Holly Colvin, England Women's Cricket Team: Why did you choose to come to Durham University?

My name is Holly Colvin and I’m currently in my second year at Durham University whilst playing cricket for the England Women’s Cricket Team. After just one year into you’re A-LEVEL course, it can be a daunting prospect choosing your university which is ultimately 3 years of life and a fair amount of your money. For me in this process I was looking for a university with that could provide a well respected degree whilst being able to support me with my cricket. Naturally I headed straight for all the MCC universities and a couple caught my eye, Cambridge, Cardiff and Durham all three to which I ended up applying to.   

So what set Durham apart from the other 3 universities, except for the distance from home? First thing was to consider was the course as ideally that would be what I would spend most of my time and effort doing. I had chosen to do Natural Sciences at Cambridge and Durham and Biomedical sciences at Cardiff all of which looked thoroughly interesting. So my second port of call was my first impression and feeling of the university. This was when I knew that Durham was the right place for me. I immediately felt welcome in my college, department and cricket centre. The university also assured me that I would be fully supported and able to continue playing an international standard of cricket whilst obtaining my degree. Profound cricketers having been to the university such as James Foster and my team-mate Caroline Atkins, I knew that I would get the same type of support.

This has most certainly been the case as I have now made a total of 3 trips away with the England Women’s Cricket Team. I have been twice to the West Indies and once to Australia resulting in me missing stretches of term time. However the academic department and sport department have been able to put things in place to allow me to catch up on work or even take exams abroad. Having the support of the university has meant that I able to make such trips and more importantly be focused in the job at hand rather than being distracted with work.

I am thoroughly enjoying my time at the university and although training 5 times a week and getting up at 6.30am for 2 of the sessions is hard, it’s definitely worth it. Being able to train with the guys has pushed me, helped me to develop and ultimately best prepared me for a season of cricket.

Holly Colvin, Women's Cricket Team 2011, England Women's Cricket