RGU stars dominate North East sports award nominations

RGU SPORT scholars dominate the Student Sports Achiever of the Year category with Louise Christie and Rebecca Matheson both up for one of the night’s most anticipated awards.

Louise, who is also nominated as Sports Achiever of the Year, is in her final year of Applied Sport and Exercise Science and has had a stellar sporting year as an accomplished rhythmic gymnast.

She achieved a silver medal at the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Scotland’s first medal in the discipline for almost three decades, which also yielded a nomination as Moment of the Year at December’s Scottish Sport Awards.

Similarly, Rebecca also competed in the Commonwealth games, sprinting in the 4x100m relay final. She’s a current master’s Physiotherapy student at the University and also a recent British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) medallist.

If one of them were to win it would mark two RGU winners of the category in two years after Katie Guest, who had qualified for the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics and recently came fourth in the World Para Alpine Skiing Championships, won Student Sports Achiever of the Year in 2022. The para-skiing guide recently graduated from RGU, also with a master’s in Physiotherapy.

Louise Christie’s coach, Amy Stewart, used the RGU SPORT facilities while preparing the athlete for both the Commonwealth Games and European Championships and is up for Performance Coach of the Year too.

Elsewhere, Sports Coaching student Rebekah Singer has been nominated as Young Volunteer of the Year due to her efforts while working with the Active Girls Committee, and Kirsty Smith is up for Community/Participation Coach of the Year. Kirsty, a University of Aberdeen student, has been integral in the recent launch of RGU’s first ever wheelchair basketball team.

The University and its sporting partnerships in the city is also recognised through the nomination of partner club Aberdeen Dolphin Swimming Club, in the category for Club of the Year, having already secured the same title at the Scottish Swimming awards. Silver City Blues Masters Swim Team, who also use RGU SPORT swimming facilities, has been nominated for Team Performance of the Year too.

Hannah Leslie, Head of Sport & Student Partnership, at Robert Gordon University, said: “We’re delighted that so many sportspeople with links to our University have once again been recognised at the Aberdeen’s Sports Awards.

“We pride ourselves on providing a platform for excellence for students looking to complete a degree and achieve success in their chosen sport and it’s therefore great to see RGU SPORT Scholars Louise Christie and Rebecca Matheson make an impact in their sport on both a national and international level. Both of these athletes have worked extremely hard to achieve success in their academics as well as their sport and are role models to many.”

Streetsport, Denis Law Legacy Trust’s flagship programme which is run in partnership with RGU, has also been represented at the sport awards with two nominations that emphasise the charity’s importance to Aberdeen communities.

Dave Thompson, who was also shortlisted as Unsung Hero at the 2022 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, has been recognised in the Adult Volunteer of the Year category. Cruyff Court Neale Cooper, a modern, free-to-access, sporting facility built in the heart of Torry’s community, has been nominated as Community Sport Project of the Year too.

Mark Williams, COO at Denis Law Legacy Trust and based beneath RGU SPORT on University Street, said: “We are delighted that the positive work we do for young people and the wider community at Cruyff Court Neale Cooper is being recognised at this year’s Aberdeen’s Sports Awards.

“It’s also fantastic to see one of our long-term volunteers Dave Thompson shortlisted. Dave is an inspirational role model to many young people and it’s volunteers like him that have played a large part in our work being such a success, providing platforms for young people to thrive.”

The Aberdeen’s Sports Awards 2023 take place at P&J Live on March 23.

Image: Louise Christie from the Commonwealth Games. Credit: SNS