Euro 2016 Futsal Cup
Thu, 16 June 2016
Tameside College was gripped by Euro 2016 fever on Wednesday 15th June as they hosted their very own Euro 2016 Futsal cup. Students were invited to enter a team and represent one of the countries currently playing at the Euro 2016 tournament in France. The event was a final celebration of the enrichment programme this year and students from ESOL, Electrical, Pathways, Sport, Public Services, Prospects, Engineering and even a staff team all took part in this fantastic cross college event. The day started with nine teams and these were split up in to two groups to start and the tournament started with student leaders and officials all assisting in the running of the event.
The Manchester FA was present to show their support and to capture some of the wonderful atmosphere that the tournament had generated. They even managed to capture the goal of the tournament and skill of the tournament.
The group stages played out and the top two from each group progressed to the Semi-finals. The team from Sport (Wales) played the ESOL team (France) in the first semi which saw France dominate and come away as 3-0 winners. The staff team (Germany) were up against Public Services (Italy) in the other Semi and the staff team came from behind to win 2-1 to set up a tense final. ESOL (France) wanted vengeance after the staff team (Germany) had already beaten them in the group stages. The game was quick and after full time the game was tied at 1-1. The game went in to golden goal and 1 minute in ESOL scored a great goal to clinch the title in extra time. This was a fitting end to the day with France lifting the trophy.
Tameside College has been at the forefront of the Team 19 participation programme in the county and the Manchester FA and has been quick to comment on how well the college is doing in terms of participation and delivery to the students. The event allows all students from all levels to take part and experience the thrill of playing friendly but competitive games and promotes so many social benefits for the students such as meeting new friends and enhancing their overall college experience. Finally there were two awards given out at the end of the day. Liam Evans from the Pathways programme picked up Goal and Celebration of the day for his winning goal in the group stages. James Davies also picked up skill of the day for some trickery he showed in the same game. The tournament will be held again next year and the students will once again have the chance to be involved.
Luke Podmore, Student activity leader and organiser of the game, said: “The day was brilliant. There was a huge mix of students from a variety of levels and courses and events like this allow them all to mingle and make new friendships here at college. It also allows us to break down so many barriers and contributes to the attendance and retention of the students in college because college is more than just a course, it’s a social experience and I imagine that some of these friendships will now continue for a long time. The young leaders who helped run the tournament were fantastic and it just shows that we have some talented young students who have bright futures.”
Pictures from the tournament can be seen on twitter: https://twitter.com/TamesideCollege or https://twitter.com/Manchester_FA