What are your sporting ambitions this season?

One is hoping to win something called the ‘Golden Stick’, the other is slightly more pre-occupied with saving donkeys… Two Boar Sport writers discuss their very different sporting ambitions for the 2014/15 season!

Katie Bell:

The ladies hockey club is just one example of a club that provides people of any ability with the potential to push their sporting ambitions, and I for one can’t wait for the new season to start!

Following an unfortunate BUCS relegation last year, the ladies firsts are gunning for a promotion back up to where we belong. Starting with a gruelling summer and pre-season regime, the girls are primed to take the league by storm. The shops in Leamington have had to re-think their stocks of protein, the gyms have had to increase their opening hours, and the council have reinforced the local running paths, as the team ramp up the training.

Fixtures are played every Wednesday up on the Westwood astros, where there’s always a game to watch and cheer Warwick on. The pinnacle of the season is undoubtedly the Varsity series, which dominates the Warwick Sport community every year. Despite having never lost to Cov in this historic derby, last year proved a little too close for comfort for the ladies hockey club, with a win for the seconds, but a draw for the firsts.

As a forward, I personally will be hoping to be well in the race for the hockey club’s coveted Golden Stick award, for the Warwick player who scores the most goals in the league.

This year will be a different story, as we turn the tables on their superior league position to show the poly what we can do. Short corners will be drag-flicked, aeriels chucked, and hat-tricks dispensed with ease. We may enlist some wigged-and-skirted UWMHC players to help us with some of these (they might want to watch their pints of purple come term two, in case we start slipping them oestrogen to further the cause).

As a forward, I personally will be hoping to be well in the race for the hockey club’s coveted Golden Stick. This prestigious acclaim is awarded at the annual Hockey Ball to the player who has scored the most goals. Some outrageous goal-hanging is likely to be on the cards if this is to be achieved.

Other sporting ambitions for this year include beating my time in the Stratford half-marathon, which I ran in first year. We had horrendous
weather conditions for it (the full marathon was called off), so with a bit of luck this year should be easier on that count! Last year I was keen on trying something new at Warwick, so took up lacrosse (my undoubtedly stellar lacrosse career was tragically cut short when I broke my thumb. Also when it was brought to my attention that I was actually a bit crap).

There are so many opportunities to play sport at Warwick, from inter-mural football and netball, to casual clubs as well as the uber-competitive ones. Whatever your sporting ambition, there’s sure to be a place for you to realise it at Warwick!

Warren Muggleton:

So, this year is going to be a very different one for me. I’m taking on the biggest sporting challenge of my 21 year life… yeah, a little bit anti-climactic there. Previously, it’s safe to say I have been “treading water” in the sporting world at university as I’ve never really stuck to a sport. In my first year of study, I was a member of the rowing squad. In my second year, I caught the ‘gym-bug’ and dropped rowing to increase my physical strength or, as they say, “get massive”. During this time, I never thought I would return to endurance sport again.

However, after a rather Bacchic tour of Cyprus in April, I watched the London Marathon and felt inspired to take on the challenge. I asked if anyone was offering a place and, eventually, I got my spot on the starting line-up. My sporting ambition this year, therefore, is to run the London Marathon next April! I keep thinking to myself, “you must be mad. You’ve never done 26 miles of anything before!” Then again, I study Classics, so make your own mind up!

I will be running next April for a charity called ‘The Donkey Sanctuary’, which takes in our four-legged friends who have been mistreated. Over the year, I will be out and about raising money for this great cause in preparation for the even bigger challenge ahead. I am pushing myself not to help myself, but to help others. If I don’t do this, animals I care about and people supporting me will lose out- I have to commit myself fully. 100 percent it is then!

This marathon is a target for me and I hope it will help me structure my time in study to give me more focus.

In October, in preparation for the full marathon, I will be running the Royal Parks Half Marathon in central London, raising money for the Brooke Hospital for Animals, which helps working animals in some of the world’s poorest countries. 13.1 miles- some practice run, eh?! A gruelling training scheme, yet rewarding when completed.

I am hoping to have a 6 day a week training plan over the academic year, filled with running, conditioning and other activities such as swimming. Alongside fundraising, I hope to reach my peak level of fitness ready for the big day on Sunday 26th April 2015. This marathon is a target for me and I hope it will help me structure my time in study to give me more focus.

So there we have it. If you see a guy dressed in luminous thermals running through campus on a wintery day with a donkey hat on, you will know it is me, pushing myself to the limit to help others in my biggest challenge yet- the London Marathon!