This week’s BUCS Big Wednesday is an event I’ve been looking forward to since my first day in the job.
A championship and trophy finals event featuring 16 team sports is right up my street… After all, it’s the path I once trod as a student at Loughborough! Getting to a final is an amazing achievement for any team or athlete and one to celebrate. It is also an emotional experience, and through emotion people often experience their most vivid and long-lasting learning.
Indeed, the final in ‘my’ sport, Volleyball is taking place in exactly the same venue where I played in three finals back in 2001, 2002 and 2005, so I will be living every moment of those matches.
Casting my mind back to my own student days, I can sense the feelings of anticipation, excitement and nerves that the student-athletes will be feeling as they approach the day. We always got into a clear routine. The Club had a strong culture led by coaches and captains, and I can remember some of the things we did to get physically and mentally ready… eating and drinking right, the flip charts, the walk throughs, the combination of fresh air and also being in the hall long enough pre-match to let your eyes adjust but not get a banging headache from all the noise!
And after all that, we lost in the final three times! Back then it was an eight-team tournament format to end the league season, and three times we played through the weekend to reach the final and left with a silver medal. University of Glasgow pipped us 16-14 in the deciding set in 2001 after we had match point, then University of Cambridge took us apart in the 2002 final, before as a post-grad we played University of Nottingham and again lost a thrilling encounter this time 17-15 in the deciding set.
Its cheesy I know, but those defeats taught me a lot In fact, losing the first two was part of the reason I was so keen to complete an MSc, so keen was I to be part of a team that won the final. The team dynamic was probably the biggest learning I took into my working life. We had such a range of personalities in those teams, studying very different courses, and with very different approaches and backgrounds to our sport. I realised you don’t all have to be great mates to form a strong team, but you do need to trust each other. Our coach was tough, his standards were sky high, and despite being strong technically and tactically the thing I remember most of his coaching was his demand on us to concentrate, especially when we didn’t have the ball.
As a result, building trust and having focus and discipline became performance mantras that I apply as a professional.
Each year as we dusted ourselves down from the defeat, we celebrated our women’s team winning the final. I’m not proud of this, but I found it tough. We trained on adjacent courts two or three evenings each week, and shared each other’s experiences all season. Delivering the toast to their success whilst contemplating falling at the final hurdle was a lesson in humility and respect, and one that I remind myself of when my own self-confidence spills over.
Whatever your experiences at BUCS Big Wednesday, they have the potential to provide you with inspiration for the decades ahead. Wishing you the very best for your performances on the field, pitch, court or in the pool – and for the lessons you learn from the day.
BUCS Big Wednesday takes place at Loughborough University on Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 March. Find out more, and secure your tickets - including for the Volleyball finals - here.
