2nd annual ARCS awards celebrate sports at Imperial

Last Friday, Sport Imperial hosted the second annual Imperial ARCS (Appreciate, Recognise and Celebrate Sport) award ceremony championing those who have contributed to sport at Imperial College over the past year. The event was attented by over 140 guests including nominees for awards, supporting team members, coaches, teaching staff from Imperial, various officials, sponsors and partner organisations.

Guests were treated to a selection of snacks on arrival as well as a generous spread of alcoholic beverages which made sure that some of the contingent was suitably well lubricated before the evening’s events got underway. After an introduction by head of Sport Imperial, Neil Mosley, the guests were treated to a reception by the England Rugby Union 7’s Head Coach, Ben Ryan, who had come dressed in an England Rugby Union polo to vanquish any thoughts that he may not have been the real McCoy. Ryan presented a thoroughly descriptive, informative and above all interesting story of his life and how he came into possessing his current position within the England Rugby Union setup. Few people would have been previously aware of Ryan as the 7’s form of Rugby Union is only just gaining prominence, yet he has been in his current job since 2007. Ryan informed the audience how, after representing England at schoolboy level he went to Loughborough University to study a Sports science degree. Incredibly, Ryan recounted how 130 students turned up to the ‘Fresher Rugby Trials’, at Imperial we are still working to get such a turn out. Thirty of that number played at centre, where Ryan plied his trade. Of those thirty, ten had schoolboy international honours, an unbelievable statistic. Ryan recounted how he failed his first year focusing too intently on playing rugby and the associated social life rather than being a conscientious student. Although he failed to disclose what team he played for at Loughborough, we shall give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that he played for the 1s. Following his first year, Ryan knuckled down to work and eventually graduated before studying for a Masters at Cambridge where he won two Varsity matches against Oxford. Following his talk Ryan was kind enough to answer some of the questions posed by the audience giving insightful and informative answers.

During a brief intermission, a martial arts display by ‘Shorinjo Kempo’ was performed with the demonstrators showing ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ self-defence moves. Eight awards were presented throughout the evening; Hellen Maufour, Imperial Medicals Netball coach won the Coach of the Year Award. Marie de Parseval from Imperial Judo club won Ambassador of the Year whilst Alice Mitchell won Athlete of the Year. Sports Writer of the Year was won by David Wilson, with Iain Reid collecting the Sports Photograph of the Year award. The Ethos award was presented to Fast Fins and Student Team of the Year was won by Table Tennis Men’s 1s while the Student Club of the Year gong was awarded to Fencing.

An enjoyable night was had by all with the aforementioned alcohol continually served once the awards had been presented. Special thanks go to Sport Imperial for hosting the event, as well as the number of sponsors and special guests who contributed to make the night such a success.