Celebrating an exceptional year of sport at Cardiff and Vale College

Cardiff and Vale College’s Sports Academies have celebrated another outstanding year at the CAVC 2025 Sport Awards.

The Academies have gone from strength to strength in 2024-25, playing at the highest level, reaching the final stages of tournaments, winning leagues and seeing players going on to achieve regional and national honours. This year CAVC also hosted the first-ever Welsh Colleges Varsity versus Gower College Swansea, and was crowned Overall Champions.

The Basketball Academy won the UK-wide Association of Colleges Sport National Championship for the second year running, and its fourth consecutive Welsh Colleges National Championship.

The Basketball First Team had a competitive league season at the top flight of the College Basketball League, finishing as a top 16 team in England’s U18s Premier League, becoming the first Welsh team to make the Basketball England Premier League playoffs.

Players Ishola Adamson, Tobias Burgess and Gerard Canete represented Wales at U17 level, while Boyl Bakrachev, Luca Basini-James, Panos Nikolais, Paddy Whitestone and Onanefe Atufe played for Wales U20s. Onanefe also played for Great Britain at U18 level.

The Netball Academy had a successful and rewarding season with some outstanding victories. The team also represented CAVC in the Urdd and Welsh Colleges tournaments.

Amelia Henson was called up to play for Cardiff and the Vale County and received a Special Recognition Award when she represented the County U18s B team at the Inter-Counties Final. Player Eloise Grover was selected to play for Welsh Colleges, Cardiff Dragons U19s Academy and the Wales U19 National Academy.

The Men’s Football Academy First Team competed in the Category 1 League for the third year running and finished in a competitive fifth place. They also reached the Welsh Cup semi-final for the second year running.

The Academy’s Category 3/Development Team reached the quarter final of the National Cup for the first time ever.

CAVC’s Women’s Football Academy won the Welsh Championship 7-a-side tournament for the second time in three years and represented Wales in the UK-wide National Championships.

Alongside this, players from both Men’s and Women’s Football Academies represented Welsh Schools, Welsh Colleges and age-group full internationals.

The Women’s Rugby Academy won five out of seven matches at the famous Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens, including a memorable Welsh derby victory over Coleg y Cymoedd. The team also had a strong showing at the Urdd 7s.

Rhoswen James, Lili Corrihons and Maddie Whelpton were called up to the Welsh Rugby Pathway U18s player group, and Rhoswen was also selected to play for Wales U18s.

The Men’s Rugby Academy First Team finished sixth in the league, and players across the Academy performed well at the Rosslyn Park Sevens.

Dylan Shears, Jack Clease, Ben Bora, Osian Howell and Rhys Cummings played for Cardiff Rugby U18s, while Morgan Culverhouse represented Bristol Bears U18s in the Premiership Under-18s Academy League.

At the Awards, Jessica Mantle won both Non-Academy Elite and Performance Student Athlete of the Year and Overall Student Athlete of the Year Awards.

Jessica is an elite sprinter whose achievements include Welsh U20s Champion in the 100m event and senior girls Welsh Schools Champion. Managing amazing accomplishments while balance her attention with college studies, Jessica is a confident learner who enjoys excellent relationships with her tutor, coaches and her peers and is sure to make a success of her time at university.

Cardiff and Vale College Principal Sharon James-Evans said: “I would like to offer my congratulations to our award winners and all of our Sport Academy players. The hard work and dedication that you have all put in this year to balance your study with your commitment to training and participating to your very best in your chosen sport, should be applauded and you’ve made us all very proud.

“I’d also like to thank and congratulate all of the fantastic academy coaching teams and wider College colleagues who have supported our players throughout the year.”

The CAVC Sport Academies are made up of students from across the College who are studying a range of vocational and academic courses. They provide a supportive and specialist environment that combines first-class coaching and sports facilities with the College’s wide portfolio of courses. Players can progress in their sporting careers while studying at the College and prepare for a future outside of sport as well.

Interested in joining a CAVC Sport Academy? You can register interest now for pre-season – visit https://cavc.ac.uk/en/sportsacademies for more information.