Over the summer, former Richmond upon Thames College student Bianca Williams shot to athletics stardom by taking two bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Former Richmond upon Thames College (RuTC) students Bianca Williams and Claire Allan have both brought home medals from the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Bianca Williams, who studied a BTEC Level 3 in Sport at RuTC, ran the third leg of the 4x100 metre relay at the Games on Australia’s Gold Coast. With a national record of 42.46 seconds, Bianca and her teammates won the Gold medal for England.

Claire Allan, who studied A Levels at RuTC and currently plays for the English Women’s Rugby Team, helped the team win a Bronze medal for England in the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens tournament.

Find out more about studying Sport at RuTC.

On Wednesday 13th December (2017), the Richmond upon Thames Girls’ Football team played in the Surrey FA Futsal Tournament at Woking Leisure Centre. The team won the tournament, conceding only 1 goal and losing just 1 game out of 6 teams.

Sports Centre Manager, Mark Borough, spoke about the development of the Girls’ Football team and their introduction to the world of Futsal. “We’ve always had a boys’ football academy team which is always very popular - and alongside this has had a girls’ football development team. But for the last 4-5 years, we have struggled to have enough girls to be able to play full sided games - so this year we took the view to focus on 5-a-side games and futsal this year rather than 11 a-side leagues as with the boys’ teams.”

The tournament comprised of local Further Education colleges including; John Ruskin College, Reigate College, Strodes College, Woking College & Brooklands College.

Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced, five-a-side indoor football game that is widely played across the world and is officially recognised by both UEFA and FIFA.

The next tournament will be taking place at Woking Leisure Centre on the 31st January and Mark has high hopes for the year ahead and sports at the college in general. “Our plan for 2018 is to continue playing futsal as it has proved popular and is growing in popularity across the country.”

The Richmond upon Thames Girls’ Football Team train and meet every Wednesday between 12.50pm-1.50pm, in the Sports Hall.

Find out more about studying Sport and Exercise at RuTC

On Tuesday 22 April, sports students were treated to a guest talk from England 2015 recruitment manager, Jon Massie. Mr Massie, who is responsible for the overall recruitment of all paid staff for England Rugby 2015, gave a fascinating insight in to the building of sporting organisations, drawing on examples from his current role in helping to deliver the Rugby World Cup 2015, as well as from his key involvement in the London 2012 Olympics.

BTEC sport student Dan Vary is on his way to British Schools' Judo Championships after winning gold at the London area trials.

In November, A level student Heather Cowell won gold for Great Britain at the 23rd World AgeGroup Trampoline and Tumbling Championships in Bulgaria.

On 5 April, A level students Caroline Cooper and Alice Zou took badminton silver at the British Colleges Sport National Championships - held at the University of Bath.

David Dein, former vice-chairman of both Arsenal Football Club and the Football Association, visited the College on Wednesday 2 April to deliver an inspiring talk to business and sports students.

Students Jack Lumb, Daniel Pinn and D'yon Christopher were celebrating on Wednesday 6 November after successfully qualifying for the British Colleges Sport national finals.