michael@durham.ac.uk Studying for a MPhys Physics and Astronomy
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Volunteer Teacher in China I really enjoyed teaching and getting to know the children at the school- it was definitely the highlight of my trip and the amount of tears as we left at the end of the five weeks made me feel incredibly satisfied with what we’d achieved. In July and August of 2014 I spent five weeks teaching English in China, partially funded by the Henry Tudor Student Development award. The trip has motivated me to study Mandarin upon my return to Durham and I hope to teach English as a foreign language again in the future once I’ve graduated. There were both positive and somewhat less positive moments that I experience being in China, some of which I shall outline in this project after a brief summary of the trip. Along with five other British students, I taught in Xijie Foreign Language School, which ran as a summer school in the holidays and a full-time vocational school for the rest of the year. There were about sixty children at the summer camp, all staying for various amounts of time and all from various parts of the country- some from the town itself, Yangzhou, some from Shanghai, Shenzhen, and other cities around China. Their excitement upon arriving was palpable; we were treated with huge amounts of respect and many of the children (and even some of the teaching assistants) were incredibly shy at the start. We did this through IVSC, a charity that helps foreign language schools in China find foreign teachers and volunteers. There were about thirty other teachers working through IVSC in the same town but at different schools. Problems at the beginning mainly included translation problems, which I probably should have anticipated slightly more than I did. I had assumed that, being a foreign language school, the teachers at Xijie would have a pretty firm grasp in speaking English. In reality there was only one teacher whose level of English could be described as fluent and she didn’t arrive until our second week there so obviously the first week as we were settling in was daunting. It seemed like we would have five long weeks of struggling to understand and to be understood, not only by the children but by teachers as well. Even with the arrival of Betty, who had spent time in America working, there was still a huge language gap between us and most of the other teachers. I feel like it probably did affect a lot of the trip; it was tiring and difficult to socialize with the other teachers when we truly struggled to understand their English. Most of the conversations were very basic; in one class with the lowest level, the Chinese language assistant was translating the words on her phone because she didn’t know them either. In hindsight, I wish I had been more prepared for this and learnt at least some mandarin before I went. We were told we didn’t need it but if I were to ever go again I’d feel much more confident having at least basic knowledge of mandarin. That said our school was one of the only schools in the area without a European teacher present. The school next door to ours had a Russian head teacher and I think it made a huge difference to the teachers there that she not only spoke fluent English but could also comprehend slightly more the huge cultural gap between the foreign teachers and the Chinese teachers. I think the way of talking and behaving in China is difference from England in so much more ways than just words; the way of being spoken to, of dealing with problems, initiative, and giving instructions. Charlie, the head teacher at our school, would tell us the same thing five times in slightly - 15 -
different words. At the time this grew to be incredibly frustrating as it was mostly really simply information (tea will be at 5pm) but I think I’ve now realized that this is a cultural difference, rather than an individual frustration. It takes more than just language to adapt to the way people in another culture speak to each other. I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of what the structure of teaching was going to be and we had no idea what the language level of the children was going to be. I wasn’t nervous to be going to China itself so much as I was nervous to be staying in one place for a relatively long period of time doing something completely out of my comfort zone. Once we got into it, I really enjoyed teaching and getting to know the children at the school- it was definitely the highlight of my trip and the amount of tears as we left at the end of the five weeks made me feel incredibly satisfied with what we’d achieved. That said, it was no doubt a learning curve! The first week we were given basically no instructions as to what and how to teach- we were absolutely thrown in the deep end. We didn’t know what level the children were at and we’d had no instruction or help prior to arriving in China. The hardest thing for me was making sure the class understood me. It was so frustrating to be told at the end of a week I’d been talking too fast in every lesson. My most used Chinese phrase was without a doubt ‘Ming by ma?’ which means “do you understand me”? There were probably some cultural gaps in terms of teaching as well. For example, every Saturday morning we were required to do something called ‘Society Practice’. This involved walking all sixty children twenty minutes into the heaving town centre (Yangzhou is massively popular for Chinese tourists after featuring in a romantic film, so the centre was absolutely packed at the weekends). All the children were then let loose with notebooks filled with questions. Their aim was to talk to as many foreigners as possible, ask the questions and get the answers written in their notebook. In writing, it seems like it would work and be reasonably enjoyable but every week it ended with all the kids in McDonalds, wet from the rain, having spotted at most two westerners. It didn’t really cause problems for me; I feel like I endured it rather than enjoyed it, but I think it highlights how some of the things we were expected to do seem completely alien when coming from a European country where things like this would be considered pointless and dangerous. I would definitely like to, and plan to, teach English as a foreign language again. Ultimately the experience of teaching was hugely rewarding and it was great seeing genuine improvement in the children’s English levels. I also now have my TEFL certificate for teaching English as a foreign language in Asia so I think I’d feel better qualified and more prepared if ever I was to go and teach English again. - judging the finals of the ‘English Speaking Competition’ on our last night at the school We had the experience to explore the area around Yangzhou at the weekends when we weren’t teaching and also went to Hong Kong at the end of our trip for a few days. The area around Yangzhou was breathtaking- huge limestone castes and still water. We climbed the mountains at sunrise and sunset, rode bikes around the paddy fields and went into the centre of town almost every other day for shopping. Along with teaching, having the chance to explore a new country and see some amazing sights was definitely one of my highlights. - 16 -
Ultimately, I think teaching in China was a great opportunity. Whilst there were definitely some difficulties and low points when we were stressed out, tired and feeling out of our depth in front of fifteen kids who could barely understand us, the high points without a doubt cancel those out for me.
