About Us
Team Durham: Allowing Exceptional People To Do Exceptional Things
Welcome to the home of sport at Durham University, the premier sporting University in the North of England.
The strategy for sport at Durham University is centred on the three core strands of performance, participation and community outreach. 85% of our students take part in sport on a regular basis in a programme that is both innovative and constantly changing.
Our philosophy at Durham is to provide opportunities in sport to allow exceptional people to do exceptional things. In this respect there can be few better shining examples than Will Carling, Nasser Hussain, Jonathan Edwards and Andrew Strauss. If you want to continue to pursue sport at a high level, then there are few better places to do that than Durham.
At the present time we have full time coaches in Basketball, Cricket, Fencing, Hockey, Lacrosse, Tennis and Rowing. The difference that a professional structure can make to the development of student athletes should not be underestimated. We have First Class County Cricket status, compete in the England Hockey National League and boast a plethora of rowers and fencers who compete at an international level. In the knowledge of how our full time coaches have impacted elsewhere, it is hoped that the additional appointments will result in our overall programme improving beyond recognition. Team Durham also works closely alongside Governing Bodies of Sport. We are an English Institute of Sport hub site, a British Olympic passport holder’s site, and host centres of excellence in rowing, cricket and fencing.
The university continues to host the House of Sport which is home to a number of regional governing bodies. Our close working relationship with such external partners ensures that students have every opportunity possible to progress through their sport specific performance pathway. This is evidenced by the continual flow of student athletes who compete at the highest of levels whilst studying at Durham. Current examples include Claire Bennett who has represented the Senior England Fencing Team at the Commonwealth Games and Felicity Milton who represented Great Britain at the 2007 World Cross Country Championships. Both students were on full time undergraduate courses.
One of the key attractions of Durham University is the collegiate structure, and this is very much the case when it comes to sport. Durham’s College Sport programme is larger than any other intra-mural competition offered in Britain and there is an opportunity for male and female students to compete in over 12 sports on a weekly basis. This not only stimulates a healthy college rivalry but it also provides a sense of belonging to many students, something that is often very important during the initial stages of an individual’s University career. Similarly, the programme provides a suitable alternative for those who have not managed to be selected for University squads, whilst a regular competitive framework makes a positive contribution to the healthy lifestyle agenda.
The vast majority of the organisation for College Sport is student led and it is estimated that in a programme that includes over 6000 students, approximately 1000 are exposed to organisational and management experiences at some stage throughout their time at Durham. Such experiences assist in the overall development of students and equip them with vital skills for their future careers. The programme also allows students to gain significant coaching and officiating experience. We have introduced our own internal official's structure, for example, Durham was the first university to host its own Rugby Union Referees society. We also host and financially support many coaching courses. The skills students attain from such experiences not only develop a sport specific skill set, but can also be vital assets in many other walks of life.
The third strand of the Team Durham programme focuses on our role in the locality, the region and internationally. The University Sport programme now engages with all 47 local Durham schools and all of the city’s major clubs. Our involvement is increasingly rewarding; over 100 students volunteer to coach within schools on an annual basis, whilst approximately 2000 children are presented with the opportunity to use the University’s sporting facilities each year. However it is perhaps the role that these partnerships play beyond sport that is most important, with the aspirations of children increasing as a direct result of exposure to the University and regular access to current university students.
Team Durham has also established an outstanding reputation with regard to broader outreach work. Sport can impact positively upon well being and individual development in many different ways and we now have sport programmes working with drug rehabilitation clients, disengaged adolescent young girls, vulnerable women, homeless, looked after children and youth offenders. Multi-skill sport programmes are adopted in consultation with client groups and are delivered with the objective of facilitating the development of a series of generic skills that serve to benefit the clients in their normal every day life. Perhaps the best example of this programme in action is the Second Chance Football initiative. Clients train in eight week blocks followed by a local tournament which leads to a regional final. Over the last two years, seventy clients have been involved in the programme, whilst over forty students have assisted in the delivery of the project. During this time period six clients have attained their FA Level 1 coaching award, and the majority have benefited from the development of their self worth and specific skills such as team work, leadership and self discipline.
