Monday, September 26, 2011

A team of eighty-one students will represent the University of New England at the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast from September 25 to September 30.

UNE's performance at the Northern University Games in July has seen many teams progress to the Australian University Games.

UNE won the Population Cup at the Northern University Games, awarded to the team who achieves the best results per capita.

Students from UNE will participate in athletics, mixed beach volleyball, men's hockey, women's soccer, women's netball, taekwondo, women's tennis and men's and women's water polo.

'I expect our women's soccer team to perform quite well, and I'm hoping our taekwondo competitor, Alex Badoui, may be a dark horse,' said UNE Team Manager, Bradley King. 'Emma Gillogly has a chance of a medal in the women's heptathlon after coming fourth at last year's Australian University Games.'

Team captains are Wayne Dillon who will be playing water polo and Jekka Lloyd who will represent UNE in netball.

The Australian University Games is  the largest annual multi-sport event in Australia and provides student athletes from across Australia a friendly and competitive environment to excel in sport and compete at an elite level.

The event has a strong focus on developing relationships between students from universities around Australia so is a great avenue to develop cross-university relations.

‘Competing in the University Games has been one of my favourite experiences of university’, said UNE competitor, Emma Gillogly ‘I’ve made so many friends through getting involved in The Games, with athletes from UNE but also from universities across Australia’.

Monday 5 September, 2011

Two University of New England students, Stefanie Taylor and Katie Dean, attended the Australian University Championship Snow Sports, in Thredbo at the end of August.

Approximately 300 university students from across Australia compete across thirteen events from the four disciplines of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding and cross country skiing.

Both girls will be competing in the Alpine Giant Slalom, a technical event which involves skiing between sets of poles.

Stefanie Taylor, studying her Graduate Diploma of Urban and Regional Planning will be competing in the Alpine Super Giant, a speed event.

In the Alpine Giant Slalom and the Alpine Super Giant, competitors ‘ski down the hill as fast as possible through different gates’ said Taylor. ‘If you miss a gate, you get disqualified; the better times of two attempts are used’ added Dean.

Katie Dean, a third year student studying Social Work, will be competing in the Freestyle Skier Cross, a race event which incorporates terrain features. ‘It’s like motocross but on snow’ said Dean.

Taylor has been skiing since the age of three, but the University Championship of Snow Sports was her first time competing.

‘Skiing is really fun. It’s exhilarating with the adrenaline pumping through your blood,’ said Taylor

Dean has been skiing since the age of 11, but has much experience on the snow, having competed in interschool competitions and coached a junior race team in Canada.

‘Skiing has all these little components. For one turn, you have to think about all these little things like speed. And try not to fall over,’ said Dean.

Both girls headed down to the ski fields a week before competition commenced to do some on-snow training. To prepare for the competition in Armidale, Taylor has been running, and Dean has been working hard at the gym.

Monday August 15, 2011

Armidale local and SportUNE Clem Jones Scholarship holder, William Smidt, returned to Australia on August 6 after spending five weeks in Europe competing in the Junior World Championships in Wildwater Kayaking.

Smidt was accompanied by his father and team coach, Chris Smidt, and fellow team members, Sebastian Spinks and Tom Mountney.

While in Europe, Smidt competed internationally in both individual and team events at the Junior World Championships in Opava, Czeck Republic.

The first week and a half in Europe was spent in training with the Czeck Wildwater team. Training took place on the Vltava River in Cesky Krumlov (Czeck Republic), and on the beautiful Lake Eibsee at Garmish-Partenkirchen, Bavaria (Germany).

‘The first few days were very hard, especially recovering from the fatigue related from flying and the climate shock,’ said William Smidt.

‘The team trained us very hard and it was amazing to discover the improvements we made after we had recovered in Germany.’

