Two Bournemouth University students were selected to attend an exclusive leadership training event on Saturday 1 June and enjoyed the Champions League final game as part of BU’s partnership with Santander Universities.
BSc (Hons) Sport Development & Coaching Sciences student, Anastazja Gluza, and Omar Salih studying BSc (Hons) Sports Management went to a Leadership Masterclass afternoon at Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium, led by renowned sports psychologist, Jeremy Snape MSc.
After the Leadership Masterclass, they then enjoyed a stadium tour before watching a live stream of one of the biggest games of the football season at the Tottenham Hotspur ground alongside thousands of Spurs fans.
Anastazja was nominated by Chloe Tape, former SportBU scholar and football coach for BU’s Performance Sport women’s team, who shared: “Anastazja has engaged wholeheartedly in the women’s Football and Futsal programme. She is one of my most committed players and has made a great contribution to the team as well as overcoming struggling to adapt to university life. I’m happy to say she has now settled in well and is really excelling”.
While Andy Boland, a Demonstrator in Sport, Futsal head coach and lead for SportBU’s RELAYS volunteer programme, nominated Omar as a result of his commitment, positive attitude and leadership as captain of the Futsal second team squad, saying: “Omar has set an example with an approach and attitude fitting to TeamBU sport, becoming a key member of the squad on and off the court gaining more responsibility as the season progressed”.
Jeremy Snape, who facilitated the Leadership Masterclass is an ex-England and county cricketer who has combined his playing experience with a Master's in Sport Psychology to help both sporting and non-sporting organisations improve leadership and management performance.
Matt Hutnell, Director of Santander Universities UK, said: “We’re thrilled to have offered students from all our partner universities this fantastic opportunity to attend a series of leadership activities while highlighting the positive and lasting impact that sports such as football have on people and communities around the world. We are committed to supporting higher education and hope the sessions provided an invaluable insight and the skills needed for students to build upon as they develop their careers.”
The event was also held in celebration of Santander’s sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League. Santander’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper and the sponsorship enables Santander to deliver its purpose in new ways to more people and their communities.
Santander, through its Santander Universities division, maintains partnerships with close to 1,200 academic institutions in 20 countries. Santander Universities was introduced in the UK in 2007 and the bank now has partnerships with over 80 universities, providing over £10m of funding in 2018 to support university staff and students. In 2015, Santander topped the Global list of Fortune 500 in investment in education (Source: Varkey Report/UNESCO).
