Read on for exciting sport and charity updates from two of our alumni.
Jess Kneebone: Supporting Mental Health and Young People through rugby
Recent alumna Jess Kneebone has been selected to take part in a Guinness World Record attempt in Dublin for the longest game of rugby.
Jess and the team will be helping to raise £100,000 for improving mental health in young people through sport.
Jess is really pleased to have been selected to take part in the Guinness World Record attempt for the Longest Game of Rugby for LooseHeadz and Wooden Spoon in partnership with the Lions Trust. On the 17th of June she’ll be heading over to Dublin and, over a day and a half, she’ll join 92 men and women who are coming together to raise vital funds for three charities by aiming to break the record for the longest games of rugby.
With LooseHeadz and Wooden Spoon in partnership with the Lions Trust, they’re aiming to break two Guinness World Records with concurrent games for men and women. The target to beat is 30 hours 29 minutes 41 seconds for a men’s game and the women’s record currently stands at 24 hours, 5 minutes and 15 seconds.
The aim is to collectively raise over £100,000.
If you can do so, please give generously to this charity event via this link.
Alongside this, Jess has been selected to be a part of the North Midlands County Senior Women’s team for a second season. She is really looking forward to the campaign and hopefully making their way to the Allianz Stadium for the final!
Bethan Calvert
Most women who play ice hockey in France dream of two things:
Winning the Championship – le Championnat – and the French Cup – la Coupe de France.
At the tender age of just 19, Bethan Calvert has recently achieved both of these accolades with her current club, Evry Viry.
Beth, who was born in France, studied at the BSP from Year 3 to Year 9. When she joined Pole France (the training centre for the French national ice hockey squad) at the age of 15, Beth had to transfer from the BSP to a French lycée with the other Team France girls. In 2022 she won a silver medal with the U18 team in Hungary and a bronze in Italy in 2023.
Beth now studies Digital Marketing and Business at ASCENCIA in Evry and is enjoying tremendous success with the hockey club there whilst still training with Pole France every Friday.
Evry Viry, known as EVH 91, is the first French club to achieve the double, the French Cup and the League Championship in the same year, quite a monumental achievement.
Beth is a firm believer in following your dreams. She wants to pursue a career in sport, to promote ice hockey for girls and to work for the French hockey federation, FFHG. She’s living proof that if you work hard, play hard and train hard, anything is possible and your dreams just might come true!
