I spoke to Lauren Tyrell, a 20 year-old student who was formally on a sports scholarship for athletics during her second year of university.

Being a student and taking part in sport can be challenging, but finance takes a huge part in partition.

If you want to compete for your university in a chosen sport, there are several payments that need to be made.

For example, at Birmingham City University basketball team you must pay a fee of £100 and then on top of that any extra fee from the national governing body so you can compete and insurance cover.

For some students all of their student finances go towards living costs and tuition fees.

This means for anyone to have any extra leisure time it means getting money from somewhere.

Lauren said: “Without the extra funding, taking part in sport would have been hard. The scholarship was able to help me towards membership payments, travel to and from competition, entry fees, kit and equipment.”

She explained how once she went off to university her parents stopped paying sports fees for her.

This meant she had to get a part time job, so her days consisted of uni, work, and training.

However, since taking a break out of education and deciding to take a placement year it has had a huge impact on her participation in sport.

Now that she is working a nine to five job, she has no time for training and if she decided to take time out it means she can’t pay for the essentials, for example groceries and bills.

Athletics isn’t an easy sport to earn money

Being only 20 years of age, athletes like Lauren usually will be hitting their peak, but it has shown that without the correct financial support this isn’t possible.

Lukas Audickas book (PDF) states that participation in sport throughout England is affected by age.

Ages 16-25 is when people are more physically active, and there is a drastic drop from 55% to 32% when it comes to those aged 26 and over.

63% of men are more active in sport compared to 58% of women, this is because women aren’t payed as much in sport as men this means to support themselves they need to work this mean s less time for physical activity.

This can happen from the age of 20, just like Lauren who had to pick work over physical activity.

The senior communications manager at the Football Association spoke to Birmingham City University Journalism students to explain how he rebuilt relations between the media and the England team.

Andy Walker, 37, has been working for the FA for four years. He has helped to evolve the way the England players interact with media.

Mr Walker said: “Players have felt pressure from the media and it has affected the way they play. Whereas players need to keep an opened mind and focus on the game not what questions are to come and if they will be drilled by the media”

Studies had shown that fear of the media had become a factor in the national team’s psyche and lead to failure.

Ever Since Gareth Southgate became the manager Mr Walker realised something had to change.

So the FA’s visions was to “unite the game, inspire the nation” and the England’s Communications visions: “shift perceptions to aid performance.”

This gave his team something to work towards and figure out what needed to change.

There were three aspects they looked at:

1. change the environment, meaning make the space open and reducing the intensity on the player.
2. Share the load between the players. This means more voices can be heard a better spread but also it doesn’t put the pressure on just one person.
3. Finally, getting the players used to who they will be talking to. By seeing a familiar face the player will be more relaxed and likely to share more information.

This is something they was put into place before the World Cup.

The younger players of the England team who have come through the system are now schooled in this approach so it does not come as a shock to them.

Mr Walker and his fellow colleagues even went and experimented with media, look at other clubs, sport and even going to watch the NFL Super Bowl.

This was a huge eye-opener and changed the aspect of media for all England players.

Slowly but surely Birmingham City University will be a well know at the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS).

BUCS is a National Governing Body for all sports involved in higher education in the UK. they cover over 45 across the UK sports both team and individual at both domestic and international level.

It’s one the best ways students can show off their sporting abilities.

Even though BCU is a growing team they aren’t going unnoticed. This past weekend we had a total of 6 students representing the university in both athletics and fencing.

In the athletics we had a few members who were experiencing their first BUCS. One male and two females in the 60m, one male in the high jump and a female Long jumper.

Over all in athletics we managed to come out with a personal best in the 60m, a 60m semi-finalist and a gold medal in the high jump clearing a height of 2.14m.

In the fencing the student had a great run. He won the first two battles 15-0 and 15-3. It shows he’s in great shape. Unfortunately knocked out in the third round losing 15-8.

The students describe the experience as one they look forward to as they get a chance to compete against other universities. It’s a way to show off their talents. Having the chance to represent the university was great. However, they feel like there should be more members of the team to collect more points and so it feels like more of a team event and more supportive.

The university has been great help with the preparation towards the events and entering, having group meetings so we can all get to know one another and provide any extra support.

This event has got everyone excited for the outdoor season and next rounds and hope to see more positive outcome.

BCU is looking for more students to get involved throughout the rest of the year, you can find the team and club information on the unit website.

An elderly Leicester City fan has given away her season ticket and vowed not to watch her club again after stewards confiscated her Puel Out poster.

