Win Rugby Match and Complete Project... check and check!

Just after being named Rugby League Varsity Champions!!!

Oh wow, a lot has happened in the last three weeks. And man have they been exhausting. Immediately upon returning from Switzerland, I was thrown full speed into my senior design project that I had been working hard on prior to Easter break. However, now was crunch time and there was a lot to do. It was to be in on May 4th with an hour long presentation on May 3rd. However to top it off, we had our Rugby League Varsity Match, like the Civil War, against Nottingham Trent university the night prior to the presentation, May 2nd. This game is hailed as the biggest of the year and your fellow students care not that you made it to the national quarterfinals, it is the result of the Varsity match that everyone remembers. So between studying, I also jumped straight into the hardest workout sessions and training we had done all year. Needless to say, the weekend after handing in our project, I did a little bit of celebrating but a whole lot of relaxing. I have done very little and have watched a number of movies, taking an equal number of naps; it has been incredible.



We handed the project in on Friday a couple hours prior to its official hand in A453 corridor, a 10 mile stretch of highway that needed expansion to a two lane road with intersection redesign, pavement design, roadway alignment, and a full design of a concrete overpass, the lattermost being my baby for the last 2 months. I designed a 30m (95ft) prestressed concrete overpass which involved designing the beams, the abutments, wing walls, piling and pile cap foundation. Not a big deal, right? So after 65 pages of hand calculations, a 20-page report, a couple late nights and some early mornings, I was glad to hand a ream of paper in to the civil engineering office on campus and call it a day. Yeehaw for finishing up the culmination of my engineering college career.


Although the project was exciting to finish and partake in, the more important of events during the week was the varsity match. This match would provide bragging rights for the coming year and show our peers what an amazing team we have created this year. The 2nd’s team played first and created some nerves for our game as they got crushed on the pitch by Nottingham Trent’s 2nd team who were all about 6ft tall or larger and at least 200lbs apiece. However, when we got on the pitch for our match under the light of the setting sun, we showed Nottingham Trent how Rugby League is played. We kicked off to them and I was proud to make the first tackle of the match. The hits were hard and the intensity was high but we drew first blood early on and it became a one sided game with some of the toughest and most complete rugby we have played all year. Our defense never faltered and crushed their ball carriers over and over again. Tempers flared with Trent giving a number of cheap shots include one guy punching me in the face after I tackled him, unfortunately blackening my eye. The final score was 34-8 and we were named Varsity Rugby League Champions in front of all our cheering friends. It was a great feeling and a privilege to play with such a quality team all year. Unfortunately, near the end of the game, on a fast break I was tackled from the side and badly sprung my ankle leaving me hobbling for the next week. I had a black eye, cuts across my face from the hard earth and went to my presentation the next day looking like I had just left a bar fight.
From here on out, my days will consist of studying for my finals and trying to enjoy my last 5 weeks here in England.


Celebrating post Victory with my good buddy Phil.


A little bit of a souvenirs from an opponent and the concrete hard ground.


Springtime on campus.