John, a student in the youngest class, learning about seasons!
Emma Griffiths emma.griffiths2@durham.ac.uk Studying for a Combined Honours in Arts with a Year Abroad
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Volunteer Teacher in China I developed my skills as a leader within the classroom and a carer outside of the classroom, whilst balancing lesson planning and assessment with cultural immersion on a daily basis. From 6th July 2014 to 24th August 2014, I had the pleasure of living in China. As crazy as it seemed months before the trip, I made it there and back, alive and well! I had always wanted to travel, but until this summer had never ventured outside of Europe. I spent the 7th July to the 15th August teaching English to students between the ages of 5 and 20 years old in two parts of Southern China; Changsha and Yangzhou. This was an incredible experience, which was character building along the way. I developed my skills as a leader within the classroom and a carer outside of the classroom, whilst balancing lesson planning and assessment with cultural immersion on a daily basis. Furthermore, I was able to practice my written, aural and verbal Chinese, which was invaluable. The Henry Tudor fund I was awarded contributed to the cost of the trip including the many vaccinations required. Vaccinations were important to me, and even more so due to the rural location of Yangzhou. I spent ten days teaching in Changsha at an intense 8.30am to 8.30pm summer camp, managing two classes of thirty students in the daytime and engaging in their pre-planned evening activities by night. I then spent four weeks at another residential summer camp in Yangzhou, at times teaching classes of all ages and abilities and at other times monitoring the many day trips and night excursions that occurred throughout the week. After my teaching schedule I decided to travel up North to sightsee in Xi’an and Beijing before returning home after a thrilling seven weeks abroad. Nikita Bangar nikita.bangar@durham.ac.uk Studying for a BA Combined Honours in Arts with Year Abroad
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Volunteer Teacher in China The exchange was as much an education for me as it was for the children though they never failed to test my patience when they could get the chance! However, not only this but I think that culturally I gained a real insight into Chinese traditions. In the summer of 2014 I spent 5 weeks in China working as an English teacher to students ranging from ages 5 – 16. During the first week of my placement, I was in charge of a group of 5 – 8 year olds. In our morning classes we would play educational games in order to make them familiar with how to introduce themselves and start conversations. Some days we would go out into to town and practice socialising with tourists. One of the most rewarding aspects of teaching these children was getting to know them and encouraging them to come out of their shells. I remain in contact with some of the older children and they sometimes ask me questions about social conventions in the Western world to supplement their English studies.
