Scholar In Focus: Emma Savage

Great to meet with you ahead of BUCS Big Wednesday Emma. Firstly, could you tell me about yourself and how you came to be studying in Nottingham?

Not a problem! I’m originally from just outside of London and I started playing my sport of Lacrosse at school. I’ve always been surrounded by the sport because my Dad played it. He’s from Manchester and Lacrosse is very popular in that area, and he ended up representing England so it’s always been something my family did. Luckily, the school I went to played the sport too. I eventually joined the national under-19 programme and played in an under-19 World Cup which was a really cool experience with it being my first major tournament, before moving through to now play for the senior national team.

Alongside that I really started to develop an interest in medicine when I was in Year 11. Once I had made that decision to follow that subject interest - I visited the Nottingham campus and I loved it. At the time, Mike Armstrong (Lacrosse Head Coach) had just begun coaching here, and whilst Nottingham hadn’t particularly won anything yet in the sport I knew that the programme would be strong so it seemed like a great fit for me.

How many years have you been studying here now?

So I’m now into my fifth and final year of studying Medicine. It’s been a long process but I’m in training to be a doctor, and it has been hard but I’ve always felt driven to work in this field. It’s been a challenging five years but I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve found great satisfaction from the personal aspect of dealing with patients as I’m quite a chatty person anyway, and being able to help people is one of the reasons I dove into this career path in the first place.

I’m planning on going straight into working in a hospital after I’ve finished which will be challenging – particularly because I hope to continue playing lacrosse as well – but is something I am looking forward to.

You say you joined at the same time as our head coach, and have seen plenty of success since then – could you take us through that journey?

Yes, I think we both joined at the time Nottingham began to establish itself as a successful programme. Mike is a great coach and we’ve always got on really well. My first year was actually during Covid so I think that allowed us get a lot of the building blocks in place, to then take on the bigger teams around us. We went on to beat Durham in my second year which was huge for us and is still one of the most memorable days for me, and at the end of that year we would also go on to lift the title at BUCS Big Wednesday for the first time. From there, the mentality was that we aren’t stopping here, we’re going to keep going and establish ourselves as the best programme for lacrosse. Since then we’ve made the final at BUCS Big Wednesday ever since, and have added another championship to our first, and we’re looking to win again!

So there hasn’t been a season of competitive university lacrosse in which you have not made it to BUCS Big Wednesday - and you’ve experienced winning and losing finals – what have those experiences of finals been like for you?

The first final was naturally very nerve-wracking because we’d never won before and the final was also played here at the University of Nottingham so there was some extra pressure too! However, winning it was an amazing feeling and really was incredible to be a part of.

The year following that I took on a captaincy role within the team, and there was more pressure to prove ourselves being the defending champions so it was certainly different. As a result, when we won our second title there was more of a feeling of relief, but having said that, captaining the team to a national title was really, really special for me.

In contrast, last year at BUCS Big Wednesday was our third consecutive final and we ultimately lost which was actually my first loss representing the University Of Nottingham. It was a really tough experience because we obviously trained really hard and put the work in throughout the year but it just didn’t come off for us on the day.

From that experience, we’re heading into this year’s final trying to be as prepared as we possibly can be, and ready to give it our all. I believe that if we can execute our game plan, we’ll give ourselves every chance of being victorious again. We’ll be playing Exeter in the final and we haven’t played them yet this year so we can go into it focusing on us and our abilities. They have some good players and it’ll be a great challenge but one that I’m looking forward to.

With the experience you have, you’re naturally a large voice and leader within the team – how do you approach that role?

I think a lot of it comes down to how you carry yourself on the pitch – being a calming presence and taking control of big situations within a game can be so important. I’ve also shared past experiences with different players and I’m always an open book for the rest of the team to learn from.

I’m a midfield player so I’m quite involved in a lot of the play – attack, defence, and transition, which means I can have an impact on games and try to lead with my play on the field as much as possible. I would say that on the field I am fast, feisty and that I never give up. I think those qualities have taken me to where I am now, and I hope that they also have a positive impact on the team.

How would you describe the feeling that you get playing at BUCS Big Wednesday?

I think that everyone tries to keep matchday routines the same as usual, but there is certainly more of a buzz, with anticipation that builds in the lead up to the match. Particularly because there’s quite a tight community within lacrosse, there’s a lot of conversations around the match in the build-up, but we have to shut that out and turn up on the day to give it our best as we always do. With BUCS Big Wednesday, there’s also obviously bigger crowds, but that just fires me up even more – it’s always so much fun hearing people cheering for us. With this final being in Loughborough, we will have great support on the day which we can hopefully use to our advantage.

Having had plenty of experiences of playing in championship finals for Nottingham – what would your advice be to others who may be competing at BUCS Big Wednesday for the first time?

I think it would be to really try and enjoy the whole day and experience. To be competing with your team mates to try and achieve what you’ve worked for is obviously a huge thing, but with so many other Nottingham teams and students that we all make connections with – the main thing would be to just take it all in and enjoy it! The atmosphere is always so fun at BUCS Big Wednesday and even though it’s the very top level of university sport, it is just another game so don’t get too in your own head about it. If there are nerves, make sure to communicate with your teammates and coaches because in a team sport, everyone shares that load for the best of the group.

Having been a student at the University of Nottingham for so many years, what would your advice be to someone who is thinking about combing sport and studies here?

I’ve absolutely loved my time here in Nottingham, and I would say that particularly for lacrosse – the programme is set in stone at the top of university sport now. We have a fantastic coach and incredible facilities, and the support that you get here as a dual-career athlete is probably some of the best in the country. The lacrosse community is so great here and we always have a lot of fun on a Wednesday night!

Being a part of the national set-up, what are your future aims after you finish here at Nottingham?

We’re currently training towards next summer’s World Cup which will be incredible if I am lucky enough to be selected. I also play the 6’s format of Lacrosse and I am a part of the Great Britain side which is really exciting because we’re building towards the Olympics. My ultimate dream is to represent Great Britain at the first ever Olympic Lacrosse 6’s tournament.

We thank Emma for her time during an important period, and would like to congratulate her on an incredible five years representing the University of Nottingham. We wish Emma and the women's lacrosse team the very best of luck ahead of their final at BUCS Big Wednesday 2025. You can find out more information about the University of Nottingham at BUCS Big Wednesday here. 

You can find out more about our volleyball programme here; Performance Women's Lacrosse, and you can find out more about the sports scholarship programme at the University of Nottingham here; Sports Scholarships at the University of Nottingham.