sport

Gower College Swansea's Football Academy has won the English Colleges FA Premier League title. After a busy end to the season, the team became the first Welsh college to win this title and now progress to the ECFA Champions League where they will play off against the top eight colleges in the UK.

"This is a massive achievement for a young squad after a number of experienced players finished college last season," says Student Sport Manager Rob Baynham. "The boys have won a league that includes some of the top English sports colleges such as Hartpury and SGS (Filton). Congratulations to all the squad members and the coaching team of Richard South, Anthony Wright, Martin Evans and Ashleigh Hopkins."

This success comes on the back of last year's ECFA Premier Cup and Welsh Schools Cup double. The team are also through to the final of the Welsh Schools Cup for this season and will play this fixture at TNS F.C. on the weekend 11- 12th May.

Squad: Luke Flemming, Josh Chanda, Kyle Cockings, Tom Grey, Josh Doyle, Adam Robbins, Richard Brain, Ryan Thomas, Colin Harris, Nikki Parvin, Andrew Trick, Daniel Smale, Will Kehoe, Scott Hayward, Ben May, Jordan Vickers, Ryan Argyle

Gower College Swansea’s Football Academy has been awarded the prestigious FAW Trust Focus College Award.

This award was presented in recognition of the achievements of both the college’s men’s and ladies’ football academies.

“To qualify, our football programme had to meet set targets in terms of player welfare, coaching, training and facilities,” says Gower College Swansea’s Student Sport Manager Rob Baynham. “This is a major achievement for the Football Academy which aims to develop elite level footballers and increase the number of quality coaches in the community through development work.”

This season has seen exciting progress for all college academy teams. The men’s academy is currently top of both the ECFA Premier League and the ECFA Regional League, competing against the best college teams in the UK.

The ladies’ academy is top of the Welsh Colleges League with one game remaining and is through to the final play off stages of the British Colleges Cup.

Following this success eight boys and three girls* have been selected for the Welsh Colleges International teams for their forthcoming fixtures.

Players from the ladies’ football academy have been very busy recently promoting ladies football for 14-16 year old girls in Swansea. This involved organising a 5-a-side competition for local schools with the students organising, officiating and helping with coaching at the event, which saw Gowerton Comprehensive beating Bishop Gore in an exciting final.

Meanwhile, coaches from the men’s academy will be hosting a football coaching clinic for local comprehensive schools on 25 March. This event will provide Year 9 and 10 pupils with the chance to receive academy coaching while developing their skills.

Anyone interested in the Football Academy programme can email richard.south@gowercollegeswansea.ac.uk for more information.

*The students selected for the Welsh Colleges International teams for their forthcoming fixtures are:

Men's Welsh school: Kyle Cockins and Ryan Thomas

Men's Welsh Colleges: Luke Fleming; Josh Chanda; Kyle Cockins; Tom Grey and Josh Doyle

Men's Semi Pro Welsh Squad: Richard Brain and Adam Robbins

Ladies Welsh College: Zoe Hatch; Angharad Jenkins and Amy Marie Evans.

Photo shows Wales Manager Chris Coleman and Minister for Education and Skills Leighton Andrews presenting the award to Principal Nick Bennett.

It was sun, sea and - most importantly - surf for students Hannah Lewis and Rhiannon Plessis on a recent trip to Portugal.

The students, who are part of the college's Surf Academy, took to the waves at the glorious Supertubos and Baleal beaches.

From Hannah's diary of the trip:

"The waves here are huge, each day we have all been progressing and changing our boards to suit the waves, myself and Rhiannon have improved loads with the help from everyone, the boys are great and are all surfing the massive waves with the professionals.

Each night we have themed food, each person takes it in turns to cook in little groups. Tomorrow night is my turn and we have decided to take the Mexican theme where we will cook a mixture of wraps, fajitas and cheesy nachos. The accommodation is lovely, we have a perfect beach/sea view from each balcony."

For more information on the Gower College Swansea Surf Academy please contact Rob Baynham on 01792 284000.

Sport students at Gower College Swansea are looking to become the next generation of football coaches in Swansea.

The students have been studying for their Football Association of Wales (FAW) Football Leaders Award (Level 1). This is a 15 hour course that provides a basic introduction to the organisation of football practices in a fun, safe environment. With an emphasis on skill development, this is a mandatory award for all coaches involved in junior football in Wales.

"This is a great achievement for all the students," says course tutor Ashleigh Hopkins, who is also a UEFA "A" Licence Coach. "They now need to gain as much experience as they can within the football community, coaching all ages and abilities, and hopefully one day they can move up the Coach Education pathway to the UEFA C Licence."

