Team Bath Netball have thanked Stacey Francis for ten outstanding years of loyal service after the England defender confirmed she would be joining Yorkshire Jets for the 2016 Vitality Superleague season. Francis was Team Bath’s longest serving player, having joined the franchise back in 2005, and was a key performer in all five of the Blue and Gold’s Superleague victories. She was the youngest member of the squad to win the inaugural Superleague in 2006,...
Piers Gilliver continued his medal-laden year by winning silver at the 2015 Wheelchair Fencing World Championships in Eger, Hungary. And it was mighty close to gold for Gilliver, who began training full-time at the University of Bath this year, as he was edged out 15-14 by China’s Gang Sun in a thrilling A Category men’s epee final. Sun took the sole automatic qualifying place available for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games but Gilliver is well...
University of Bath-based athletes Paul Blake and Sophie Kamlish have been named in a 48-strong British Athletics team for next month’s IPC World Championships in Doha. Blake has won gold medals at the last two championships – in New Zealand in 2011, where he took the T36 400m title, and in France in 2013 where he produced a stunning performance to take the 800m crown. The double Paralympic medallist will once again compete over both...
The 2015/16 academic year may still be a week away but the University of Bath’s hockey players are already back in training ahead of the new BUCS season. Freshers and returning students have arrived on campus early to be put through their paces by Jody Paul, the University’s Head Hockey Coach. As part of their first training week, the men’s and women’s teams took on teams from Repton School in Derbyshire – one of the...
Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold is taking a season-long break from competition but will return to skeleton in the hope of becoming the first slider and the first British Winter Olympian to defend her title in PyeongChang in 2018. Yarnold, who trains with the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association at the University of Bath, made history this year when she won the World and European Championships to complete a career Grand Slam of skeleton titles, having...
The University of Bath has paid tribute to former skeleton World Champion Dr Kristan Bromley, who has announced his retirement from competition. Bromley both trained and worked at the University and was a pioneer in sled design technology during his time as a Research Officer in Engineering & Applied Science from 2002 to 2006. He was involved in producing the sled on which Alex Coomber won a historic bronze medal at the 2002 Winter Olympic...
Dan Bethell and Bobby Griffin won four medals between them at the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships in Aylesbury. The duo – who train weekly with Team Bath Futures and Peter Bush, Head Badminton Coach at the University – both competed in the Standing events. Former European Champion Bethell, who has cerebral palsy, reached the semi-finals of the SL3 singles competition and took the first set off Pramod Bhagat. However, the Indonesian hit back to win a...
Captain Stephen Moore has praised the "terrific facilities" at the University of Bath after two-time Rugby World Cup winners Australia staged their first training session at the Team Base on Tuesday. The Wallabies, led by Head Coach Michael Cheika, were put through their paces on one of the Sports Training Village’s outstanding outdoor pitches in the morning. Star names such as full-back Israel Falou, winger Matt Giteau and flankers David Pocock and Michael Hooper then...
Anna Mayes (now Anna Stembridge) and Jess Thirlby are set to reunite in a strong coaching line-up announced today by Team Bath Netball’s 2015-2016 Vitality Superleague franchise. Stembridge joins the Carter Jonas-backed University of Bath-based franchise as Head Coach whilst Thirlby steps into the role of Director of Netball. The duo will form the main coaching team, with Thirlby (pictured, right) appearing on the bench alongside Mayes (left) on match days. Other technical and guest...
University of Bath assistant rugby coach Rob Webber has been named in the England match-day 23 for Friday’s opening Rugby World Cup fixture against Fiji at Twickenham. The hooker is joined on the replacements bench by fellow Bath Rugby player Sam Burgess, while club colleagues George Ford, Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson are all in the starting XV. Webber has assisted Aaron James, the University’s Head of Rugby, with coaching the student teams for the...
