Huge congratulations to Level 2 Sport student Zara Berwick who is celebrating winning a silver medal at the women’s under 18s Ice Hockey World Championships!
Zara, who has been playing ice hockey since the age of 11, fought hard with the rest of her Great Britain team-mates over 5 matches to secure second place behind group winners, China. Their impressive score-sheet shows only one game lost!
Kazakhstan 0 - Great Britain 4
China 6 - Great Britain 2
Netherlands 0 - Great Britain 4
Great Britain 3 - Latvia 1
Great Britain 9 - Turkey 0
Zara’s interest in ice hockey was sparked during a family holiday to Canada where she observed the locals ice skating and picked up on their enthusiasm for the sport. On returning home, she joined a local "learn to ice-skate" club and progressed from there. This was not Zara’s first international competition; last year she played in the World Championships where Team GB were placed fourth. Then in November last year she took part in the Four Nations competition where they were placed second.
We asked her how she felt about being a World Champion silver medallist;
“When I realised, we had won the silver medal I felt so proud of being a part of the team. I was overwhelmed with emotions and could not have been happier. I feel incredibly proud of what I have accomplished. I've worked hard for many years to get to this point in my ice-hockey career. Besides achieving this for myself, being a part of such talented team is what made this particularly special. My tutors have really supported me and offered me more help when I’ve needed it to get assignments done before this last tournament. My goal is to one day play for the GB Senior Women's team. This is a very established team currently, but I'll continue to work towards this.”
Chris Manley, Zara’s tutor told us, “The staff and students are rightfully proud of Zara and her achievements, not only because they are inspiring but because she has such a great attitude, always ahead with her work, grounded and approachable. Representing your country is a privilege in any sport and to compete in a team sport at the very highest level - we could not ask for a better role model. Having a student like Zara changes the dynamics of a group. Student learning is always reinforced with examples from elite sport for context, so to be exposed to our own high-level performer makes the whole learning process more applied - training methods, leadership, team dynamics and mental preparation are among the many discussions that have made learning more relatable for her classmates.”
Our sincere best wishes go out to Zara as she pursues her ambition to become a part of the GB Senior Women's Team. We'll be cheering for her every step of the way!
