This week two lucky Swindon students Hannah Luker (19), formerly of Kingsdown School and Joseph Killick (18) formerly of Dorcan Academy are travelling to Disneyland Paris on England netballing duties. Both students will be umpiring at the International Junior Netball Festival, making up a squad of 18 umpires helping to officiate the tournament. Hannah and Joseph both study Sports and Exercise Science at Cirencester Sixth Form College and have worked with England Netball for some time. Competitors from all over the world travel to the tournament in Paris taking part in Under12, Under14, Under16 and Under 19 categories.

Hannah said, “I was lucky enough to join the umpiring team last year so I am really looking forward to going back. It’s not all hard work though, we do a get a day off from umpiring during which time we can explore the park and have fun on all the rides!”

Joseph is currently a C Award qualified umpire and Hannah is working towards the same qualification. Joseph added, “ Hopefully,there may be the possibility of more events over the summer, with International Netball Festivals being planned in Croatia and Dubai!”

Both Hannah and Joseph are going to university later this year, after finishing College in the summer, Hannah to Brighton University to study PE and Joseph to Cardiff Metropolitan University to study Sport and Exercise Science.

Head of Sports, Richard Stonebridge, commented: “Our Sports students get lots of opportunities to gain work experience within sport, Hannah and Joseph are good examples of this. This year, sports students have also been involved in coaching a local primary school, who have been coming up to College and enjoying the College’s brand new sports facilities. 76% of Sport and Exercise students went on to university last year to start their own careers in sport. Many of these students have their own coaching qualifications, so when they go to university, they can gain well paid employment, while studying.”

If you would like to find out more about sports courses at Cirencester Sixth Form College contactstudent.journeyteam@cirencester.ac.uk.