NTU Sport Blog

NTU Sport are proud to announce that International Rugby Coach David Ellis has joined us as a Lead Coach for our Rugby League Programme for the coming season.

David joins us with a wealth of experience and knowledge of Rugby League, both as a player and a coach. With outstanding experience on both the international and domestic stage, David is sure to bring real quality to the NTU Sport setup.

David will lead our Rugby League Programme with the view to helping the team grow as a club and achieve more success over the coming years.

When asked about what he hopes to achieve in his role, David said: “I am very much looking forward to the challenge of working with the students to make the NTU Rugby League team, and the programme, successful.”

David will use his experience to bring stability to the Rugby League Programme at NTU. He is looking to push the club to its maximum potential, with the first team currently playing in the Premier South Division.

David has made over 700 appearances over the course of his career in English and Australian professional Rugby League, having played for clubs such as Castleford Tigers, Doncaster and Brisbane.

He has a deep understanding of the game, which will be invaluable to the team. David’s first major coaching role was in Australian Rugby League with Northern Queensland and then in South West Queensland.

He then moved to France at U.S Villeneuve X111 in French Rugby League where he continued to see success. Wins in the cup and league during his time at U.S Villeneuve X111 further developed David’s expertise, and during this time he was also drafted in as a coach for Super League Club Paris St Germain in the competition’s first season.

While in French rugby, David was chosen to work with Racing Club in Rugby Union. He then worked with a number of clubs, before turning his attention to the National Team as a defence coach under Bernad Laporte.

With the French National Team he won 6 Six Nations victories, including three grand slams. He was also involved with the French setup that lost 8-7 in the 2011 World Cup Final, to hosts New Zealand.

During that time he worked with a number of English premiership clubs on a consultant basis and also as a coaching consultant with the New Zealand All Blacks in their 3-0 2005 series win against the British and Irish Lions.

Everyone here at NTU Sport are delighted to welcome David to the team and look forward to supporting him in pushing the Rugby League programme on to more success.

The academic year is here and with it comes a brand new way of immersing yourself in sport, new activities and fitness with NTU!

Now students and staff can be sure they never miss a thing with the NTU Sport App, available to download by searching ‘NTU Sport’ on Google Play and App Store.

The app is available to download on both your smart phone and tablet. To find the app on your tablet, you’ll need to filter your search for ‘phone apps’.

The app has been developed over the summer following a soft launch at the end of term, where user feedback  was collected to make improvements and give the app a whole new look and feel.

Get booking

Check out and book upcoming fitness classes, blast sessions and facilities across the City and Clifton campus.

You can also pull up full timetables and manage and amend your bookings all in one place.

Discover

Here at NTU Sport we’re proud to offer something for everyone, and now it’s easier than ever to discover new ways of keeping active.

Not keen on the idea of committing to a gym membership? Wanting to get active and try something new? Find out all you need to know about Play for Fun, Intramural, Sport Clubs, Staff Sport and more.

The new app should help all students discover ways to marry sport and activity with academic studies.

Meet the friendly fitness staff in the ‘your gym’ tile, learn about their areas of expertise, how they can be supporting you and how to get in touch.

The newly updated app now also offers the chance to discover volunteering opportunities in a whole range of different areas.

Never miss a thing

Gym and sport facility closures, important updates, facility information, offers and events – now you never need to miss a thing.

The notifications tile holds important updates and information, and you can opt for push notifications to ensure you never miss a thing when it comes to all of those need-to-know soundbites.

Have your say

We think it’s really important to keep listening and improving.

If you have any thoughts about NTU Sport, the facilities, or app we’d love for you to make the most of the feedback tile.

Enjoy!

Download today to see about getting involved at sport and activity at NTU!

 

 

 

Playing intramural football has been one of my best experiences at University by far.

It started out with a few people I barely knew from halls – I wanted to make new friends and decided to take a chance on a new 6-a-side football, to happen every Friday at Clifton campus. It quickly become one of the highlights of my week.

In October 2016, during my first year at NTU, I set up a football team and I haven’t looked back ever since. Creating a team was simple: all I had to do was complete a short form from the Lee Westwood Sport Centre and then submit it to Dan Corlett, Head of Intramural Sport at NTU.