Edith Weston, 78, from Braunstone, Leicester, has been a lifelong Leicester City supporter. Her grandparents and parents where both supporters of the club.

But after having her Puel Out poster confiscated before the Southampton game she has decided she wants nothing to do with her club anymore. “I’ve given my season ticket to my neighbour,” she said, adding that she won’t attended another football match while Claude Puel is the manager.

Even though Edith hasn’t received an apology from the club they have spoken on the subject and said, “The member of staff in question has been spoken to and reminded of our policies.” A spokesman said: “While the club encourages supporters to contribute positively to the match day atmospheres, we absolutely respect the right of our fans to reasonable express their view.” However anything further they didn’t want to make a comment on.

Edith’s devotion to the Foxes goes back a long way.

She used to work as a clerical assistant at Leicester City in the 1970s. She has been a season holder since 1970s and had one ever since. “I’ve seen all sorts in my time here – good, bad and ugly,” she said.

The experience last Saturday made her feel very uncomfortable and embarrassed, Edith said: “I felt like a little girl at school when the steward told me off. He properly scolded me and took my poster away.”

Cliff Ginetta, chairman of Leicester City Football Supporters Association also had an opinion on the incident. That fans have put them in a 50/50 situation. He said “it’s a tricky one because we’re 8^th in the league, and I’m sure if you’d asked fans before the start of the season if they’d have accepted that, they would have said yes.”

Then you have to look at how football is played and Ginetta said: “but some of the football has been dire,”

This does not mean he agrees with the actions of the steward, but the decisions of keeping or getting rid of Puel is a hard decision. “I feel sorry for Edith. I hope the club say sorry and realise that it’s a free world.”

Hints and tips on how to become a successful journalist were given to sports journalism students at Birmingham City University this morning.

The talk by Mat Kendrick, the Sports Football Editor for Birmingham Live, was a simple meet and greet and a way to ask any questions about his past and what to look forward to in the future.

Kendrick spoke about his past and his path to get where he is today. He never started out at a sports journalist. After leaving Wolverhampton University he started work as a news reporter.

This put him out his comfort zone. He talked about the “death knock” he was made to go out and speak to those who were grieving. This was a very uncomfortable experience for him. But it had a huge impact on his future career.

Mat Kendrick said it gave him a tougher skin. “Because of this when I receive harsh comments, it doesn’t affect me,” he said.

“If I was asked to do it again today I still wouldn’t want to do I, but is has helped me become the journalist I am today.”

Then Kendrick went on to speak about the change in technology. Five or six years ago you could write about what you thought the people want to read, rather than what they actually want to read.

This is because technology has advanced and the company is now able to access website statistics. That’s what they base their news stories on today.

As advice he told us “not guessing, but giving,” meaning found out what the public want then write about it, do research and know our audience.

Kendrick has a great history for wanting to write for Aston Villa and become a sports writer.

From a young age he has been a Villa fan, but because of his parents and his religious background he soon realised he would never play for the team.

However, he was exposed to newspapers from the age of eight. This was his only way to know about football and what was going on.

This catapulted his love for writing.

We thought that being a Villa supporter would be hard for him as you tend to side with your preferred team. However, it is possible.

He said: “I look at all teams equally and I write to the audience instead of my own preference.” By doing this it created more clicks and more readers.

What happens next to Leicester City Football Club after sudden loss of Chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha?

Saturday evening after the game West Ham United vs Leicester City, it was a norm for Vichai to get home via helicopter, but this time the chairman never made it home. The helicopter crashed in the club’s car park.

One of Leicester City’s biggest fans and Journalist Lee Marlow had a lot to say about this event. He was at the game and expressed his feelings to us about how he thought the two teams had played. Because they weren’t playing to his expectations once the finial whistle had been blown he was out of his seat and left the stadium.

This was common for most of the fans and because the match finished with a 1-1 draw the moral was already low.

Once hearing the news about Vichai’s death there was distress to players, fans and the community as a whole.

We had a chat with Lee Marlow to see what he had to say.

We first asked him about his relationship with Leicester City.

He’s been a huge fan of the club since the age of 8 and he used to work with Leicester Mercury and in the past wrote match reports, big feature interviews, even taken part as being the mascot for the team.

So he was heavily involved with the team, and considers the team as part of his family.

Being a life long supporter he has been with the club through it up and down, range of chairman’s. Marlow sung Vichai’s praises.

He believes without Vichai there is a possibility the team may have never been so successful. This isn’t just because he put loads of money into the club but he also contributed to the city.

