Meet your Leeds Varsity 2016 captains

Varsity 2016 is almost here, and there’s only one question on everybody’s lips: will this be the year that Leeds Uni finally beat Beckett?

With the big day quickly approaching, meet the captains hoping to secure that victory.

Dan Sinclair, Men’s Rugby

What’s the most memorable moment from your last tour? 

On our end of season tour, one of our members got a tattoo of our club logo (the gryphon) on his bum. It’s still there to this day. He is the most passionate, committed athlete I know. Truly, a man who loves the club.

What makes you the best team at uni?

We are the best team on campus for three reasons. 1) Inclusivity, unlike other uni teams we welcome all players of the sports from all backgrounds and playing abilities. We pride ourselves on nurturing players from fresher teams to the 1st XV. We support our team mates on and off the pitch, and there is a group mentality to better the club every year.

2) Club culture; after taking some serious damage in past years, our club has survived to demonstrate that our core values has withstood the actions of few individuals. Furthermore, we have group socials and encourage good relations ranging throughout the club from students starting PHDs to first years.

3) We are also the best clubs on campus because we have the honour at closing our Varsity. No other club is allowed this honour, and we have fought to keep it. We know of its importance for our club, and the rest of the university as a whole. We hope to do the faith the Union has placed in us justice come the 5th October.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

Will Bryon. Not a lot the man can’t do. The triple threat: he sings, he’s good looking, and he will score tries and break the line at Varsity.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

There is only one night out, and that’s Players followed by Warehouse on Wednesdays. Every week, blue shirts and pink ties.

Bo Jackson, Women’s Rugby

What’s the most memorable moment from your last season? 

It has to be travelling all the way up to Glasgow in the cup semi-final and absolutely smashing it. That was an incredible feeling.

What makes you the best team at uni? 

So many things. First off I’d say our inclusiveness, the committee and our team are so friendly and we always get told that we’re such an easy group of girls to fit into! We take on girls of all abilities, most have never touched a rugby ball before, and now a year later they are some of the strongest players on the pitch.

Our socials are hilarious, usually involves a lot of drinking and embarrassing moments. There’s no judgement in our club.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

Our fullback, Rosie Blount, was new to rugby last year and she’s incredible. She used to cycle at a really high level, so she has a lot of power and speed. We think she could make it in the 7s circle.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

Warehouse is always good on Wednesdays for the sports socials, but I have to admit that Monday night at Mission is hilarious and a definite favourite of the girls.

Tomiwa Issachar, Men’s Basketball

What’s the most memorable moment from your last season? 

That would have to be last year’s Varsity game. It was the closest we’ve ever come to defeating Beckett, we were down 2 with a couple of minutes left and really played our hearts out.

What makes you the best team at uni? 

I wouldn’t lay claim to being the best team at Uni, we’re just a special group of guys who just happen to be really good at the best sport in the world.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

One of our freshers from last year won the title “Fittest athlete in Leeds” – Abdulaziz Adekola. So he is definitely one to look out for this year and next.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

It’s got to be Wednesday night out at Warehouse after a couple of drinks at Revs.

Amritha Leo, Women’s Basketball

What’s the most memorable moment from your last season? 

One of the best moments was actually Varsity last year. We barely had any time to get a legitimate plan together. So our very international Varsity team put forward different plays and tactics that they used back home, and we just called them “Canada” or “India” etc.

This led to a brilliant Varsity social, the first team social. It was at Fruity, so I’m guessing you know how that went.

What makes you the best team at uni? 

We are a very international team and we bring together an array of skills. We are aware of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, and because we aren’t too big we can support each other really well. Most importantly, we are lots of fun, our training sessions are incredible, and people are always laughing and messing around.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

Paula Lahoz Mata, she’s our best defender, and she’s got the fastest feet. She’ll be everywhere at once.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

Warehouse. It’s where all the sports societies head to for socials after games. It’s got some of our best memories and largest turnouts.

Ellie McGrath, Hockey

What’s the most memorable moment from your last season? 

When we won four awards in one night at the Rileys with all our Alumni members watching in Terrace.

What makes you the best team at uni? 

We don’t turn anyone away – everyone gets in. We’ve raised over £47,000 in 4 years for charity. We’re the biggest university hockey society in the country. And we got Club of the Year last year!

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

Georgia “Spit” Harrison – lacking in height (and ability to finish a Bailey’s shot), but she’s a menace on the pitch.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

Strawbs Bar, of course. I mean, they’ve even got a drink named after us. They’re like family to us all.

Amanda Kelly and Matthew Brigham, Swimming

What makes you the best team at uni? 

Not only have we improved over the past year but we’ve also had one of the largest intake of fast swimmers into performance. To be the best team, you’ve got to be dedicated, work hard, and become a close knit team, which we are.

We’re all looking forward to competing next week, and are confident that we’ll beat Beckett for the 7th year in a row.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

It’s hard to tell, we’ve had so much talent and potential to come through, and our senior swimmers are still improving. I couldn’t possibly narrow it down to one. Claire Collins, Emma Smith, Izzy Moffatt, and Will Rosson are all big names to look out for.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

Mischief Wednesdays at Warehouse, without a doubt.