All you need is six friends who want to play, a team name and you are good to go! The team I set up, NG11 FC, helped me get to know the boys who lived in my block and their friends as well.

The number of people interested in playing grew and grew, and we found ourselves becoming real friends not just team mates. It wasn’t just about the team anymore, we would go on nights out together, go for food and hang out. Playing Intramural Sport allowed to me to meet people I never would have in general university life.

My team NG11 FC started off in the bottom league, Clifton 6-a-side ‘Serie B’, and got promoted to ‘Serie A’ going from first to second year. We play every Friday between 4pm and 5:30pm on the hockey pitches at Clifton campus. Matches always have an FA qualified referee.

In our first season we had a rocky term one, only winning two games. After the Christmas break we came back strong and started an unbeaten streak that lasted 21 games and a full calendar year: one of my proudest achievements in sport.

Nothing comes close to a hard-fought win on a cold Friday night under the lights to start the weekend off with a bang.

With NG11 FC I have taken part in so many great intramural football events, including the People’s FA Cup, UV football and a 5-a-side World Cup which we won in 2017. All of these events are either completely free or are really inexpensive with the weekly 6-a-side matches; costing just £12 for the whole team.

I would recommend intramural football to anyone looking to get involved in 5, 6 or 11-a-side football within a more casual and fun environment.

The best thing about intramural sport is that anyone can do it, and if you don’t have a team in mind beforehand, you can get in touch with Dan Corlett and he will help you to find one looking for players and put you in touch.

As my team NG11 get ready to dust off our boots and get ready for what I hope is the year we win some silverware, I look forward to seeing some of you out on the pitch this year.

 

Contributor – NTU 2nd year student Conor Naughton

 

If you’re a student, you’ve probably heard about intramural sport at NTU and how amazing it is, but what exactly is intramural sport?

Think of intramural sport as Nottingham Trent University’s internal sport leagues.

NTU Sport want to make sure everyone has ample chance to get involved, and are proud to offer something for everyone. With intramural sport you can compete in one-off events, leagues and tournaments – all while keeping fit and having fun. Everyone is welcome and most events are free or cost very little – all held at NTU’s brilliant sports facilities.

Intramural sport at NTU is a great way to get involved with a range of sports at a level that suits your ability and schedule. Played between students from Nottingham Trent University, there are many intramural teams across a number of sports including football, rugby, netball and badminton.

Teams can be made up of friends from halls, course mates, societies, a group of friends, or anything in between! If you haven’t got a team, don’t stress: the NTU Intramural Sports Team can help find a team for you to get involved with.

If you want to find out more about a student’s perspective check out what Conor had to say about playing intramural football here at NTU.

During your time at NTU, you’ll have access to a wide range of intramural sporting opportunities including tournaments and events that happen across the academic year, including a futsal world cup, badminton tournament, UV football and much more.

Make sure you keep an eye out on our Facebook and Twitter pages for information on future events and how you can get involved. To find out more about a specific sport you can get involved with at NTU, click one of the sports listed below to get more information:

• Football (11-a-side, 6-a-side, 5-a-side)
• Rugby
• Netball
• Badminton

If you have any further questions about Intramural sport at NTU contact us at: sport@ntu.ac.uk

NTU Sport is proud of its athletes, and the department strive to grow the full family in both number and success.

The 2017/18 season has been a rallying one for female athletes at NTU, with some major steps forward in our programme developments.

Now NTU Sport are able to announce an additional scholarship fund, which is available for females eligible to compete for NTU in British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) competition – in time for the 2018/19 academic year.

This scholarship fund could offer talented female athletes the opportunity to engage with a variety of support services, such as Strength and Conditioning, Physiotherapy, Nutrition and Psychology support, Lifestyle guidance and the potential to receive a financial bursary to support sporting aspirations.

NTU this year achieved a record final position in the BUCS league table, finishing in 13th position overall, scoring over 2000 points. This additional fund will allow support of more athletes than ever, as NTU Sport look to continue increased participation and progression.