Teaching was stressful at times, especially when the level of difficulty increased for the students. The exchange was as much an education for me as it was for the children though - they never failed to test my patience when they could get the chance! However, not only this but I think that culturally I gained a real insight into Chinese traditions. We were lucky enough to be in Yangzhou during the Chinese equivalent of Valentine’s Day and also took part in some of the children’s birthday celebrations. Overall my experience was rewarding and I like to think that what I taught my classes has actually aided them in their further studies. I appreciate and am grateful for the time I spent in China. Tarandeep Sandhar tarandeep.sandhar@durham.ac.uk Studying for a BA (Hons) in English Literature
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Volunteering in America I now feel more confident interacting with teenage children as well as being able to take a leadership role whilst allowing them to make their own decisions. As I was a volunteer this summer, The Henry Tudor Award helped to fund my flights to and from St Louis, and I am very grateful for this and the summer it allowed me to experience. I returned to Sherwood Forest Camp, Lesterville, MO for my third time, and on this occasion as a volunteer at the summer camp. The camp aims to provide opportunities for inner city children from nearby St Louis and the surrounding rural area to take part in activities they may not have previously been able to try. One of the reasons for this is that many of the children come from poor backgrounds; on average 80% of the children come from families whose income equates to 1.85 times the poverty line. The camp charges $50 for a child to attend for a one month session. Whilst at camp every child chooses their own adventure, having the option of several activities in each period. The activities are split into 4 main departments: Adventure Sports, Aquatics, Arts and Ideas, and Outdoor Living Skills. I have previously worked in the Adventure Sports department where I helped with various field sports including American Football, Baseball and Basketball. This year I volunteered in the Aquatics department which entailed teach campers how to swim or canoe as well as lifeguarding. Campers also have the opportunity to head out of the camp grounds on trips, the length of which depend on the age of the campers. The youngest campers sleep out in the woods for one night, building up to 6 day river trips for older campers. I volunteered with the eldest group of campers (15-16 years old) this summer which meant that they plan and lead a 10 day trip to another state. The two groups decided to visit Washington, D.C. and Dayton, Ohio and I drove the minibus and assisted the group with their plans. On the trips, the campers organised trips to universities, other camps and volunteered to help the local community. I also took part in these activities and was very interested to get an insight into the American higher education system and also how other camps in America function. I thoroughly enjoyed my summer and it has furthered my interest in working with children after my degree course. I have previously been at camp working with younger children and I have enjoyed it every time. This year I am also taking a teaching module and this is a career path I am very seriously considering, or a similar career working with children. This summer has given me the opportunity to work with older children and also lead a trip with children, something I have not done before. This has given me the chance to work in different surroundings with a different age group, which was fantastic. I now feel more confident interacting with teenage children as well as being able to take a leadership role whilst allowing them to make their own decisions. Richard Root richard.root@durham.ac.uk Studying for a MENG in General Engineering
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Volunteering in Borneo I am extremely grateful for the Award; it definitely aided my development as a student. It boosted my social and team work skills, gave me amazing life experiences and benefitted other people and animals at the same time. My Student Development Award completed my fundraising for the 2014 DUCK Borneo expedition. For the expedition I had to raise £2900; a huge amount of money. However, with the help of this award, I managed to raise every penny. The trip was a fantastic opportunity; I cannot recommend DUCK expeditions enough to other students of St Cuthbert’s Society. The flights were, in total, about fourteen hours which included a change-over in Singapore. After Landing in Kuching, Malaysian Borneo, the team met the volunteer leaders we would be working with for the next few weeks. We also met the intense humidity and heat as we came out of the airport! The next five days were spent in Matang Wildlife Centre, Kubah National Park in Sarawak where we explored the area whilst we waited for our Indonesian visas. The accommodation was located in the centre of the rainforest in a wildlife rehabilitation centre so the humidity was heavy, and the rainforest was never quiet. Once we were able to collect our Indonesian visas we travelled by boat (which was quite the experience!) to Pontianak, Indonesian Borneo and then on to Ketapang Wildlife Centre in a nine hour bus trip that took us through rural Indonesia. The next few weeks were spent working hard in the wildlife centre. All of the tasks were manual and were focused on creating an island at the sanctuary to produce a semi-wild habitat for the orang-utans. This would further the rehabilitation process to increase their chances of being released back into the wild. Each day at the centre was spent working outside in the equatorial sunshine, which was very challenging because the heat was exhaustingly intense. Following the weeks at the centre in Ketapang we flew from Pontianak to Kuching, and then Kuching to Kota Kinabalu. We had to fly because there was no way through the rainforest. On arrival in Kota Kinabalu we travelled to the Kudat Riviera to work with the Tropical Research and Conservation Centre on the very north of Malaysian Borneo. For this week we were lectured on marine conservation and went out to study the marine life that was in the area, which was incredibly diverse and very beautiful. The aim of this was to collect - 21 -
data on the abundance, versus lack of, certain species, which could be used to bring in new marine wildlife protection laws. I am extremely grateful for the Award; it definitely aided my development as a student. It boosted my social and team work skills, gave me amazing life experiences and benefitted other people and animals at the same time. I had an incredible time working with amazing people, the Durham team were great and the people over in Borneo have so much to teach us. I really cannot recommend DUCK expeditions enough, my expedition was life changing. If you’re considering it, do it! Lauren Brain lauren.brain@durham.ac.uk Studying for a BA (Hons) Anthropology
