University of Nottingham's Highfields Sports Complex and David Ross Sports Village on University Park Campus recently played host to a hugely successful world championships. Teams from all over the globe converged on Nottingham to compete in the World Under-24 Ultimate Championships, with more than 1,000 athletes from 22 countries and 400 team officials attending the tournament. The event also garnered large crowds with a full stand set-up at Highfields, and saw 70 matches also live streamed across the world.
Across the 7 days of competition, which began on 2 July, nations competed in three divisions – Mixed, Women’s and Open. All three divisions were won by the United Stated of America, with all American teams going undefeated throughout the seven days of competition to be crowned world champions on finals day – Saturday 8 July.
As well as hosting the large scale international competition, the University of Nottingham also had representation on the field of play as students from both our Nottingham and Ningbo China campuses competed for their nations. Ningbo students Gao Shuqiao and Yang Mingxi were both a part of the Chinese National team, whilst Marina Symington, Kei Watanabe and Emily Stewart from our University Park campus, Nottingham, competed for Great Britain. Marina and Emily formed part of the Women’s side, whilst Kei was a member of the Open Team. Emily Symington, a 3rd year Medical student, captained the Great Britain Women’s side.
Throughout the tournament, GB women played 8 opponents, scored a total of 84 goals and won half of their matches with some very close losses throughout. This was the highest finishing GB U24 women’s team in history and we are so proud of the University of Nottingham representatives in this team, Marina and Emily. The GB U24 Open team, like the GB women’s team, is compiled of the best male-matching players across the country and the team played 8 opponents, scored a total of 103 goals and won half of their matches.
As well as these successes, University of Nottingham also had over 10 volunteers who helped make sure everything ran smoothly with the event - with responsibilities including scorekeeping, admissions, organising social events such as the WU24 party and driving golf buggies! The volunteers fedback to University of Nottingham Sport that they enjoyed their roles, were pleased to be able to watch some top level frisbee and highly recommend taking part in volunteering experiences in the future.
Reflecting on the success of the tournament, University of Nottingham Sport’s Assistant Director of Sport (Business Development) – Christine Bailey said;
“It has been a pleasure to host the 2023 World U24 Ultimate Championships here in Nottingham. We have hosted a number of regional and national competitions with UK Ultimate over the last 10 years and to see an event of this size and scale has been a real spectacle. The buzz across the David Ross Sports Village, Highfields Sports Complex and the broader campus was brilliant and no doubt has inspired many of our students and the community to take part in sport and activity in the future. We hope that everyone who attended the event – from players, coaches to officials and spectators had a thoroughly enjoyable time here in Nottingham with us.”
For full results and information around the tournament, please visit the official website for the event here; https://www.wu24.sport/.
If you are interested in hosting your tournament or event with us at University of Nottingham Sport, we've put together an informational brochure with all you need to know which can be viewed online here.
Posted on Saturday 15th July 2023