Our Head of Sport and Physical Activity reflects on his first year in post, and the importance of our alumni in building and maintaining a strong sporting community at Durham.
Dave Coldwell, our Head of Sport and Physical Activity, took up the reins at Team Durham just over a year ago. He has worked to raise the profile of sport at Durham, highlighting student-athlete achievements, and broad participation across the University.
Sport at Durham extends far beyond the players. A wider alumni community continues to carry Durham’s sporting spirit globally – through achievements, lifelong friendships, and connections. The range of sport-related careers held by our alumni is also varied, encompassing media, coaching, officiating, and governance.
This enduring sense of connection, rooted in shared experience and deep pride in Durham sport, continues to shape sport at Durham today. For Dave and his team, it is a legacy to celebrate and build on, as they strengthen opportunities for current students while reconnecting with the alumni community that remains such a vital part of Durham's sporting story.
Time has an extraordinary way of gathering pace. A little over a year into my role leading sport at Durham, I find myself hugely proud and genuinely energised by the importance of University sport in our students’ lives. The unmistakable Durham spirit, the joy and excitement of sporting activity, particularly at Maiden Castle on a Wednesday afternoon or weekend, persists.
Although I’m now approaching my tenth year at the University, having performed a number of roles delivering sport, stepping into this position has helped me to view our sport programme through fresh eyes.
The scale of what we deliver is impressive, but it is the breadth of opportunity - across performance, participation, volunteering, leadership, and lifelong connection - that sets Durham apart.
Celebration of our proud sporting history and tradition remains central. The University Rugby Football Club’s 150th anniversary in 2025 brought together more than 2,500 alumni, parents, students, and staff - a powerful reminder of the potential of our sporting community. As we begin preparations for the Boat Club’s 150th anniversary in 2027, I have no doubt that occasion will be equally impressive.
Alongside this reminder are the many conversations I’ve had with alumni, which have signalled the importance of our shared histories. They have also reaffirmed something many of us feel instinctively: the sense of a special sporting ‘Durham Magic’ that alumni will surely remember with affection. Happily, this still permeates the buildings and playing fields of our recently redeveloped Maiden Castle. Those of you who have also had the opportunity to watch your children thrive at Durham will recognise it in the sporting experiences they cherished and, hopefully, still often talk about.
You - our alumni - matter enormously. I’ll be frank: alumni engagement in Durham sport has not always been nurtured sufficiently, and for that I apologise. Strengthening and celebrating our alumni community is now a much-heightened priority for me and my team. A more recently created Sport Advisory Board has as its mission to help us build a stronger, more purposeful connection with our alumni. We hope that you will see the fruits of this activity in the coming months. We need your insight, your experience, and your belief if we are to continue delivering the best university sporting experience in the UK.
In an early meeting with one of our great rugby graduates, I suggested a strapline: “Remembering our past to build for our future.” I was rightly corrected. “Reconnecting with our past to build for our future”, which captures our ambition far better. It is a bold task. There are thousands of you and, unfortunately, our historical records are patchy in places, but it is a goal to which we are absolutely committed.
Durham University Rugby Club 1st XV took on the Barbarians in Durham on Saturday 3 May 2025 to celebrate the club's 150th anniversary. Pictured (left to right): Barbarians player Steve Longwell (Glasgow Academicals), DURFC player Freddie Charles, and Barbarians player Fred Davies (Doncaster Knights; Durham alumnus - History, Collingwood College, 2013-16). Image courtesy of John Ashton.
The success of our BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) programme speaks for itself. For the 14th consecutive year, Durham ranks in the top three for sport in the UK. This is an achievement, built on foundations laid by many of you, that values excellence, commitment and teamwork. In parallel, our college sport programme, operating at a scale unlike any other in the UK, continues to grow, currently engaging over 8,000 students.
Crucially, both outlets provide meaningful pathways into coaching, officiating, and leadership - experiences that shape lives and build lifelong friendships.
Our sporting activities not only provide individual benefits for our students, they also offer wider community benefit to the North East of England. The economic value of Durham sport (our contribution to the economy, health and wellbeing) has been estimated at an annual value of £21.7 million.
I encourage you to follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn, for updates, video clips and photos of our students’ sporting activities often soon after they happen. We also publish a regular sports report on these platforms or, if you prefer, we can send it to you directly by email. We’ve even dipped our toe into the podcast world - more to come in due course.
Above all, I would love to hear from you. If you have ideas, offers of support, or simply wish to reconnect, there are many ways to get involved and I would be delighted to explore them with you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at teamdurham.alumni@durham.ac.uk.
With our students, staff, alumni, and other supporters, Durham will continue to deliver a sporting experience that is meaningful, distinctive, and genuinely life‑shaping for future generations of students.
The women's volleyball team won a decisive BUCS Big Wednesday national championship on Wednesday 25 March 2026. The team has won BUCS national championships six times over the last seven years.
-----
Main image: Durham Saints American Football team ready themselves to face UWE Bullets in the finals of BUCS Big Wednesday's national championship match at Loughborough on Tuesday 24 March 2026.
/filters:quality(70)/prod01/prodbucket01/media/durham-university/wider-student-experience-/team-durham/86040-hero.jpg)