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Volunteering in Rwanda I could see a real improvement over the ten weeks and hope that these skills can smoothly be transferred to the local children over several generations from those I had the pleasure of teaching. In early July this year, I left Heathrow Terminal 4 to embark upon what would prove to be the most valuable 10 week period of my life thus far. If I am being totally honest, I naively thought that I knew what to expect from Rwanda; even twenty years on from the genocide of ‘94, it is a country that holds an unofficial international reputation for remaining scarred, sad and haunted by the ghosts of its violent past. I knew the history and expected the resulting generation gap, as well as the poverty, the multi-lingual nature, the variety of religions, belief systems, ethnicity and culture. I did not therefore expect the harmony, growth, pride and overwhelming hope with which I was greeted and became closely acquainted over my time in Nyamata, Bugesera district, South East Rwanda. I joined a team of six interns (three British and three Rwandan), to work with the African Enterprise (AE), a local and trans-African NGO seeking to empower the most impoverished members of rural communities, in partnership with and under the guidance of Tearfund. Throughout our time in Nyamata, group dynamics were strengthened daily both with our unit and with the staff of the AE office. This exemplifies the way in which AE strives to operate through relationship and through community. Only by building solid friendships and working relationships with the poorer members of outlying communities can one hope to help people to help themselves out of poverty. This is done, I have discovered, not through implementing or imposing development strategy, but by working with, informing and inspiring local communities to review their opportunities and seek ways in which their combined abilities can initiate change in their lives. Each week was jammed full of activity. As a team and as representatives of an international development agency, we were determined to make our work as sustainable as possible. This meant working with a long-term view, acknowledging the ‘beneficiaries’ as instrumental in their own development, and adopting a mindset of complete humility in the part we played. We lived by the ideology outlined in this quote taken from a recent article on participatory development; ‘Go to the people, live with the people, start where they are, use what they have and if positive change happens they will say, “We did that ourselves.”’ The work itself focussed on encouraging a culture of saving and lending, through microfinance schemes such as using small loans and the formation of cooperative groups of rural farmers and craftsmen. The way for many of the poorest members of Rwandan society to help themselves out of poverty is through an increase of their business. The problem, however, is that it is incredibly difficult for such individuals to acquire a loan from local banks whilst they remain as individuals. Grouping together with others in a similar situation, and saving a small amount of their regular income each week creates a solid, accountable springboard for the group to join similar groups and form a cooperative. Cooperatives are trusted to take out loans from the bank, and thus each farmer is distributed their share to begin businesses. Not just this, but the central ‘kitty’ can be used if a member of the group is struggling financially if, for example, a member’s child fell ill, the group would use the money - 23 -
to help with hospital costs, in the full knowledge that they too would receive the same care if the winds of misfortune blew their way in the future. The initial small groups of 20 or so members followed the self-help group approach, and met once a week in extremely remote locations. Parts of my job whilst in Rwanda were to initiate new groups, encourage and assess continuing ones, and mediate for long-running ones between the groups and the ‘higher powers’ of local government and the banks. This involved many hours spent meeting with village elders and suspicious officials, taking a stand against apathy and smooth talking the upper classes into listening to the voices of the poor. I will never forget trekking out in the heat of the Rwandan sun to meet with a circle of regal, colourfully dressed elderly women and a crowd of goats to talk about crop issues under the shade of two mighty avocado trees. In addition to the financial rewards of the system, the self-help group approach offers so much more to these communities. The groups help each individual member with his or her manual labour tasks, concentrating their combined effort into one household before moving on to the next. Babysitting, digging, cattle herding, whatever is needed. The group also becomes a space in which friendships are made and emotional support is offered. Many of the ladies with whom I spoke stressed that before they joined their group, they were not even aware of how lonely and depressed they had become. In a place where each house is completely isolated by kilometres of bush land, it is easy to see how this could be the case. Now, however, their weekly working area is filled with laughter and genuine care. It was a delight to be a part of, and I truly wonder sometimes whether certain working areas in our world back in the west could benefit from a similar community dynamic. As part of each weekly session, there was also a great focus on the sharing of knowledge, and it was very rewarding to personally be able to offer sessions to several large groups of women on family planning, health and sanitation, nutrition and fitness; all requested by them, all including elements that were completely new and revolutionary to their minds. It was astonishing to listen to the local beliefs on certain topics, and rewarding to be able to empower women by correcting some of the more outrageous myths that had been enforced by the strong male elite to impose their own authority, especially in terms of reproductive rights and freedom over their own bodies. In addition to the self-help group work, I also had the chance to work with several schools in the local area. As part of our promise to keep our work as sustainable as possible, I wanted to primarily concentrate on building the capacity of the teaching staff, rather than directly teaching students. Further to this end, I spent several afternoons a week going through issues teachers had, mostly with English and also with interactive teaching methods. I could see a real improvement over the ten weeks and hope that these skills can smoothly be transferred to the local children over several generations from those I had the pleasure of teaching. Joanne Cordell joanna.cordell@durham.ac.uk Studying for a BA (Hons) Anthropology and Archaeology
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Volunteering in India (DUCK) Looking back I am so proud of what we achieved and it was so touching to see how grateful both staff and pupils were of our efforts. In the five weeks we painted 4 murals, 15 classrooms and over 50 benches; all whilst teaching multiple classes throughout the school.
