Churchill students have also excelled on the hockey pitch this year with varsity success for two current undergraduates: 3rd year Amy Litchfield and 1st year James Southorn! Amy plays for the women’s blues team and James plays for the Men’s 2nd team, also known as the Wanderers. We met with Amy and James to hear their stories.
Meet Amy
I’m a 3rd year Natural Scientist (Biological), originally from Oxford and the vice-captain of Cambridge University Hockey Club women’s first XI. Having played hockey since I was nine years old when I joined my local club it was a no-brainer joining Cambridge University Hockey Club! Since joining I have never looked back and now hockey is such as important part of my life, both for keeping active and for making friends.
We train three times a week (twice on pitch and once for strength and conditioning). We also have on average of two matches a week, which is very time consuming if they both happen to be away (and very stressful with work). I have learnt to be efficient with my time and even though it’s stressful at times, hockey does keep me sane during term time.
I am very proud to have FINALLY won varsity this year with a 1-0 victory! Having played blues for the last three years it’s about time we beat Oxford! Cambridge are always the underdogs in the Women’s Blues Varsity match, given that Oxford are in the league above us for both BUCS and Saturday league, so beating them was no easy feat. The win was a long time in the making and something my team have been building up to for the last two years. The team has been consistent for the past two years which has helped us improve both individually and as a team, with the help of our coach. We have had an incredible season this year, and playing with CUHC W1s is so much fun – it helps that we have only lost four out of the 33 games we’ve played this season…
I applied here direct and I’m so glad I did! On the open day, when I first visited Cambridge, I went into a few colleges in town but wasn’t completely sold on any of them. On the walk back to the car we saw that there was a college (Churchill) that was still open so went and had a look. I liked how spacious and light the rooms were with the window seats and the fact that you could walk on the grass, unlike most colleges! I thought this reflected the relaxed vibe of the college and after being here for three I can confirm that it does. Honestly everyone says this, but what I like most is how welcoming and friendly everyone at College is and how this fits with the general chill atmosphere here and one of my favourite things is still being able to walk on the grass, especially in summer!
Looking ahead, I have a job lined up in London starting in January in management consulting. I also plan to keep playing hockey, so I need to decide which club in London I want to join!
Meet James
I’m a first year MML student from London. I started playing hockey for my local club when I was 13 and have loved it ever since. I was keen to get involved in university sport and it has been one of the best decisions that I have made. Being in CUHC takes up a lot of my time as we train three times and play two matches a week and I love how this structures my time. It has greatly influenced my social life and helped me to feel more settled as a fresher as I managed to make some great friends during pre-season.
The Wanderers (Men’s university second team) have had a great season, winning our varsity match 3-0 and the BUCS Conference Cup. After the Christmas break we all got our heads down and worked really hard to prepare for varsity so it was incredibly satisfying to see it pay off and to win so convincingly. It was a grudge match as Oxford had narrowly beaten the Wanderers last year on penalty shuffles, so this year the revenge was sweet!
I’m very happy to be at Churchill and particularly like the College accommodation! Having a big room with a window seat is lovely and it is nice to have a base that you look forward to coming back to after a long day.