Thomas Crowley, Rowing

What’s the  most memorable moment from your last season? 

The season seems to blur together, so it’s hard to pick any one point from it. Maybe it was rescuing a sinking novice women’s crew at the Durham regatta, after they were pushed into the shallow water by their opponent, which ripped a hole in the bottom of their boat.

Or it was when the commentator at Henley Women’s regatta said that Leeds Uni were no longer pushovers, and should be taken seriously.

What makes you the best team at uni? 

Probably because everyone is so friendly. We are the largest mixed sports team at the uni. The early mornings and the tough training really brings everyone together, and there is real sense of camaraderie between the squads.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

No-one really sticks out in a rowing race. For the boat to be fast everyone has to do exactly the same thing. For Varsity we are doing it on rowing machines, but it is a relay. So a similar principle applies. Everyone in the team has to be as good as each other to make it work.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

Probably a tie between Fruity and Bierkeller.

Kirsty Fraser, Women’s Athletics

What’s the funniest moment from your last tour? 

Probably at BUCS when our treasurer wet herself at the dinner table after we pretended an olive was our coach.

What makes you the best team at uni? 

We get so drunk and have such a good time that we wet ourselves.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

Egg Hall, because he’s legendary.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

Probably our Otley Run, where all of our class and dignity is lost.

Ailie Rennie, Women’s Football

What’s the  most memorable moment from your last season? 

Last year was a monumental season for our club in general, but especially for our firsts who did the double by beating Beckett to win our league, and then they won the BUCS cup only a few days later. Our seconds also came second in their respective league also celebrating a massive achievement. Additionally, thirds won their first competitive game, something we’re also very proud of.

Collectively our proudest moment would be how far we’ve advanced as a club as a whole, which has been demonstrated by having the most BUCS points of any Uni of Leeds team last year. Also, when our first team finished on 60 BUCS points more than any other individual team in the whole of the university.

What makes you the best team at uni? 

One of the best things about LUUWAFC is how we’re so inclusive. Everyone who comes along will always get into a team, and is always welcome on the socials. The sport is our priority, but the friendships which are formed and the family community which evolves us second to none, and there is no other society that I’d rather be a part of.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

For me personally, one of our social secs, Rach, is always there to look after me or pick me back up. But as a whole we all look out for each other really, there’s so many dependable girls in the group that I can fall back on both freshers and old girls alike. I’m confident this year will be another successful year for the club.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? E

very night out together is always a lot of fun as it brings together all the old girls and the freshers in some sort of fancy dress theme. Wednesday’s are my favourite days at uni as I get to spend them with my favourite people looking like a complete idiot, but I absolutely love it!

If I had to pick one, I’d say probably Varsity was one of the best days and nights out, out of the whole year. It’s just such a busy day from playing, to rushing home to get ready, then getting back to the stadium with the atmosphere for the game against Beckett. It’s something unique to only that one night out.

Ben Phillipson, Volleyball

What’s the funniest or most memorable moment from your last season or tour? 

I’d have to say the Christie Cup was the most memorable event. There was a great camaraderie between all of the players, and the celebrations after were good fun.

What makes you the best team at uni? 

Volleyball is such a popular sport in other European countries, and America, so you get to meet a really diverse group of people from around the world. I think that is what makes Volleyball at Leeds, and our team what it is.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

We have lots of new strong players that have joined the team this year who I’m really looking forward to playing with. I’d look out for Mohammed Ahmed’s scarily big spikes which won’t be easy to receive.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

It’s got to be Sticky Feet.

Katie Dootson, Women’s Lacrosse

What’s the funniest or most memorable moment from your last season or tour?

It was probably beating Durham the second time we played them. They’re a really strong side and they’d beaten us once already, so it was amazing to see how much we’d improved as a team. We were so happy.

What makes you the best team at uni? 

We are the most inclusive club welcoming 100+ beginners, and we are still one of the best performing teams in the university. We have amazing weekly socials with fantastic themes, and it’s a lot of fun.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

Definitely Georgi Higgins. She’s one of our new freshers who came to preseason, she’s played awesomely so far, and also had the best/most embarrassing costumes on both of our socials already.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

Mischief! It’s an amazing night out with all the other sports societies, and there’s no need to feel embarrassed in costume because pretty much everyone is dressed  up.

We’ve done princesses and frogs, mean girls, sperm cells, train situations, and babies, so you’ll have a fabulous costume collection by the end of the year.

Zayd Sheikh, Men’s Badminton

What’s the funniest or most memorable moment from your last season or tour? 

When Joey wrestled a cat at the Christie cup.

What makes you the best team at uni? 

The badminton club is very big, we have a lot of people that come down to the social sessions, and have a strong number that come to the team training sessions. Each team training session isn’t too large though, so everyone gets fairly individual attention from the coach which is good, and there is also a sense of community within the teams.

The first team is at a high level and we train more than the other teams, and focus on fitness, strength, and conditioning.

Who is the one to look out for in your club, and why? 

Probably Michael Sidwell, who is one of the top first team players, and president of the society, as he is very dedicated to the club and has been training over the summer. Or Djembe, who has been a consistent player.

What’s your favourite night out for the club? 

Warehouse on a Wednesday.