Cardiff and Vale College’s Sports Academies have celebrated another outstanding year at the CAVC 2026 Sports Awards.
The Academies have gone from strength to strength in 2025-26, playing at the highest level, reaching the final stages of tournaments, winning leagues and seeing players going on to achieve regional and national honours.
The CAVC Women’s Rugby academy had an incredible season in 2025-26, going from three players at the start of the season to winning its first-ever silverware at the end. After narrowly missing out on the semi-finals at the Rosslyn Park 7s, the Academy went on to win the Urdd 7s and were crowned Plate Champions.
After a difficult start to the season, the Men’s Rugby Academy also ended on a high, winning the WRU Development League Cup. The Academy also had a successful 12-day tour of South Africa where they competed and against beat some of the country’s top rugby schools.
Players Harvey Bryant Ffredi Easterby, Iestyn Stephens and Cian McGee were also selected for the Cardiff Rugby Academy. Harvey also played for Wales U18s.
The College’s Netball Academy had a winning season, securing the league title with a hard-fought 35-31 victory over Coleg y Cymoedd in the season’s decisive fixture. The win came at the end of an unbeaten season, securing the Academy the Association of Colleges (AoC) B League Cup.
Player Eva Lewis was also selected to play for the Cardiff and the Vale County and Welsh Colleges teams.
The Football Academy has seen achievements through the individual growth with players progressing internally across squads and making important progress with their own clubs. Several players were in the Cardiff Met team that won the Development League, as well as players being involved in matchday squads at Cymru Premier and Cymru South level. Players Osian Haines and Josh Stephens were also selected to play for the Welsh Colleges team this season.
The CAVC Basketball Academy had one of the most successful seasons in the programme’s history. It secured a fifth consecutive Welsh Colleges Championships, and finished third in the Colleges Basketball League. Its season concluded earning bronze at the AoC National Championships, placing it as one of the strongest teams in the UK.
Players Onanefe Atufe and Luca Basini-Jones were also selected to play for the College Basketball League Tier 2 All-Conference team.
The Award for Non-Academy Elite and Performance Student Year went to Rose Williams.
Rose is a member of the Welsh Elite Performance Swimming Squad and is currently ranked number 1 in Wales for all freestyle races and backstroke. She holds 13 Welsh records in the S14 classification and has achieved world rankings of 4th for 100m backstroke, 7th in 100m and 200m freestyle, and 8th in 200m medley. Earlier this year she competed in the Peru World Swimming Series, securing 11 medals. Rose is hoping to be selected for the Commonwealth Games this summer, after finishing in the top 8 at trials recently.
Rugby Academy Captain Harvey Bryant was winner of the CAVC Overall Student Athlete of the Year Award.
Harvey has had a fantastic season out on the rugby field. He leads the men’s team from the front as captain – and his performances have been acknowledged beyond CAVC too. He played every game of Cardiff Rugby's 18s Academy block, and represented Wales under-18s at the Six Nations, playing all three games out in France.
Cardiff and Vale College Principal Sharon James-Evans said: “I would like to offer my congratulations to our award winners and all of our Sport Academy players. The hard work and dedication that you have all put in this year to balance your study with your commitment to training and participating to your very best in your chosen sport, should be applauded and you’ve made us all very proud.
“I’d also like to thank and congratulate all of the fantastic academy coaching teams and wider College colleagues who have supported our players throughout the year.”
The CAVC Sport Academies are made up of students from across the College who are studying a range of vocational and academic courses. They provide a supportive and specialist environment that combines first-class coaching and sports facilities with the College’s wide portfolio of courses. Players can progress in their sporting careers while studying at the College and prepare for a future outside of sport as well.
Interested in joining a CAVC Sport Academy? Visit https://cavc.ac.uk/en/sportsacademies for more information.