The Aber Award is our way of recognising students for their volunteering efforts during their time here at Aberystwyth! There are three milestone awards which anyone can work towards, with the highest being the Gold Award. The Gold Award is given to students who log over 120 hours of volunteering and record 8 skills. In term one, only three students achieved the Gold Award, and Bronte is one of these students! Here is how Bronte achieved the award!
What volunteering you have done to get to this point?
I have been volunteering with Taranau Cheerleaders as the Head Coach this year. With that comes a lot of responsibility to ensure all 30 of our athletes are well prepared for University Nationals in February & March. The way we compete is very different to the University BUCS teams; as a club, we only compete twice a year at two big national events, each time going against 10-20 other uni teams from around the UK. This year we will be taking 4 teams (Lightning Level 1 All-Girl Cheer, Heatwave Hip-Hop, Tornado Level 2 All-Girl Stunt Group & Storm Level 3 All-Girl Stunt Group) to Future Cheer in Manchester and BCA in Derby. A few of the responsibilities include running training sessions, choreography, sourcing music, supporting the rest of our coaches/committee, coordinating competition entries, etc. the list could go on; there is a lot to do in a competitive cheer season!
Why did you work towards the Aber Award?
I have worked towards the Aber Award to highlight how much work actually goes into keeping our sports club running; without all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes, our season wouldn't be possible. The club itself has very limited training resources which adds a little pressure to the role. This means I have to be very organised to pull off successful training sessions in the hope we HIT at comp. Having less than 1/9th of a full competition floor worth of mats to train on requires a lot of creativity to ensure we make the most what we've got!
How the volunteering has benefitted you?
It’s given me an outlet for my passion for the sport; I've been cheering for 17 years now, and coached throughout my A-Levels. Taranau has been a core part of my 5 years at university and I love being able to give back to the club and competitive cheer; both have taught me so much over the years. I put most of the work in for my athletes so that they can get the most out of their season - they are the ones competing; its not for any personal gain, so achieving the Gold Aber Award is just a bonus. Being able to share my passion with a new wave of athletes (many of whom have never cheered before university) is truly special.
If you would like to work towards the Aber Award go to: www.abersu.co.uk/aberaward