On the last weekend of February, Sunday 26, Devas played their annual match with Univ at Oxford. In recent years a history of Devas winning handsomely has been reversed, to the point of the match ending in a draw in the 2016 match.

This year Devas sent both a men’s team and a women’s team. The recent trend was again reversed, with a strong win by the Devas men’s team. The women’s team followed suit with a good win in their first ever match at Oxford. The Devas team and their coaches are anticipating that in a repeat of history the goal margins of future matches will become progressively narrower.

A particular bonus this year had been the contacts made after the match. Two members of the Devas women’s team who are qualified coaches have offered to run a coaching session at Oxford, probably next Autumn or Winter. And a proposal for a Univ led team to run drama workshops at Devas in the Summer is making real progress.

The other innovation this year was that Devas also brought a small group of Devas members whose schools are supporting their ambitions to apply for Oxford and who want to understand more about undergraduate life. This reflects a growing role of Devas supporting education as part of their work with young people in the Battersea area.

Find out more about Devas by visiting devasclub.org or on our Univ in the Community page.

Published: 2 March 2017

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