Student Spotlight: Sports clubs
Student Spotlights pass the mic to our student doctors, to hear their take on their School experience and shine the light on a particular role, team or pathway through the School of Medicine.
Student Doctor Kieren Higginson is this year’s Sports Secretary for the Liverpool Medical Students’ Society (LMSS). In his role, he helps coordinate the society’s various sports teams and run the annual, and rather competitive, Medics vs Dentists vs Vets Sports Day.
Kieren is a strong believer in the power of sports to positively impact both your physical and mental health, as well as being a fantastic way to meet new friends.
“Our Netball, Women’s Football, Men’s Football, Hockey and Rugby teams are well underway in this year’s NAMS competition. For those that don’t know, NAMS stands for the National Association of Medical Schools. It is a yearly competition in which medical schools from across the country compete against each other in each sport.
It has been a very successful start to the season, with the rugby team and women’s football team into the quarter finals, and the hockey team into the semi-final. The netball team and the men’s football team are still in their group stages but are in a promising position to qualify to the knockout stages."
All the teams have had an amazing start to the year for various reasons and let’s hope 2022 brings more of the same!
Student Doctors Kay Whatton, Tabitha Champion, Faye Platt, Bilal Ali, Ed Routh and Rowan Davies share this season’s trials and tribulations for their sports clubs.
Liverpool Medical School Netball Club
Kay Whatton – Netball Captain
- 21-22 season highlights so far: Our NAMS teams have played 5 league matches, two narrow loses to Newcastle 1s and Leeds 1s, a well fought draw with Manchester and two big wins against Leeds 2s and Newcastle 2s. We have two final games to play, which we expect to win, which would mean we can qualify for the cup final. Our 2s are also doing very well in their Sunday league, currently sitting in second place!
- Feel-good factors: The combination of socialising and exercise is good for physical and mental wellbeing.
I have made most of my closest friends through the club.
- New year ambitions: We’re looking forward to getting back into playing matches! All five of our teams play matches frequently in various leagues and we’re hoping for some wins! We are also looking forward to our tour at the end of Feb which is a great opportunity for everyone to spend some time together outside of netball!
- Getting involved: Everyone is welcome at the club no matter their ability! We train on Thursdays, 19.00 - 21.00, at Archbishop Blanch. Follow the club on Instagram (link).
Liverpool Medical School Women's Football Club
Women's Football Club feeling festive
Tabitha Champion and Faye Platt – Women’s Football Co-Captains
- 21-22 season highlights so far: Our first NAMS match against Manchester medics in October was a close battle which we unfortunately lost 2-1. In December, we then played Sheffield and won 3-0 which meant we could go through to the next stage of the competition and play Birmingham at the end of January.
- Feel-good factors: We are a very committed, close team and it has been great this year to finally be back playing regular games to showcase the hard work we have put in.
Year on year the new talent in this team keeps building and we’re excited to see what the future holds for the club.
- New year ambitions: This year we’re most looking forward to the remainder of our NAMS matches where we’ll hopefully go all the way to the final, and the remainder of socials we have planned, including the end of year awards evening.
- Getting involved: We train every Tuesday 20.00 - 21.00 and Sunday 12.00 - 13.00. We have socials every month, which have included Christmas dinner, pub golf and an AU sports night. Follow the club on Instagram (link).
Liverpool Medical School Men's Football Club
Bilal Ali – Men’s Football President
- 21-22 season highlights so far: Our 1s team have won all their NAMS games warming them up for the crunch games vs local rivals Manchester 1s and 2s! Before Christmas, the 1s and 2s played each other in a heated affair with the score ending 4-3. The 2s team sit just below the 1s in the group. In NAM2S the 3s team just went to Birmingham with 10 players to win 4-3!
- Feel-good factors: It is great to play alongside different year groups and meet new people. This year, the first years have integrated smoothly into the club with many of them regulars in the teams now!
It is a kind and friendly environment filled with talent and a passion for the beautiful game.
- New year ambitions: We are still competing in NAMS, NAM2S, Campus Cup and Campus League which means there is still so much to play for! Our 1s and 2s team will also hope to compete in the National NAMS competition in April, which will be hosted in London this year.
- Getting involved: Our training is split between Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The Tuesday 20.00 - 21.30 slot is used for the main group session and the Wednesday slot is for more focused team training. Follow the club on Twitter (link).
Liverpool Medical School Hockey Club
Ed Routh – Hockey Co-Captain
- 21-22 season highlights so far: This year after beating Leeds 2s and Manchester in the group stages we topped our group and went on to play Leeds 1s in the quarter finals. A tense and snowy home game resulted in a Liverpool victory putting us into the NAMS semi-finals for the first time in over five years!
- Feel-good factors: I love the club and would recommend it to anyone wanting to play or try hockey or even just meet some new friends.
We're welcoming to everyone, whether you've played hockey before or not, and we're such a large club that we form a community amongst student doctors from just starting out to their final year.
- New year ambitions: I'm looking forward to NAMS, semis then hopefully onto the final. I'm also looking forward to seeing our 2s and 3s get some more competitive games, and some more wins under their belts. I'm excited to see the club keep growing and more people keep loving hockey!
- Getting involved: We train every Wednesday at Archbishop Blanch School on Smithdown Road from 19.00 to 20.00, always followed by a club meet up and social. We play competitive games across all three of our teams so that anyone, from world class to never picked up a stick can get a chance to play some hockey. Follow the club on Instagram (link).
Liverpool Medical School Rugby Club
Rowan Davies – Rugby Captain
- 21-22 season highlights so far: Topping our NAMS group in qualifying for the NAMS cup!
- Feel-good factors: There’s a great camaraderie in the team. We play both in a local men’s and medical schools league.
There’s also a busy social calendar and we’re as much a social club as we are a rugby club.
- New year ambitions: We have a possible cup run! We’re playing against Sheffield in the Quarter Finals at home, and we narrowly lost to them last time so keep your eye out for the Facebook event and get down to support us.
- Getting involved: People are welcome at all levels of rugby so come on down! Usually training is on a Wednesday, and we play on a Saturday. Follow the club on Twitter (link).
Discover more
- You can find more information about LMSS sports clubs on the LMSS website (link).
- Browse the A-Z list of all student societies on the Guild (link) and find one to suit your interests.
- Get in touch with mednews@liverpool.ac.uk if you’d like to step into the Student Spotlight or nominate a student or group to do so.