Bristol Active, along with Bristol City Council, recently launched their Sporting Hall of Fame, a celebration sport and physical activity in Bristol and the positive impact it’s made towards our city’s many diverse communities.
The Hall of Fame recognises athletes and coaches within Bristol for their exceptional contribution, elite performance and inspirational stories and UWE Sport has the honour of naming not just one or two but five of their staff and students on the list.
The Elite Performers category celebrates those who have worked hard to achieve excellence at national and international level inspiring others and raising the profile of the city.
After swimming competitively at a national level, Craig Figes was the youngest ever player to represent Great Britain at Water Polo. Throughout his 20 year career in the pool, he spent nine as captain, became a Commonwealth bronze medallist, six time British Champion and captained Team GB at the London Olympics in 2012.
Since retiring as a professional player, Craig has previously coached and trained UWE Bristol’s Water Polo club for two seasons and continues to inspire a new generation of players.
Another name of the Water Polo world to feature is current UWE Bristol club coach, Rhys Tamlyn. Rhys played professionally since competing for the Great Britain Under 20s team at the European Championships and went on to score over 120 caps as captain for the senior team between 1990 and 1996.
As a current coach for UWE Bristol, Rhys has seen the club progress from a one division league eight years ago to multiple teams competing in the Premier South division and becoming a top tier team within the UWE Performance programme.
Left: Rod Naughelty. Right: Rhys Tamlyn.
Rod Naughalty has had a thriving career and succeeded in a range of sports from football to badminton and trampolining. Rod’s main and longest passion however, led to a 40 year, so far, career in hockey.
From playing in the national league to having county and regional representation Rod has travelled the world with hockey and made 150 England Masters caps in age groups from age 40 up. Now training and coaching UWE Bristol Ladies 1st Team, Rod’s contribution to sport has been outstanding.
There are also two familiar faces in the Inspirational People category, both having not just overcome but thrived in the face of adversity and gone on to succeed on the international stage.
Daniel Edozie has a number of accolades to his name, professional basketball player with the Bristol Flyers, Commonwealth Games competitor, community coach and mentor and UWE Sport Scholar and UWE Jets player!
Studying M.Sc Sport and Exercise Psychology, Daniel is part of the UWE Bristol Performance Sport programme, his story of going from living on Skid Row to being reunited with his mother and becoming an international basketball player is truly inspirational.
Left: Ella Gibson. Right: Daniel Edozie.
Rounding off our group of sporting heroes is Centre for Sport marketing exec, Ella Gibson. Since receiving a life saving kidney transplant in 2010, Ella has competed at a national level in university sailing and gone on to race at a national and international level in triathlon for Team GB&NI at the British and World Transplant Games.
Ella is an advocate for organ donation and proof of how it can transform lives; she has worked at the Centre for Sport for over two years and hopes to inspire students and staff alike to play and participate in physical activity.
It’s safe to say, UWE Sport is the place to find sporting talent and definitely lead by example when it comes to sport, health and fitness at the UWE Bristol. To read all of our staff and student stories in full, head to the Hall of Fame’s website.