National stage is awaiting students

Two Chichester College sports teams are heading to the Association of Colleges Sports National Championship this weekend to compete against the best of the best in college sports.

The men’s volleyball and pan-ability football teams qualified for the competition earlier in the year and travel to the University of Nottingham to represent the South East region in their sports.

The AOC Sports’ National Championship, in its 42nd year, is the longest running student sport event in the UK, bringing together almost 2,000 of the country’s young athletes across 13 sports including netball, volleyball, rugby and football.

Jordan Butler – one of Chichester College’s pan-ability footballers – has been selected as male captain for the South East region and will be carrying the flag for the region during the opening ceremony, while lecturer David Daniel has been named as the male staff captain for the region.

Jordan said: “It’s just an honour. This is a great opportunity for me and I want to set an example for future generations to come.

“I’m feeling confident. We’ve been training hard as a team, and we want to do the college proud.

“I’ve been at the college for a number of years, and I just want to make everyone proud. I feel really blessed by all the amazing coaches, staff and lecturers who have been really supportive.”

Helen Loftus, Interim Principal at Chichester College, added: “We are extremely proud of both our pan-disability and volleyball teams. For our volleyball team to reach the finals in their very first season is a tremendous accomplishment. And to see our pandisability players come together to overcome their challenges – as a team – is inspirational.”