‘A particular difficulty for me was the correction my stroke required after working so hard to keep up with the other two team members,’ said Smidt. ‘As soon as I was able to train on my own, I re-developed my correct technique which made all other training sessions so much more productive as my stroke was now correctly efficient.’

Smidt had two days to practice on the course at Opava before the first two races. Then he had two day to rest before competing in the final two days of races.

‘The river in Opava was great, although many competitors I spoke to expected something more difficult,’ said Smidt.

Smidt competed in four races, including the individual classic, the individual sprint, the team sprint and the team classic.

‘I did much better than expected, placing in the lower mid field,’ said Smidt. ‘Most people would think unsuccessful, but in these sorts of races, separating you and the next five above you is usually less than a second so there is not a lot of room for error.’

‘The university is very proud to see William representing Australia,’ said Executive Director of Sport UNE, David Schmude. ‘It’s great to see our students participating at such a high level and representing UNE.’

 ‘Wildwater Kayaking is huge in Europe, but coming from Armidale where there are no rivers, not many people realise how competitive the sport is,’ said William Smidt.

Smidt’s best individual result with a time of 17:48.83, an improvement of 3 minutes from his first attempt, in the K1 Classic, an endurance race over 4.5km over rapids.

In the team events, Smidt placed in a similar area, beating the USA and Ireland in both the team downriver and sprint.

‘The team has three competitors in their own kayaks that race in the slipstream of the lead kayaker,’ explained William Smidt.

The best team result was with a time of 3:34.77 in the Sprint K1 over 400 metres of rapids. In this race, all three team members must race together and start and finish within 10 seconds of each other.

William Smidt is currently in his first year of a Bachelor of Music and has been competing in Wildwater kayaking since the age of 8, internationally since the age of 17.

Armidale local and SportUNE Clem Jones Scholarship holder, William Smidt, will be spending his holidays in Europe to train and compete in the competitive sport of Wildwater Kayaking. Joining Smidt in Europe will be fellow team members, Sebastian Spinks and Tom Mountney; along with father and team coach, Chris Smidt.

Smidt will arrive in France on July 2^nd where the team will get settled into their new surroundings. The team will then travel to Munich where new boats are being made at the Prijon Factory. Schmidt will spend his time in Germany training on rivers before heading back to France where he will attend a French Traning Camp prior to the French Nationals in preparation for the World Championships in the Czeck Republic.

The team will spend a week at Opava getting accustomed to the rivers and food. In his final week, Smidt will compete in four races, the individual downriver, the team downriver, the individual Wildwater sprint and the team sprint. ‘The team has three competitors in their own kayaks that race in the slipstream of the lead kayaker. It’s a bit like a team cycling events’, explained William Smidt.

William Smidt began Wildwater kayaking at the age of 8 and has been nationally competitive since 16. At age 17 he began competing internationally, racing in New Zealand as part of the Junior Development team.

As a first year Bachelor of Music student, William Smidt finds that his intense training  schedule actually assists him academically: ‘My mind is a lot fresher after I’ve been training, but I have to be careful that neither takes priority over the other. I studied European languages in first semester so that will definitely help me in Europe.’

‘I am very happy we are able to assist student athletes to excel in their chosen sport while at UNE,’ said Executive Director of SportUNE, David Schmude, ‘both the University and the Community wish him every success in Europe.’

William Smidt urges other aspiring athletes to ‘focus on what you want in your sport. Don’t get caught up trying to comply with what everyone else wants.’

William Smidt is excited to compete with the world’s best, ‘Wildwater Kayaking is huge in Europe, but coming from Armidale where there are no rivers, not many people realise how competitive the sport is.’

Monday August 1, 2011

Sports Science student and Vacation Care Coordinator at SportUNE, Emma Gillogly, has been selected into the Australian Rugby 7’s Women’s Squad.

As part of this squad, Gillogly will be attending a camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra from August 5 to August 7. While at this camp, she will be tested with different components of the game, including passing, tackling and fitness.

