The chairwoman of De Montfort University Leicester’s (DMU) women’s hockey team has said that investment in equipment and a team coach helped their side to an unbeaten league win this year.
Lydia Briggs said that her side’s flawless season – taking six wins from six – was hugely influenced by the near-£1 million investment DMU has made into its sports provision.
For the DMU Women’s Hockey 1st team, this funding pays for more coaching time, better equipment and benefiting from a partnership with Leicester Ladies Hockey Club, one of the oldest and most successful hockey clubs in the UK
And Lydia said that support and expertise helped to their amazing run of results, which has won them promotion from the third tier in the Midlands league.
The 23-year-old said: “The team spirit has been brilliant this year. There are a lot of freshers in the team and as we have won each win – quite comfortably – there is a real confidence which has built.
“But definitely, the main difference is having the coach, David Hill from Leicester Ladies, with us during training and at the matches. Last year we were playing matches on our own, subbing ourselves.
“But having someone there, supporting us, giving us tactical advice – it’s just a huge difference.”
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The side are now looking forward to seeing their cup run through – they’re in the quarter-finals – and focusing on Varsity, which starts in March.
Lydia said: “We’re really apprehensive about Varsity but excited, too. This season has been incredible and we’re really fired up to carry that form on.”
Hockey wasn’t the only success for Team DMU in this week’s BUCS fixtures. Both men’s and women’s 1st basketball teams scored Oxbridge wins, beating Oxford 2nd and Cambridge 2nd respectively.
In football, DMU’s men’s 3rd, 4th and 5th teams all took victories, as did the men’s 1st rugby union side.
DMU Men’s Squash 1st took University of Warwick’s 3rd men’s team apart in a 5-0 drubbing, while Women’s 3rd Netball side won a convincing 34-12 game against the University of Bedfordshire’s 2nd side, complementing DMU’s 1st Netball side beating Oxford Brookes 68-45.
Overall, DMU teams were unbeaten in 17 out of the 28 fixtures.
Posted on Tuesday 7 February 2017