Under its joint banner, Hartpury University and Hartpury College is already a nationally regarded sporting centre of excellence, thanks to its 10 academies – and this year businesses have a chance to sponsor each and every one for the first time through its Kick Start programme.
After a successful launch of the programme in 2021, focusing on its women's rugby team, businesses are now invited to step forward and forge new partnerships with any of the university and college's 10 academies and help write the next chapter of exciting Gloucestershire sporting success.
Rowing
A business which sponsors the Hartpury Rowing team will be supporting an academy already involved in a joint initiative between GB Rowing Team’s 'Start' Programme and Gloucester Rowing Club aimed at identifying and developing the next generation of Olympic rowers.
Athletes and coaches on the Hartpury programmes benefit from land-based training facilities and those at Gloucester Rowing Club's new £1.6 million boathouse.
Sponsors will be helping Hartpury continue its 'outstanding track record' of developing rowers and preparing them for a career beyond sport. Students have represented Great Britain as junior, under 23 level and senior world championship crews.
Women's rugby
Sponsor this academy and you will be part of a incredible story. Hartpury University, Hartpury College and Gloucester-Hartpury Women’s RFC continues to build on a rich legacy which has seen many former players go on to even bigger and better things.
Most recently it was the turn of former Hartpury student and coach Zoe Aldcroft, crowned Women's Player of the Year at the World Rugby Awards 2021, shortly after leading England to an impressive win against the United States.
Other Hartpury students, too many to mention, have shone in everything from the Olympics and Team GB Sevens to the England Under-20s and under 18s.
Netball
It is one of the biggest and fastest growing sports in the world and Hartpury’s netball academy gives young players the chance to study and train as part of one of the most successful student netball programmes in the UK.
The academy has an outstanding track record and extensive links with Welsh Netball and English Netball with coaches involved at both national and international levels alongside playing in the UK Netball League.
Students have gone on to compete at national, NPL and international level with players competing in the Netball Superleague Franchises as well as the Welsh Pathway and teams competing in the British Universities and Colleagues Sport (BUCS) leagues and AoC National Leagues.
Men's rugby
The list of names that have come through Hartpury’s rugby ranks and gone on to even greater success in men's professional rugby is too long to mention here – more than 200 and counting, including the likes of Jonny May, Ross Moriarty, Ellis Genge and Louis Rees-Zammit.
All reflect the incredible set-up at Hartpury which includes coaches, physios, nutritionists, and lifestyle management.
Women's football
Players on Hartpury’s Women’s Football Academy books are part of a squad which competes against some of the UK’s top teams and players in the British Universities and Colleges Sport leagues.
Specialist facilities include two all-weather 3G pitches and three grass pitches as well as strength and conditioning coaches, physiotherapists. They also have nutritionists, lifestyle management and game analysis, treatment suites and human performance and biomechanics labs.
Its academy is so good, it has no hesitation is declaring that any footballer who joins its ranks will be training and playing in an environment that’s as close as it gets to a professional club, and any business that becomes a sponsor will be part of that high achieving environment.
Modern pentathlon
If your business steps forward to support this Hartpury academy it will be helping to continue an already outstanding track record for developing athletes at what is one of Pentathlon GB’s leading modern pentathlon academies.
The academy exists to help students balance their studies and sporting commitments, with athletes coached by Pentathlon GB Pathway Coach Robert Flack. It benefits from facilities that include an outdoor laser run range and world-class equestrian facilities. Expert sport science support covers strength and conditioning, sport psychologists, physiotherapists and nutritional experts.
Students compete at all levels on national and international stages.
Men's football
In 2020, Hartpury launched its first-ever non-league football club side, aimed at providing students with further opportunities to become professional footballers.
In 2022, the team was crowned champions of the Herefordshire FA County League Premier Division, winning promotion to Hellenic League One, and in the same season also lifting the Herefordshire County Cup.
Facilities include the impressive 3G pitch and four football grass pitches, as well as sports hall with performance analysis, cameras, rehabilitation suite, human performance and biomechanics laboratories, therapy suites, a performance and analysis suite, assessment and testing lab and performance gyms.
Athlete performance
If ever Hartpury wanted to show off just how unusual it is and how much attention it is willing to apply to the detail, it could point to its Athlete Performance Academy which provides students with a range of dedicated services across a range of sports.
It has helped students perform at the highest level in athletics, swimming, skiing, Olympic weightlifting and sailing. Students are taught how to balance their studies to achieve both academic and sporting excellence. Its sports academy staff are described as among the best in their field having competed or worked at professional level.
Equine
Those already familiar with the equestrian world will know Hartpury is well and truly embedded in the sport. It stages top class events attracting riders from all over the UK to its show jumping and dressage arenas as well as its cross-country courses, as it helps develop the next generation of competitors.
There are three levels within the Hartpury Equine Academy: the Elite Squad, the Elite Development Squad and the Development Squad.
Its elite and elite development squads have access to rider performance and biomechanical analysis, psychology, strength and conditioning and physiotherapy – both human and equine.
Golf
Hartpury golf academy students receive weekly coaching sessions and opportunities to compete at all levels as well as guidance from PGA qualified professionals.
Sponsorship will see your business involved in and associated with players and teams competing in the British Universities and Colleges Sport leagues and the BUCS Tour where they will compete on some of the UK's top courses.
The academy includes the other components Hartpury proves to be so very good at too – the backroom support of sports psychologists and biomechanics who are on hand to help with mental and physical conditioning, technique, and motivation.
