March 18, 2015, by Lee Chrimes

Big Wednesday’s Big Build-Up – Table Tennis

With both our Men’s and Women’s Table Tennis teams making it through to their respective Championship Cup finals against Nottingham Trent, let’s profile the players who’ll be representing Nottingham for the top honours of the 2014/15 season. Following the Women’s 2nd team’s victory over Birmingham in the Conference Cup final this week, what better time to show off the rest of our stars!

You can review their progress throughout the season through the BUCS website, follow the team on Twitter and don’t forget to keep an eye on @UoNSport throughout the week for all the latest news and updates.

Men’s 1st

After narrowly missing out on top spot in the Premier North division to Trent on goal difference only, our Men’s team includes two sports scholars in Paul and Liam.

University of Nottingham Table Tennis Mens 1st team

Paul McCreery

Now in his fourth year studying Chemical Engineering, sports scholar Paul already has an impressive list of achievements behind him –  Irish National Champion, three times National Champion, overall British GP u21 Champion and part of the Commonwealth Games quarter finals team, all Paul has left to do this year is win the cup!

Liam McTiernan

A first year Economics student, scholar Liam is another high achiever, with a BUCS Men’s Doubles Gold medal to go alongside being Under 18 British and National Schools Champion. Liam plans to break into the top 20 players in England, so his performance on Wednesday will surely be the next step along that path.

Ben Gardner

Fourth year Chemistry student Ben made it to the last 16 of the BUCS Mixed Doubles in 2013/14, and qualified for the World Schools Team Championships. Should Nottingham beat Trent in the final, he’ll celebrate with a well-earned trip to Legoland.

James Grayson (Captain)

Another Chemistry student, this time in his third year, James has proudly watched over the constant success and commitment from all players on his team this season. James boasts a Top 10 Cadet & Top 25 Junior ranking, but plans to add a cup win to that to finish off his year before his next target, qualifying for the European Championships.

Women’s 1st

Another narrow miss to top spot in the Midlands 1A league to Trent by just a handful of points, the Women’s team only lost one game all season and are ready to take their revenge on Trent in the final.

University of Nottingham Table Tennis Women’s 1st team

Yolanda King (Captain)

Sports scholar and 2nd year Geography student  Yolanda has a fearsome BUCS record under her belt – two Silver and one Bronze Medal, BUCS Mixed Doubles Gold and she’s the reigning UK School Games Champion. Yolanda plans to forge ahead into the European University Championships following the final.

Tressa Armitage

First year Psychology student and sports scholar Tressa also has BUCS medals to show off – one Silver, one Bronze – and has already represented England in competition. She also hopes to qualify for the European University Championships to bring some added green and gold to this year’s contest.

The very best of luck to our players following a fantastic, virtually unbeaten season – let’s see if we can take both the Conference and Championship cups home this year!

A final word from Assistant Director for Sport (Performance) Alexander Perry:

These are exciting times for UoN Sport, who have set inspiring and challenging goals within its Vision for Sport over the next 5 years. One of our key targets is to break into and consistently finish in the top 5 of the British University Sport rankings and to hold national titles across a range of sports. This has been made possible through University and alumni investment into coaching, scholarships and facilities. Our team of international coaches are establishing the University as a hub for sporting expertise which is attracting students of the highest calibre. Our scholar level athletes are impacting extremely positively as role models within the sports clubs, inspiring fellow students to look for more from themselves and be the best they can be. The world class facilities in the form of the David Ross sports village, due to open in Autumn 2016, will provide the environment to support athletes of national and international pedigree and bring high profile, large scale events to the campus. 

The collaboration of key partners is also crucial in supporting athletes of this level. The department is very grateful for the cooperation of admissions in supporting athletes through their entry process, along with academic departments who provide the flexibility for athletes to compete in BUCS matches on Wednesdays across the country.  This assistance has been crucial to support our student athletes in following dual careers and realising their sporting and academic potential.

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