Gower College Swansea's Women’s Hockey squad were recently crowned Welsh Colleges’ Hockey Champions for the seventh year running.

They retained their title after winning the Welsh Colleges' regional competition at the Sport Wales National Centre, Cardiff.

The girls demonstrated outstanding levels of skill, fitness and teamwork to go through the competition unbeaten, convincingly winning all their games.

In a double success for the Hockey Academy, four players have been selected for the British Colleges' Hockey  Squad.

Angharad Jenkins, Rhiannon Griffiths, Hannah Griffiths and Beth Bingham were all successful following a highly competitive selection process. This is the highest number of players a Welsh college has had selected at this level.

The Hockey Academy is coached by former Welsh international player Sian Fowler and assistant coach Sion Cairns.

Team photo: front row (left - right) Chloe Alpine; Toni-Lee Lambert; Ashleigh Bastin; Emily Reeves; Beth Bingham; Evie Ham and Rebecca Radcliffe

Back row: Caitlin Griffiths; Hannah Brown; Nicola McCabe; Emma Breech; Hannah Griffiths; Jordan Williams; Phoebe Perkins; Millie Gately and Rhian Jones.

British Colleges photo (left - right): Rhiannon Griffiths; Hannah Griffiths; Angharad Jenkins and Beth Bingham.

Gower College Swansea students have won a host of titles in the recent round of Welsh Colleges sports competitions.

All of the following individuals / teams have won their regional competitions and will now represent Wales in the British Colleges Championships in Bath 2013.

The Men’s 5-a-side team won the Welsh Competition for the third consecutive year (not losing a single game in the competition.)

Men’s Football (5-a-side)
Swimming – Charlotte Bryan and Jenna Hussey
Golf – Elliott Anderson
Tennis Doubles – Luke SImeone and Joe Lewis

In addition to this, our men’s Table Tennis team have reached the singles and doubles finals of the Welsh Championships. This event will be played against the winners of the North Wales event. James Lewis, Ashley Fulford and Callum Mansel will represent the college at the next stage.

In Ladies Football the girls narrowly missed out, losing to Cardiff and the Vale College 3-2 in the final. This is the second year in a row that the girls have reached the final of this competition.

There is another round of competition next week with Ladies Hockey, Men’s Hockey and Basketball all looking to retain their Welsh titles from last year.

Many thanks to the following staff and students for helping to organise the following regional events:

Jayne Bateman – Tennis
Rob Evans, Holly Curson and Public Services Year 2 – Cross Country
Lee Hopkins – Swimming

The Sports Academies at Gower College Swansea have hit the ground running at the start of the new season.

The Hockey Academy have had 10 players selected for the Welsh Colleges hockey squad, with all of these players progressing to British Colleges trials in the near future. The Hockey Academy play in the Welsh Colleges League and British Colleges League with competition against top English Academy sides.

Players pictured left to right: Hannah Brown, Hannah Griffiths, Beth Bingham, Phoebe Perkins, Angharad Jenkins, Toni-Lee Lambert, Rhiannon Griffiths, Ashleigh Bastin and Evie Ham (Chloe Alpine not pictured.)

The Football Academy continued where they left off at the end of last season with comprehensive victories in the first two ECFA Premier League fixtures. In the first game they travelled to Bristol, defeating South Gloucester and Stroud College (formerly Filton College) 4-1 - following this up with a 3-0 win over East Berkshire College in the next game.

In golf, Gower College Swansea won both the team and individual honours at the Welsh Colleges Golf Championships. The competition was held at Henlle Parc Golf Club near Wrexham with nine colleges from around Wales taking part. The winning team was made up of Elliott Anderson, Max Davies and Matthew Walsh, with the team returning the best combined total on the day.

In the individual event, Elliott Anderson won with a round of 75 (five over par) in very testing conditions. Elliott will now represent Welsh Colleges at the British Colleges Golf championships in Bath 2013.

Watersports enthusiasts from all over the country donned their wetsuits and took to the water on 20th June when Cornwall College hosted the 2012 British Colleges Sport (BCS) Watersports Championships.

The national event, which was held at Tolcarne Beach in Newquay and Stithians Lake near Redruth, was a test of endurance, concentration and ability for all involved, as competitors battled their way through a series of gruelling heats to qualify for the finals in a range of activities: paddle boarding, surf lifesaving, windsurfing, sailing, kayaking and gig-rowing.

Competitors came from Cornwall College, Exeter College, Bournemouth & Poole College, Richard Huish College, Truro & Penwith College, Gower College Swansea, Somerset College of Art and Technology, and Riverside College Widnes.

The overall winners were Gower College Swansea, followed by Bournemouth and Poole College in second place and Cornwall College in third.