A natural at Rugby Union, Gillogly only began playing the sport in March this year, after helping out at the Rugby Union Camp, she was asked to try out for the NSW Country team.

Selected on the 2011 NSW country team as a winger, Gillogly was a valuable team member, scoring a try during the NSW Country verses Sydney match in the National Women's Championship.

‘It is a great honour for Emma to be selected, especially coming from a regional area. She certainly works very hard, and we wish her every success’ said Executive Director of SportUNE, David Schmude.

Gillogly has been an active participant in sport during her studies at the University of New England. She has played at state and national level for touch football, and also been a representative for athletics.

Gillogly urges fellow students and aspiring athletes ‘to have a go at new things and always keep trying hard to improve on whatever area to help reach your goals.’

Gillogly represented UNE in athletics, touch and soccer at various intervarsity competitions, including the Australian University Games, Northern University Games and Eastern University Games. Due to her commitment to these sports at UNE, she has captained the UNE team in intervarsity competitions for three consecutive years.

Sporting success is nothing new to Gillogly, having won multiple scholarships at UNE. This includes a SportUNE Development Scholarship for touch, and the Sarah Heagney Memorial Scholarship for her ability and dedication to sport.

In 2010, she won the Spirit of Sport award for her active participation in sport and physical recreation displaying positive attitude and inspiring others.

Monday July 25, 2011

 PhD geography student and SportUNE Full Sporting scholarship holder, Murray Scown, will be heading to Switzerland at the end of July to compete in the international Swiss Orienteering Week. This will lead into the World Championships in France two weeks later, for which Scown is a reserve for the Australian team.

Swiss Orienteering Week is an international multi-stage competition which has seven draces held over eight days, with the final results based on a cumulative time of the seven races. The event includes normal distance, middle distance and long distance events held at high altitudes at different picturesque locations around Flims-Laax.

International competition for Orienteering is nothing new for Scown, having travelled to New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Lithuania for competitions.

His most recent travels took Scown’s to New Zealand, where he competed in the Australia verses New Zealand test match which was held in Auckland over the three days of the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.

To prepare for Switzerland, Scown has been training with hill intervals, long distance running and running through varied terrain. However, due to an injury he sustained while competing in New Zealand, he has been training on a bike instead of on foot.

Scown is looking forward to some intense world-class competition. ‘Although a few of the guys racing in Australia are world-class, the numbers at races are low, sometimes less than 20, whereas there will likely be 200-300 elites racing in Switzerland,’ said Scown.

Swiss Orienteering Week is not just about the elite competition, the picturesque setting is what inspires Murray to keep training hard for his Orienteering: ‘I’m looking forward to the scenery! And having a beer after races looking over the Swiss Alps!’

The skill’s Scown has learnt through orienteering has aided his PhD research on floodplain complexity. ‘I think the map reading skills I’ve developed from 15 years of orienteering definitely help with the spatial analyses I do on floodplain landscapes,’ said Scown.

Wednesday July 20, 2011

The team representing the University of New England received nine medals for their efforts at the Northern University Games. Because of this outstanding effort, UNE won the Population Cup which is awarded to the team with best results per capita.

Over 900 student athletes from eleven universities across Northern New South Wales and Queensland travelled to Armidale to compete from July 3 to July 7.

Gold medals were won by the women’s hockey, women’s football, rugby 7’s and Michael Schaefer in Golf. Silver medals were won by the men’s volleyball, the women’s football and Rondy Chan in the men’s tennis singles. Bronze was won by the women’s netball and women’s football.

UNE was represented in soccer, basketball, volleyball, touch, netball, hockey, golf, rugby 7’s, lawn bowls and tennis. Other sports played include squash and ten pin bowling.

‘Overall it was a pretty good performance by the UNE team. The rugby 7’s and women’s hockey were undefeated, with UNE winning the women’s hockey grand final in extra time’, said Sports Development Officer, Bradley King. ‘The women’s football teams came first, second and third, which is a pretty big achievement.’

