June 27, 2021, by Mathilde Tighe

The Nottingham Games 2021 Roundup

Sunday 13^th June saw an exciting one-day competition played out: The Nottingham Games. The day saw 16 fixtures take place at both David Ross Sports Village (UoN) and Lee Westwood Sports Centre (NTU), 7 of which were livestreamed and gained over 10,000 views from UoN watchers alone!

University of Nottingham dominated the Games to win 10 – 4 overall to Nottingham Trent University, clearly using the experience from their past eight Varsity wins to their advantage.

Given the difficulties to sports clubs posed by COVID-19, with most clubs unable to train for nearly 6 months this year, it is amazing that we were able to have one more day of competition involving 11 sports!

You can watch the video highlights of the day here.

Although each of the 10 victories which contributed to the overall win were extremely impressive, there were some key landslide victories for UoN in various sports.

The Men’s and Women’s Water Polo games were thrilling to watch and fierce throughout, and UoN deservedly won both at 33 – 3 and 19 – 3 respectively. This is what Water Polo coach Sam Joyce had to say about both victories: “They were both easy matches in the end and they didn’t have to work too much, but it’s all good game time so we are really happy.”

Women’s Basketball was a nail-biting game, with UoN and NTU frequently swapping to take the lead only to lose it again minutes later! However, all was well in the end when UoN stepped up and edged out in front to win 81-73. In her post-game interview, UoN’s star player Kennedly Nicholas said:

“Once the first quarter ended, I shook off all the butterflies and said to myself, I know what I am doing!”.

Mixed Table Tennis saw an impressive 6 – 3 victory for UoN, with Tokyo-bound Tin Tin Ho stepping up to represent UoN in preparation for the Olympics. Mixed Fencing was exciting to watch as always, and the final score of 135 – 97 to UoN reflects just how well our competitors performed on the day. Mixed Squash was another sport that added to our overall win, with each of the individual games leading to a 7 – 3 win for UoN! UoN also dominated Mixed Swimming to give us another win over NTU to add to our overall total.

As for Mixed Badminton, ahead of the match we caught coach Martyn Lewis telling the team: “Just enjoy this guys, enjoy competing again.” The team did more than just enjoy their matches with an incredible 11-2 win to the University of Nottingham. The Trent players were on the defence throughout the matches with our #GreenandGold players’ unfaltering momentum carrying them through to the win.

Ultimate frisbee was a vibrant game with plenty of enthusiasm from both ends. Nottingham were way ahead for a lot of the game but Trent made an excellent attempt as they began to creep back up the scoreboard. In the end Nottingham pulled through with an incredible 15-5 score, the final score by Tom Bell.

The Men’s Lacrosse game kicked off just after 2:30pm with Trent dominating the attack from the start. Despite Trent’s domination of the ball, Nottingham cashed in on every second they had the ball in hand, leaving the game with a very close 9-7 win to the #GreenandGold. Talking to Head Coach Michael Armstrong after the game:

“It was probably the game we expected it to be, it was always going to be tight. I think the boys put in a performance right from the off, so they definitely deserved the win.

A huge thank you to all of the students, volunteers and support staff who made this day possible, especially UoNSU Sports Officer Josie Jessop who worked day and night to provide one last day of competitive sport for many of our students.

The streams are still available to watch via Facebook and make sure to follow our social channels to see photos, videos and interviews with players, coaches and more from the Games.

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