Wednesday 21-12-2016 - 15:16

Term 1 of Bristol University’s 2016/17 BUCS season has come to a close. And what a term it’s been.

 

Way back in October our sports teams, rejuvenated by the wealth of new talent brought in by new players, kicked off their respective seasons in unbelievable style. The mark was laid down early on by all teams, with clubs bringing in a record 35 wins in the first week, a remarkable 70% of all games played that week. Wins poured in from all teams, including Men’s Lacrosse 1sts thumping Southampton 20 -3, whilst the Netball 4ths resounding trounced UWTSD 55-18. It wasn’t all easy pickings for Bristol teams however. The Men’s Basketball 2nds showed remarkable resilience to pull off an agonising 46-44 win over Plymouth Marjons. On such small margins (or should that be Marjons – BUCS based comedy gold there) seasons can be defined.

 

With such a strong opening week behind them, Bristol teams continued their fine form throughout October, bringing in a further 53 wins over the two weeks that remained, including Men’s Football 4ths putting 8 of the best past Cardiff Met and both the 1^st and 2^nd Men’s Indoor Cricket team defeating Gloucestershire and Marjons. Such a strong start was only helped by the phenomenal performance of some of our individual sportspeople, with Flora Lawton crushing the opposition on her way to the BUCS Surf 2016 title.

 

As the nights began to turn darker, the first SCORE out of the way and rumours that Coombe Dingle lights might finally get turned on, Bristol teams rumbled on into November. Snowsports pulled off some fantastic individual performances at the BUCS Dryslope championships in Edinburgh from members such as Lucy Troman and Charlotte Reid culminating in an overall victory for their Women’s team. Meanwhile back at Bristol wins continued to pour in every week, with the Women’s Tennis 1^st team leaving their opponents wishing for an early Bath (More hilarious BUCS based comedy - guesses on who they beat on a postcard please) with a laudable 12-0 win, the Squash clubs Men’s 2nds and 3rds squashing UWE (Goodness me will the humour ever end?) and the Fencing Men’s 2nds beating Plymouth by just 3 points - 111-108 in what we can only assume was the tensest thing ever to grace Studio 1 at SEH.

 

November was, like October before it, more successful than anyone could have hoped for. Bristol teams brought in 142 wins to just 65 losses. Unbelievable.

 

After two outstanding months, the question was, could Bristol keep it up? The answer was simple – yes. Despite the reduced number of matches Bristol still recorded 27 wins in December. Within that there was even an unbeaten BUCS Wednesday, where every single Bristol team playing won. Granted, there were only 4 of them playing. But still. Shout out to Tennis Men’s and Women’s 1sts, Basketball Men’s 2nds and Table Tennis 1sts for pulling that off.

So where does Bristol stand after the first term of BUCS?

 

Well, 13 of our teams are members of the #100percent club, teams who have won every single one of their matches this term. Those ‘invincibles’ are Volleyball M1, Basketball M1 and W1, Lacrosse M1 and W3, Indoor Cricket M2, Table Tennis M1, Ultimate Frisbee M1, Football M3, Tennis W1, Netball W3, Fencing W1 and Rugby M5. Huge well done to all of those teams, that’s no mean feat, keep it up!

 

23 of our teams sit in 1^st place in their league, they are Basketball M1, W1, Indoor Cricket M2, Football M1, Football M2, Football M3, Futsal W1, Hockey M2, Table Tennis M1, Volleyball M1, Volleyball W2, Water Polo W1, Hockey M3, Hockey M4, Hockey W4, Lacrosse M1, Lacrosse W3, Netball W3, Netball W5, Rugby M1, Rugby M5, Tennis W1 and  Squash W1. As Performance Sport Manager Matt Paine would say – ‘Quality’.

As for Bristol overall, we currently sit 7^th in the BUCS table, with a win percentage of 61%.

A huge well done to all of our Sports clubs for their incredible effort this term, your hard work and determination is inspiring to all! Onwards and upwards.

 

#WeAreBristol

 

John House

Sport and Student Development Officer