This week our Campus celeb is Miss Sarah Elphinstone: law student, this year’s Netball President – and part time naked model (more on this later). Anyone who meets this vibrant girl can tell she is devoted and with all the commitment she puts into her love of netball we wonder how she manages to study law, have a life and look fabulous at the same time! Not only that, she is also brave leaving school at 16 and going into the big bad world and taking on a law degree at University! Living just outside of Aberdeen, she says her choice to come to Aberdeen was to get the best of both worlds and to allow her to stay at home for her first year. Her love of netball clearly takes up a good chunk of her time, when she’s not sweating it out on the court with the team, she also coaches, umpires or helps organise the team’s next big night out! This would tire most of us out but this girl still makes the most of her student life: “I do also love a good night out and my gold card has been milked for all it’s worth this year.”
When we asked Sarah what her big secret was but she spoke the truth in style: “Basically I try to do as minimum uni work as possible to make time for all the fun stuff in my life. But I would say my time management skills are not bad considering. I also don’t sleep much – saves time.”
This girls got it right. We’ve all got to enjoy the time we’ve got! We really cant help but admire her commitment and she clearly has got the time management skills perfected – I’ve never seen any bags under her eyes! But clearly her motivation comes from a true love of netball, we found out she’s been playing since primary school. She tells us that her mum (who is a regular spectator at uni matches) made a ladies team at her school, and so she got involved in the university team since she knew a few of the team members before she arrived. She’s obviously got the skills as they invited her to play for the team when she couldn’t make the trials! She adds that this shows just how friendly and welcoming they were/are! Everyone is welcome to join and the girls will be happy to bring people on board! Sarah has been playing for the 1st for 3 years now and says she has loved every minute of it!
The girls did Aberdeen proud, brining home the NUS Sports Club of the Year! On congratulating the team’s success, we could tell that Sarah was proud of the girls and responded humbly: “Although we love to win we are a lot more than that; we are like a big family. I would say we are one of the most friendly bunch of girls going and considering there are over 70 members in the club we must be doing something right. We also promote netball in Aberdeen to youngsters by coaching at a local primary school and being involved in the pathways squad. It was such an honour to win such a prestigious award but it was very well deserved. Hopefully bigger things next year…”
The girls train Monday, Tuesday mornings and Fridays and play in matches either on Tuesdays, Wednesday or Thursdays in local league matches and every Saturday for BUCS. We can see how this would make the team close! Sarah says her favourite thing about being involved in the team is that everyone in the club has their own individual role to play, “whether it is being a mummy or being the worst drunk on a night out, we all play our part and you just cannot get that anywhere else.” Adding that the girls are all similar and that its good to get to know others have similar interests, such as choosing to sweat it out in ASV over a shopping trip! We got the scoop on their night out antics, which has involved being told to be quiet by the police outside liquid but which resulted in resulted in selfies, getting in the car and a very chuffed police officer – in true AUNC style! Sarah has been appointed President for 2014-2015, after being first captain for season 2013-2014. When asked if she had any pre-match rituals, she admitted that being capital her pre-match rituals usually comprise of running around the place making sure everything is going as planned. Although the team usually get together before the match and discuss what their tactics for the match!
The teams seems to excel on the court and off, including being papped in newspapers – looking gorgeous – featuring coverage on their adventurous naked charity calendar. With over 1.5K Facebook likes it was a real success and shows they are not all about hockey but having some fun together, along with doing some good! Sarah informed us that the idea came about at their “get to know you meal” as she was showing the girls her sisters netball team naked calendar picture. Their social organised, Tally, then came up with the fabulous idea to do a whole calendar with just the netball team!
We asked Sarah why girls should join the netball family: “If you want to get fit, make friends or just be a part of something bigger at uni, joining a sports team is the way to go and as one of the only clubs with a development team we welcome people of all abilities so you can still be part of the club without the super competitive side.”