As part of Durham Universities Charities Kommittee (DUCK), which supports student fundraising for local, national and international charities, I spent five weeks with a group of volunteers, helping to renovate and teach in a school in India this summer. I was initially unsure about my ability to undertake this activity as I had never taught a class before or travelled so far from home, but was ready for a challenge. Our welcome to the school was unusual. We were greeted with samosas, flowers and cards. It’s incredible how generous everyone was no matter how little they have. Looking back I am so proud of what we achieved and it was so touching to see how grateful both staff and pupils were of our efforts. In the five weeks we painted 4 murals, 15 classrooms and over 50 benches; all whilst teaching multiple classes throughout the school. Exhausting but rewarding work. The first few days in the school were chaotic as we were thrown into the classes with no direction. We soon rose to the challenge and found lots of fun and interesting ways to teach the children. The children were incredibly polite and so keen to learn. I enjoyed my daily play times with the children as I got to re-live some childhood games. Craft sessions however were their favourite and they were completely mesmerised by simple snowflakes, play dough and even just a coloured piece of paper. As we said our goodbyes to the school, I realised the impact we had made. The children handed me home made cards and showered me with tearful hugs. The Head Teacher gave a heartfelt speech outlining how our efforts had allowed the school to achieve so much, which they would not have either the time or money to achieve otherwise. He said he would remember us always. We met students in India who obviously had enormous potential and aspirations to better themselves, but not enough money or opportunity to achieve this. I felt quite humbled to have made even a small impact in their lives. I know how incredibly lucky I have been to have had access to educational and how this is impacting my life now. It’s something I will never take for granted. Our expedition culminated in a whistle stop, breath-taking week of travelling around India. The Taj Mahal completely blew me away. Seeing it shimmer at sunrise was spectacular. Another highlight was our team riding up to the Agra Fort on elephants - 25 -
The expedition has been a truly humbling but equally inspiring experience. I’ve learnt a lot about my own capacity and capability to apply myself to something completely new whilst working with and meeting some amazing people. An experience that will stay with me for some time. Gina Wren g.m.wren@durham.ac.uk Studying for a BSc (Hons) in Natural Sciences
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Big Band’s Tour to Edinburgh Opening with the exhilarating, suitably named Dancing Men, the band were on sparkling form, the audience (including many very talented jazz musicians – but we’ll get to that later) were loving it and following another upbeat number, The Jazz police, it was time for both a change of pace, and the first vocal song of the evening: Don’t know why. On Thursday 24th of April 2014, 18 members of Cuth’s Big Band boarded the 14:25 train at Durham station headed for Edinburgh heavily laden with music, instruments and excitement. After arriving in the decidedly yet unsurprisingly drizzly Scottish capital, the first item on the itinerary was locating the Hostel, which was achieved with little hassle, with only a short 10 minute walk separating Waverly station and the “Smart City Hostel” – our home for the next few days. After dropping off our luggage, the band set out for an afternoon of exploring: the area of Edinburgh in which we found ourselves was “Cowgate”, a picturesque street well within the designated World Heritage Site in the city centre. After dinner was eaten at one of the dozens of restaurants dotted around Cowgate the band headed over to the students union, where we scouted out the venue for the following night’s concert, and explored the bar – and with the entire band present the decision was taken to hold what may have been the first Cuth’s society AGM held in a (nearly) foreign country. With the exec elected for the following year, we headed off to a local jazz club and managed to catch a set from “The Federation” (which would turn out to be the house band from the BBC’s commonwealth games coverage that summer). By this point it was getting late so we retired to the Hostel to get some sleep before the busy planned day on Friday. Day two (Friday), was welcomed in with a brief yet intense rain shower, and whilst the old cobbled streets of Edinburgh may have been dampened, our spirits certainly weren’t and a large contingent of the band set off on an expedition up Arthur’s Seat – a prominent hill overlooking the city. A formidable climb to the top was unfortunately not rewarded with the spectacular views usually on offer up there, due to the heavy fog