Nursing student Elyse elevates badminton club to BUCS success
Enterprising nursing student Elyse Woo has shown that juggling the demands of studying and work placements with a love of sport is possible after a successful year as president of the university’s badminton club.
Elyse, pictured above with SU Activities Officer Rohith Narayan, is about to graduate from BSc Adult Nursing, having worked around 2,300 hours on placements as varied as same-day emergency care, endoscopy, orthopaedic and trauma wards at hospitals in Huddersfield and Halifax.
But her love of badminton also inspired Elyse to make the most of her spare time, expanding the badminton club to become the university’s largest society and winning the Outstanding Contribution to Student Life at the recent SU Awards.
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Both women’s and men’s badminton teams at Huddersfield have had a successful couple of seasons, with the women reaching the last eight of the BUCS Conference Cup and the men winning their BUCS Tier 5B.
Sports and socials side strengthens friendships
Stepping up to be the club’s president last year, Elyse has also put a lot of emphasis on the social aspect of the club as well as the badminton itself. Trips to see Huddersfield Town, nights out and charity bake stalls have all helped welcome new members and strengthen friendships.
“I wanted to try and test myself and see whether I would do well in the role or not. I struggled at first, but I had a lot of great support from the committee members to get it done. There is no way I could do this on my own,” says Elyse, 27.
“I was so shocked when I won the SU award, I wasn’t sure whether I would even go to the awards event as I was working on the same day but it worked out very well. I am very happy because my hard work has paid off.
Elyse in the sports hall on campus in Huddersfield“The club has done a lot this year, starting back in August when it was handed over, we started planning then and have done something every month with regular committee meetings to decide what we are doing next.”
At the same time as taking the badminton club on, Elyse has completed her three years of the nursing degree. The Hong Kong-born student has a job in the offing that will see her stay in the area, but dealing with patients from Kirklees and Calderdale over the last three years has by her own admittance seen Elyse come out of her shell.
“I find it very rewarding. The local people are very nice, when they discover where you are from they then really open up and talk to you. Clinically, we learn a lot as we have a supervisor always with us in the clinical areas.
“It takes time to gain confidence, but when you work with a really good nurse, that you get on with, then what you have learned really comes into practice. You also really learn how to talk to people as well, at first I was so scared to speak English but the placements have really helped with my confidence.”