The Northern University Games give students the opportunity to excel in their chosen sport and focus on competition, participation and socialising and is an example of the varied sporting programs available to students of UNE.

Northern University Games participant, Luke Simpson, said he especially enjoyed socialising with students from other universities. ‘I had lots of fun because I played socially like I do with the intercollegiate sports.’

 ‘It was good having the games in Armidale because I knew my way around, but the weather was so cold; it is the coldest it has been since I came to Armidale. It must have been a huge shock to the north Queenslanders,’ said Simpson.

 ‘Students were still in good spirits despite the wind and cold weather. The focus is now on the Australian uni games, which are in just two months’, said King. UNE is sending a team to the Australian University Games, held on the Gold Coast from September 25 to 30.

Wednesday March 23, 2011

The 12^th annual SportUNE Golf Day, held on Friday the 18^th March was a big success. Even with the threat of rain, the event attracted 160 people to compete in the event.

Over $12,000 was raised in the day, all of which will support the UNE Sport Scholarship program. These scholarships assist student athletes to remain competitive in their chosen sport while studying at the University of New England.

The SportUNE Golf Day is one of Armidale’s largest corporate golf days, with sponsorship from 24 local businesses. ‘UNE is very grateful to the Armidale community for their continuing support of Golf Day and sport in Armidale,’ said Executive Director of SportUNE, David Schmude. ‘These scholarships provide important benefits to our student athletes.’

Precision Motors were the overall winners of the day. Other prizes of the day went to Tim Murray for the longest drive; Garry Emery for straightest drive; John Schuman and Chris Guppy for nearest the pin; Dom Willis for soccer ball Juggling; Tabatha Collins and Chris Guppy for netball juggling; and Dave Boundy for the business card draw.

‘I’m really happy with how Golf Day turned out, we had a full field in the afternoon. It was encouraging to see so many people supporting the UNE Golf Day’ said Sports Development Officer Brad King, ‘The weather looked threatening but it held out and good fun was had by all.’

The UNE Sporting Scholarship holders were officially anounced at Golf Day including: Sonya Chervonsky (Judo), Sarah Cook (Rowing), William Smidt (White Water Kayaking), Murray Scown (Orienteering), Mich Bullen (Cycling), Benjamin Toomey and Rohan Nixon (Athletics), Amy Harris (Football), Jamie Cone (Touch), Courtney Byrne (Netball), Branston Brewer-Charles (Rugby Union) and Nicholas Clarke (Soccer). These scholarship recipients are required to represent UNE in Club Competitions and Intervarsity Competitions such as the Northern University Games and the Australian University Games.

Monday February 7, 2011

SportUNE held a taste tester last week of the centres group fitness classes as a tribute to those suffering from the destruction of the flooding that occurred in Queensland this summer. The night was a hit with Armidale residents, raising nearly $1, 200 which will take a small dint out of the estimated $30,000 billion in damages.

More than seventy people came along to participate in SportUNE’s fantastic two hours of group fitness. The instructors and participants dressed in the colours of the Australian flag, red white and blue, a gesture of Australian mateship. The evening was a full two hours of mega group fitness, featuring tracks from BodyAttack, BodyJam, BodyStep, BodyPump, BodyCombat Zumba and Body Balance.

‘It was a great night and a fantastic team effort,’ said SportUNE Fitness Coordinator, Mally McCormack. ‘I am so proud to be part of such a fantastic team of professionals who readily give their time to help those in need.’

Three quarters of Queensland was declared a disaster zone, with seventy towns and 200,000 people directly affected. The whole of Australia has been affected by the devastation of the recent floods in Queensland, from those who have lost their homes and loved ones to those who now have to pay more for fruit. As those from the area begin to slowly build their lives, every little act of kindness helps, SportUNE would like to thank all those who attended the event and made it such a successful fundraiser.