Donor funding meant that Adam Lavin could fulfil his sporting ambition of representing England Universities at the Student Rugby League Four Nations tournament in Wales in July this year.

After being selected for the team, England won all their games, winning the tournament and lifting the trophy!

Here, Adam tells us more about his experience and how philanthropic support from Lancaster helped to make it happen for him:

“I am currently a third-year maths student, I enjoy being active, and I am a member of the Lancaster Lynx – the Rugby League Society at the University. I was so happy to be selected to play for the England team at the Student Rugby League Four Nations Tournament between England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

“This year the tournament took place in Pontypridd in Wales. We beat Ireland 48-0, Scotland 48-18 and Wales 80-6 to win the tournament!

“Before the this we also played in the RFL President’s Cup tournament, an annual competition for men’s and women’s representative teams drawn from the British Rugby league structure. We played Great Britain Teachers, Great Britain Police and the UK Combined Armed Forces. We beat every team and won this cup as well which hadn’t been won by the Great Britain Students team in 5 years. Following the RFL President’s Cup tournament, we played a friendly against HM Prison Services which we also won, which meant that we won all our 7 games this year.

“My favourite moments from the Student Four Nations tournament have to be scoring my first try for England against Scotland and then scoring again against Wales.

“It almost never happened though, as I suffered a bad concussion a few weeks before the tournament, but luckily the symptoms stopped a few days before I was due to travel, so thankfully I was still able to take part.

“I have to say a huge thank you to the alumni and donors who made my participation in this tournament possible. The funding went towards the sponsorship, which I would have struggled to raise on my own. The funding alone was instrumental in my being there and knowing that I was being supported by the Lancaster community was an incredible feeling!

“I was so proud to be able to represent my university and country and I’m always going to be grateful for having had the opportunity to do so.

“Thank you so much, once again, to our alumni for your generous donations. Your support was instrumental in making this memorable journey possible and allowed me to represent Lancaster University through doing something I love.”