For further information, and to find out if you could be eligible for consideration to receive this support, please contact in the first instance our Sport Scholarship Manager, Melanie Wells (melanie.wells@ntu.ac.uk) or alternatively Performance Sport Manager, Chris Campbell (chris.campbell@ntu.ac.uk)

*This initiative is being piloted under S. 158 of the Equality Act 2010

NTU Sport have welcomed Nicki Cochrane into the new role of Hockey Development Coach. Nicki is currently Goalkeeper for Great Britain and Scotland, and captain’s Beeston 1st XI in the Investec Premier League.

With coaching experience at Edinburgh Academy, Milfield & Scottish Hockey, Nicki is sure to be a great asset to the Hockey performance programme.

Nicki will be leading the goalkeeping coaching at the university along with the Women’s 2nd XI for the forthcoming season.

Her arrival is hoped to build even more on NTU Hockey’s recent successes and milestones. Men’s Hockey celebrated the best season in their history with a record rank in the BUCS League to finish in second, missing out on the top spot by just one point.

NTU Women’s Hockey have also grown from strength to strength, with talented scholars like Caro Hulme making their first international cap, where the player represented Wales in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

NTU Women’s 1st team gained promotion to Premier North B last season and are looking forward to the challenge for the title again, with international players from around the world coming to NTU in September.

Head of Hockey Colin Clarke said: “We are delighted to welcome Nicki as part of the coaching team at NTU.

“There’s no doubt that she will bring an added energy to the Women’s programme, and provide the expertise and knowledge needed to further develop both the male and female Goal Keepers in the club.

“Her experience of top level play with GB & Scotland makes her a fantastic role model for the 100+ female hockey players at the University.”

Nicki commented: “I am really excited about joining NTU Hockey and can’t wait to be fully involved. Having thoroughly enjoyed playing university hockey myself, l am now looking forward to passing on my passion for the game by working with the students and coaches to help to drive hockey at NTU forward”.

We are lucky enough to have lots of visitors here at NTU Sport. The sport team love nothing more than sharing our facilities, encouraging people to get stuck in and enjoy physical activity.

Recently, we welcomed Forest Fields Primary School to our City Campus to spend a whole day getting stuck into different sports activities.

All of the children who visit us have a brilliant time – it’s evident from the enjoyment you see them getting from the various planned activities and sports sessions we run for them.

But what are they thinking on the way home? We hope they’ll be inspired by some of the sports and exercise they’ve taken part in, and the people they’ve met that day.

Well, luckily enough, some of the children from Forest Fields decided to put pen to paper to tell us about how they found their visit.

Here’s just a few of their written testimonials (we promise we haven’t paraphrased any of these fantabulous words!)

“My day at NTU sports has been FANTABULOUS!! This is the best uni trip I have had since I came to Forest Fields. The people were really nice, talkative and understanding people. The tour was great! I never thought that I was gonna have soooooo much fun. My interest in sports has increased and I thank NTU for an incredible day.”

“Today was one of the best days in my life. I enjoyed all of the activities, like exercising, dancing,basketball, etc. It was very exciting to wander around NTU. It was an amazing experience.”

“My day at NTU Sport has been amazing! I had a lot of fun playing different kinds of sports. My favourite one was dancing because we moved about a lot and it was really fun. NTU is a really good place and the leaders helped us in the games and it was a spectacular sports day and I enjoyed it.”

“There was a lot of communication and student ambassadors helped us out a lot. My favourite part was Zumba because there was a lot of movement and lots of fun.This is why university is epic!!”

“Today at NTU was amazing because we had lots of fun and did different sports. Some of them were Netball, Basketball, Dancing and some that involved the gym. It was excellent and i had lots of fun with my friends. I think everyone had fun and enjoyed the sports which were really great.”

“It has been SPECTACULAR to  spend the day doing sports. All the NTU staff and student ambassadors are incredibly nice and helpful. My favourite part of this day experience was the tour because student ambassadors answered all questions and i gained a lot of knowledge. I TOTALLY RECOMMEND NTU TO DO THIS WITH OTHER SCHOOLS.”

Could you help inspire the next generation? contact stacey.trainer@ntu.ac.uk to find out how to get involved.

Contributors – Forest Fields Primary School children, NTU Sport Volunteering