University Student in Running for Prestigious Award

A University of Worcester student is in the running for a prestigious sporting award.

Wheelchair basketball player Jack Long has been shortlisted in the top 10 for SportsAid’s prestigious One-to-Watch Award, celebrating his achievements in the last year.

Launched in 2006, the Award shines a spotlight on Britain’s young sporting prospects. Previous winners have included the likes of Olympic diver Tom Daley OBE, javelin thrower Hollie Arnold MBE, who won gold in the Rio Paralympics, and triathlete Alex Yee MBE, who won gold at the Paris Olympics.

Jack, who is in the third year of a Sport and Exercise Science degree at Worcester, said he was thrilled to be among such high achieving company. “To be shortlisted for this award is a great feeling and I'm honoured to be selected for the top 10. With the number of successful athletes nominated for this award before me, it makes it an even bigger accomplishment for myself personally and it is a crazy situation for me to be in. I think I was selected because of the progress I've made this year in my sport and because I got to be part of a very good team at the under 23 European Championships.”

The top 10 athletes have been selected from around 1,000 rising stars, supported by SportsAid – a charity that supports young British sportsmen and women, across more than 60 different sports in 2024.

It has been a year of progress for Jack, who has been playing wheelchair basketball for 10 years. The 20-year-old, of Shirehampton, Bristol, was selected for the Under 30s Great Britain (GB) squad competing in the 20th Kitakyushu Champions Cup in Japan in November last year. He went on to represent his country again as part of the GB Under 23 squad in their undefeated success at the European Championships this year. This win in Madrid ensured that the GB team qualified for the under 23 World Championships in Brazil.

Jack is part of the University of Worcester’s Wheelchair Basketball BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) team which has won back-to-back national titles, this year with Jack at the helm.

Going forward, he will be playing in the top division of the BWB (British Wheelchair Basketball) national league and hopes to get selected for the under 23 World Championships in Brazil and keep getting invited to GB senior training camps. “My long-term goals are to eventually go abroad and play professional basketball and go to senior competitions with GB,” he said. “My ultimate dream would be to go to a Paralympics.”

Jack, a former pupil of Oasis Academy Brightstowe, is on the University’s Sports Scholarship programme, which gives elite athlete students a range of support and guidance, such as financial support to attend sporting events or training, but also tailored nutritional or strength and conditioning advice.

“Playing sport and doing my studies can sometimes be overwhelming but all my lecturers are understanding and with the benefits of being on the sports scholarship programme it makes it a lot easier,” said Jack.

The winner of this year’s Award will be revealed next month.