that had descended upon us that morning as we ascended the peak, but nonetheless the spirit of Cuth’s was in full force as we grabbed a quick group photo before descending rather more quickly than both we ascended and was planned, as the damp grass proved to provide little in the form of traction! Thankfully no-one suffered any injuries and quickly the band had other things on their mind – such as where to get lunch. A simple yet very welcome bowl of soup from a quaint little cafe a mere caber toss from the royal mile went down very well and as the fog had not yet lifted, an afternoon of museums was looking likely. First stop was the Scottish National Gallery, where after appreciating some van Dyck’s and Rembrandt’s, a few members of the band were sufficiently inspired to try their hand at life drawing in a serendipitous public taster session – with the others providing, ahem...encouraging words from the side-lines. Next on the agenda was a quick tour around the spectacular National museum of Scotland. Before long, the evening was upon us, and following a speedy change into suitably embroidered Cuth’s Big Band stash, and a quick bite to eat in the Students’ Union cafe, setting up for the evening’s concert was the priority. This went down - 27 -
without a hitch due to the fantastic work of the tech team at the venue, and the only thing that was left was the performance! Opening with the exhilarating, suitably named Dancing Men, the band were on sparkling form, the audience (including many very talented jazz musicians – but we’ll get to that later) were loving it and following another upbeat number, The Jazz police, it was time for both a change of pace, and the first vocal song of the evening: Don’t know why. The enormously talented Anna Green did a fantastic job and Megan followed it up immediately with a funky, equally impressive rendition of Blame it on the Boogie. We played a real variety of tunes over the 90 minute set, including Cute, Count Bubba, and Pick up the pieces, but before we knew it the set was at an end – we came off stage elated, knowing that the hard work of the previous months had been well worth it, and the opportunity to play and proudly represent Cuth’s out on tour had not been wasted! The home team was up next – the simply incredible Edinburgh University Jazz Orchestra. Their set was just inspiring - it didn’t take much (any) encouragement for the members of Cuth’s big band to be up and dancing, and I can safely say that everyone had an incredible time listening to one of the best student bands I have ever heard. For many members who had not seen much live Jazz before I think it was truly eye-opening. After the gig both bands went to a local bar (or two) for a bit of inter-band socialising and a fantastic evening was brought to a suitably enjoyable end in a reassuringly Klute-esque nightclub in Cowgate. Our final day in Edinburgh was soon upon us, and in spite of several members of the band feeling slightly worse for wear following the previous night’s festivities, we decided to make the most of the time we had before the train back to Durham. A leisurely stroll up another famous peak in Edinburgh – Calton Hill - was rewarded with incredible views both of the city and out towards the Firth of Forth on the Horizon, somewhat making up for the blanket fog atop Arthurs seat a day prior. Before long it was time to head to the train station, and after an event free journey, the band was back in Durham, already dreaming up plans for next year’s tour.
Boat Club Women
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Women’s Rugby Fundraising for Action Sport in Zambia As well as raising money for a brilliant cause, the whole women’s Bailey squad really developed in individual skills and fitness as well as in their work as a whole team. My student development award went towards my participation in the Hill V Bailey rugby match. Donations, playing fees from the players and money raised selling merchandise and tickets managed to raise about £10,000 for ‘Action Sport’ in Zambia. As well as raising money for a brilliant cause, the whole women’s Bailey squad really developed in individual skills and fitness as well as in their work as a whole team. As a college rugby player, we often play smaller games of 10s and 7s, for less than the full 80 minutes of a standard rugby match, so the opportunity to play a full rugby game with a full squad was exciting, if not somewhat nerve-racking! The girls played a great match, and although we lost the game was awesome and the teams very pretty evenly matched, making for a gripping and entertaining 80 minutes. The intense training period leading up to the game was amazing, and the experience of being so absorbed in the sport and the team for an intense two weeks will be a treasured memory for years to come. My student development award allowed me to have this experience and I’m so grateful to my college (Cuth’s) for it.
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