Cambridge-based Hills Road Sixth Form College celebrate Association of Colleges success
Hills Road Sixth Form College has been celebrating success on the national stage.
At the start of the 2022/23 academic year, the Association of Colleges introduced a points style system to reward colleges for their engagement in sport.
Points are awarded based on league and cup entries, as well as final positions – both in regional tournaments and at the National Championships.
Colleges from up and down the country are split into three tiers based on their respective sizes, with Hills Road placed in the third tier.
And the central Cambridge-based college not only topped their section with a return of 126 points, they also finished in third position overall, getting the better of some of the most established colleges in the country in the process.
To put that into context, while Hills Road has around 2,700 students enrolled, overall national champions Peter Symonds College (140 points) have an estimated 6,000 students while second-placed Loughborough College (136 points) has 10,000.
Ayden Duffy, head of sport at Hills Road, said: “When you look at some of the colleges we finished ahead of – some massive colleges – it’s a really amazing achievement and one we’re really proud of.
“It’s a real credit to the coaches, staff, pupils and everyone that has put so much hard work into this school year.
“We’ve competed in more than 20 sports with 37 teams and had some amazing results.
“The staff have been great and the timetable has also helped so much. Sport is not something that is shoehorned in at the end of the day, it’s incorporated in and around other lessons.
“To win our tier is fantastic but then to finish in the top three overall just topped it off.”
The positive results were spearheaded by the volleyball club as they swept aside much of what was put in front of them over recent months.
After success at regional and national level they were voted the college’s Club of the Year, while their coach Frances Balaam picked up the coaches’ prize.
Other notable triumphs came courtesy of the indoor cricket team, while the badminton squad were crowned champions.
There was also a runner-up performance from the under-18 girls rugby team at the prestigious Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens tournament.
Duffy added: “The volleyball teams were outstanding and their coach Frances is a real force of nature. The club only started six or seven years ago and they are already one of the best nationally.
“There was plenty more success in the likes of badminton, cricket and the rugby girls did amazing at Rosslyn Park.
“We did well in a lot of the so-called smaller sports and it was an all-round collective effort. People on the outside will only see the end result but that does not show all of the hard work that goes into getting those results.”
