The Colours Ball is an opportunity for us to celebrate the success of our athletes and a chance to look back on all their achievements over the past year.
The hotel looked spectacular as 300 plus sports men and women flocked into the Ball organised by the Student Activities Committee. Accustomed to seeing one another caked in mud everyone was pleasantly surprised to see that the sports players at the College could scrub up nicely.
Emma Montague, Vice-President Student Activites opened the event with a speech about the year’s achievements and in particular the community and volunteering work carried out by sports teams over the year.
After the meal, it was time to being the Annual Award Ceremony. Claire Nineham, Andrew Steadman, Emma Montague and Mark Hyndman all gave out prizes on the night. The first prizes to be awarded were the Crest Awards. The Student Activities Committee awards Crests to acknowledge those who have made an outstanding contribution towards the running and improvement of their club. These are players who have given time and commitment to make sure that their club runs properly and that everyone in their Club gets as much as possible from their University experience. As a special touch this year a quote from each Crest winner’s nomination form was displayed on the big screen so that the winner could see what the club had said about them and why they deserved the award.
The next prizes to be announced were the Medals for Half and Full Colours. The College awards Colours to those individuals who have performed to a significantly high level at their chosen sport. The award does not only consider performance, but encompasses attendance, attitude, external achievements and overall contribution.
Representatives from almost every club won Colours medals this year and this reflects on the successful year in sport the college has had.
‘Coach of the Year’ went to Mark Robinson, the Hockey Club Coach. The Hockey club has made fantastic progress in all their leagues this year and Mark has worked one to one with his players even providing them with individual training programmes for the holidays. Mark was appointed Hockey coach at the beginning of the academic year as part of the Hockey Club’s Performance Package.
Mark Hyndman, Sports Development Executive awarded ‘Sports Man’ and ‘Sports Woman of the Year’ prizes; to Rodrigo Ideus for Rowing having just won Silver at the South American Games, and 800m Bronze BUCS Medalist Emily Moss.
‘Sportsman’ and ‘Sportswoman’ awards are given to athletes have performed at a consistently outstanding level through out the year. Often the recipient of the award competes in multiple sports and achieves representative honours outside Royal Holloway.
After Sportsman and Sportswoman were awarded, Emma Montague presented the much coveted ‘Club of the Year’ and ‘Team of the Year’ Awards.
Every year the College recognises the outstanding performance of one team; this award is based entirely on performance. Consideration is also given to the nature of victories, the number of leagues entered and honours gained. This year the prize was awarded to Women’s Basketball who are set to finish the season with Promotion to 1A and four titles.
Club of the Year is awarded to a Club who has been outstanding in organisation, development and the overall service offered to its members. All aspects of sporting activity are considered including performance, events, development, administration and general practice. Basketball were awarded Club of the Year 2009/2010 for their work this year.
The last prize of the evening to be presented was the Frank Grimes Cup. This trophy was donated to the college by Mr Frank Grimes, a former member of Bedford College staff. It is awarded for outstanding contribution to sport at Royal Holloway in all aspects of sport. The award is given to someone who through their involvement in sport takes part in the provision of sport to those who do not compete, the development of the sports programme as a whole, building links with local communities and raising the profile of sport within the College. It can be awarded to anyone: students, committee members, staff, coaches or members of the local community. Mark Hyndman, last year’s Frank Grimes winner, awarded the Cup to this year winner Julian Bailes for all the work he has done in the Basketball Club in his many years at the University as Player and Coach.
The night was also a fundraiser for the College’s chosen Sports Charity ‘Right to Play’. The raffle raised nearly £120 for the Charity and a special thank you must go to Alan Lee for his hard work.
After all the prizes had been awarded and all the thank-yous said, a presentation of videos and photos was played on the large screens. There were sports action shots, embarrassing social photos and great game footage. It was a lovely ending to the Awards ceremony with teams cheering as their photos came up and a few finalists getting teary-eyed over memories.
After the video, tables were cleared and the music started. With songs requested by Clubs playing until 2am when the last coach left for Holloway.
‘I had a fantastic time, definitely the best night of the season. Everyone looked lovely and it is so nice to have traditions like this that recognise sporting achievement’.
Congratulations to all those awarded prizes this year and thank you to everyone who helped make the evening happen.
Colours Ball 2010
Thursday, 25 March 2010
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