Performance: Sports Bursar short listed for BUCS award
24 August 2009
Cardiff University Mathematics student Daniel Laxton has capped yet another outstanding season by being named on a short list of 3 for the prestigious BUCS Sportsman of the year award. The winner will be announced at the annual BUCS Awards Ball to be held at Keele University on 3rd September as part of the BUCS conference.
Being short listed for this award is reward for the way Daniel has contributed to Swimming and Water Polo both inside and outside of Cardiff University over the last year. He has been part of the water polo club in Cardiff University for 4 years and a lot of the club’s recent successes can be attributed to his dedication to the University and the sport in general. Not only does he play for the men’s team he also spends his free time coaching both the men’s and women’s teams for numerous sessions every week with no financial incentive whatsoever. This has lead to the club cementing their place as the most successful club in Cardiff University and gaining an increasing reputation inside and outside of the BUCS circuit. Both the men’s and women’s teams qualified for the BUCS finals in Sheffield again last year. The men finished an extremely credible second and the women just missed out on retaining their title by finishing third. Not only did Daniel play every minute of every match, he was also top scorer in the men’s finals and named as ‘player of the tournament’.
Daniel once again represented and captained the Welsh Universities team at the Celtic Nations tournament where he was named the event’s top scorer. During this event Daniel showed his versatility by representing Welsh Universities in the 50m and 100m Breastroke and won a Gold and Silver medal. He also managed to find the time to coach the women’s water polo team leading up to and throughout the event. This not only shows his ability as an all-rounder but also the appetite and commitment to make a contribution to University based events which is a key part of the criteria for the BUCS awards.
Outside of the BUCS circuit Daniel plays for the Welsh Wanderers water polo team in the British League and another successful season saw him finish third in the top goal scorers list. He has continued to perform on the international stage by representing Wales and once again been invited to represent Great Britain. Daniel is currently reviewing his position in this respect as he is about to enter the final year of his undergraduate degree (Mathematics and it’s applications) and unfortunately funding levels for water polo have been significantly reduced of late which is disappointing given the countdown to London 2012 has started.
Head of Sport and Exercise Stuart Vanstone commented ‘Daniel has been a huge asset to Sport at Cardiff University and we wish him well for the BUCS Sportsman of the year award. Just being named on the short list for such a prestigious award is an achievement when you consider nominations were welcomed from all 143 BUCS registered institutions. It is an acknowledgement of the growing standard of Sport here at Cardiff and we hope a sign of things to come. The key to succeeding as an elite athlete in University is to find the right balance and level of commitment between academic studies and training/competing in the chosen sport. Daniel has managed to do this successfully whilst continuing to represent the University is BUCS and as such we’d like to congratulate him on another great year’.
Daniel Laxton in action.