Christ Church Sport
James Cook
359
CCCU student, Biba Chuta, has been named Student Volunteer of the year at the 2016 Kent Volunteer Awards and Victoria Buswell, also from CCCU, was awarded Runner Up. They received their trophies at an Awards dinner held at the headquarters of Kent County RFU sponsors, Shepherd Neame.
Biba was President of CCCU Women’s Rugby this academic year and has been elected as the Student Union President (Sport) for the upcoming year. Victoria was Captain of the Women’s Rugby First Team and has been elected President of Women’s Rugby for the upcoming year. They have both worked hard to recruit as many new students as possible to rugby and saw membership numbers soar this past year.
Women’s rugby at CCCU is a friendly and inclusive club, welcoming a range of abilites – from scholars to first time rugby players – and their convivial, ‘one-family’ attitude has attracted girls from a range of other sports as well.
All of their hard work and dedication has seen Women’s Rugby reap the rewards of a fantastic season this year, culminating in winning BUCS Women’s University Club of the Year. Following are some of their other achievements:
- League promotion in BUCS South Eastern Conference league 2B to 1A
- Undefeated in every BUCS league game with bonus points won in every game bar one
- No points conceded on their home turf at Stodmarsh Road
- Nearly 100 tries scored with 5 players scoring hat-tricks this season
- All abilities and skill levels getting game time based on commitment and effort
- First time the team have gone on to reach the semi finals of the BUCS cup
- Broke last year’s scoreline record at Varsity (47-0, Captain scored the first try and the last and only conversion!)
- They have maintained good club links with Canterbury RFC where a number of girls play on a Sunday as well as the Wednesday afternoon fixtures -which has massively improved the teams development and longevity
- 6 girls attended trails and now play for the Kent County Women’s team.
Throughout these achievements, they have stayed humble and their actions off the pitch reflect this to every degree. Straight after the game handshakes are given and ‘3 cheers’ through the tunnel are always heard, even one for the Ref! They always invite the opposition team to socialise after the game and give recognition to the player, forward and back of the match for both sides. If they don’t have a fixture, they can usually be found in the sidelines of the men’s games cheering them on or sometimes at the hockey, cricket or other sports where some of their team mates also play.
In addition to the overwhelming amount of activities and accomplishments the team has achieved this year, the girls have also managed to raise money for charity. They held a ‘People Auction’ where they auctioned off good deeds (house cleaning, making lunch for someone, lifts home from Club Chemistry, boots cleaned and polished on match day – to name a few) and sold cakes to raise £438.44 for the Injured Rugby Players Foundation.
They also found time to help and support one of the Student Union’s fundraising events. They contributed by taking part in a bike ride’ to the North Pole’ for Mind and PETA. The team managed to clock the most hours ridden amongst the 34 other sports teams at Christ Church, contributing greatly to the overall amount raised.
To do everything they have done this year for rugby, in addition to their academic commitments, is simply phenomenal. Biba and Victoria have lead by example by working hard, developing new players, picking a winning side and having fun. Well done!