 

 

 

Gareth Southgate Press conference

Continue reading “England VS Spain 1-2” →

Who is going to be the new boss at Aston Villa? Continue reading “Villa Fans tip Thierry Henry as new Aston Villa manager” →

Secretive meetings have raised a few eyebrows

Former Villa boss Martin O’Neill was spotted having secret talks with club chairman Nassef Sawiris in a service station car park last night.
The meeting fuels speculation that current Villa boss, Steve Bruce, could be sacked, following a run of poor results.
The two sat together, in Sawiris’s grey Range Rover, for 45 minutes. A spokeswoman for the Republic of Ireland team had confided O’Neill was in Birmingham the night of the meeting, but O’Neill refused to make a comment about this.
Sawiris was asked about the comment Bruce had made about the events that had passed. He said “I know nothing about this. The chairman has backed me and as far as I am concerned, I am the manager of Aston Villa Football Club”.
Yet again like O’Neill, Sawiris has nothing to say and refused to comment.
People are starting to question the Sawiris loyalties towards Bruce. Even though he said “we back Steve Bruce. He is the Villa manager. He has the chairman’s’ 100 per cent support”
Because of this Bruce being sacked is starting to become a topic of conversation and Sawiris’s name keeps creeping up in conversation.
O’Neill isn’t the first time Sawiris has been talking to other members of other football clubs. For instant Claudio Ranieiri, the former Chelsea and Leicester City boss.

 

Two guys, one sport, one event.

It was the 2015 athletics world championships, held at the Beijing National Stadium. It was an event the whole world was waiting for. Usain Bolt vs Justin Gatlin, one is a two times 100m champion looking to make it three.

The other has a tarnished reputation, caught taking illegal drugs twice. Despite this, the controversial American was having the best season of his life and was out for the gold. There could only be one winner.

This whole battle began at the beginning of the athletics season. Gatlin was already a hated guy, and had been banned from the sport in both 2001 and 2006. Nobody believed he should be given a third chance, but he came back stranger and faster than ever.

He was matching the times Bolt had ran a world record 9.77 seconds but that was taken away from him due to drug use. Now more than ever this season had to be the one.

After running 9.87 seconds at the anniversary game he knew his intentions of a gold medal where high. And that’s when he began to challenge Bolt. The news was plastered over all the back pages, on all the radio bulletins. Even some of the strongest Bolt fans started to believe he could be beaten.

But Bolt wasn’t having it. He is the world record holder in 100m (9.58) 200m (19.19) and also the 4×100 relay (37.10). These were all great achievements of his but this championships he had a huge amount of pressure on him.

He had a winning streak, everyone was expecting him to win. But, this was going to be a huge challenge for him. He came into the season late. He was suffering from injuries and having to miss out on races. This would have been be a huge set back and put him at a disadvantage and his season plan would have been effected drastically.

Putting all the past to the side it was down to these championships. After heat one Gatlin had qualified into the second round in pole position with a time of 9.83 seconds with slight wind assist.

Bolt was all the way down in fifth place with a time of 9.96 seconds. However, these times were irrelevant. The most important was that they both got through to the next round. But lest not forget the other contenders. Who knows what could happen.

It had now come down to the semi-finals.

Heat one, Bolt steps out, the crowd were loving him, and it was as if it was his championships. He won this race but it wasn’t easy with the young Canadian Andre De Grasse on his heels. This may have also given Gatlin a fright.

Heat two, Gatlin gets announced. There was a chill to the stadium, it was as if no one wanted him there. We was then taken to the start nine, he was announced again. The people weren’t pleased, “the cheat” was booed. Even though he had earned his spot and had the right of being there. But, he still kept his head high ran the race and won.

The final, 23rd August 21:15. Bolt in lane 5, Gatlin in lane 7.

The started called them to their marks, set, GO!! Bolt gest a very poor start and Gatlin leads for the first 30m. They had the whole stadium on their feet, hearts were racing. It can go either way.

50m in Bolt finally get into his running, Gatlin is now under pressure. Nobody can bear to watch, it as is they were running in sync.

The last 20m Gatling begins to lose form, his technique is all over the place, he’s just reaching for the line. Bolt just gets to the line before him by a dip and lean of the chest.

Bolt has done it. Three times 100m world champion. He ran a time of 9.79 seconds and Gatlin come in a close second with a time of 9.80 seconds. They were a class apart from the rest.

But the battle lives one. Round two, Rio Olympics 2016