On Saturday 1st June, three of our University students, Maya Altamimi, Paula Perez and Zac Minns were selected for an exclusive leadership training event and enjoyed the screening of the Champions League final game as part of University of Surrey’s partnership with Santander Universities.
Paula, Zac and Maya were invited to a Leadership Masterclass afternoon at Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium, led by renowned sports psychologist Jeremy Snape MSc.
After the Leadership Masterclass, the students had the opportunity to go on a stadium tour. Maya, one of the students in attendance, particularly enjoyed the tour, saying “we were given a tour of the stadium and were able to see first hand where the players eat, get changed and have post match press conferences.”
They later joined around 60,000 Spurs fans in the stands to watch the live final on the giant screens.
Our students were joined by a number of professionals to talk about their experiences, “We received a couple of talks by the different visitors. One was about leadership and how athletes cope with the stressful situations. They not only related it to sports events but also to real life experiences which was very useful.”
Jeremy Snape MSc is an ex-England and county cricketer who has combined his playing experience with a Master’s Degree in Sport Psychology to help both sporting and non-sporting organisations improve leadership and management performance.
Matt Hutnell, Director of Santander Universities UK, said: “We’re thrilled to have offered students from all our partner Universities this fantastic opportunity to attend a series of leadership activities whilst highlighting the positive and lasting impact that sports such as football have on people and communities around the world. We are committed to supporting higher education and hope the sessions provided an invaluable insight and the skills needed for students to build upon as they develop their careers.”
The event was also held in celebration of Santander’s sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League. Santander’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper and the sponsorship enables Santander to deliver its purpose in new ways to more people and their communities.
Santander, through its Santander Universities division, maintains partnerships with close to 1,200 academic institutions in 20 countries. Santander Universities was introduced in the UK in 2007 and the bank now has partnerships with over 80 universities, providing over £10m of funding in 2018 to support university staff and students. In 2015, Santander topped the Global list of Fortune 500 in investment in education
We hope you all had a fantastic time!
We look forward to providing more exciting opportunities for our students through Santander again in the near future.