Celebrating Exam Success: Sports

NEWS |

This is the fifth piece in the ‘Celebrating Exam Success’ news series, which brings you stories from Pembroke students who performed particularly well in this year’s exams. Each feature celebrates a particular aspect of life at Pembroke. This week we caught up with Laurence Wroe (MPhys Physics, 2014) and Khalid Mohsen (Economics and Management, 2014), to find out more about their involvement in sports at Pembroke…

Laurence has just completed the third year of a four-year degree in Physics. The course covers a wide range of areas, and Laurence has particularly enjoyed quantum and atomic physics. He told us: ‘This summer I am working at CERN in Switzerland for 8 weeks, before specialising in particle physics and lasers and quantum information processing in my Masters’ next year.’

He has represented Pembroke in many different sports, including pool, cricket, darts and rounders. His main sport is football and during his time in Pembroke’s Football Club (PCFC), Laurence has seen it go from strength to strength: including a promotion and reaching the cup final.  He told us about some of his highlight moments so far: ‘In my second year, I captained PCFC’s first team in a season where we narrowly missed out on back-to-back promotion. I have also played for the University football team and, last year, I was fortunate enough to captain the Blues at football, cumulating in an emphatic varsity victory against Cambridge!’

For Laurence, his extra-curricular sports are an opportunity to relax and take time out from studying. It’s also a great way of meeting new people, he told us. ‘In addition to the sporting side, most sports teams have regular social events that are great for team bonding. Oxford can be an intense environment for studying and the downtime that sport provides has definitely helped me relax and consequently perform better in my studies.’

Are you considering studying Physics at Oxford? Here are Laurence’s tips: ‘Take full opportunity of everything that Oxford has to offer. In addition to providing physicists that are leaders in their field to help you with your studies, the Physics Department and Careers Service offer really great internships in the vacations that can broaden your horizons. Likewise, outside of Physics, Oxford has really good sports and societies that I’d really recommend getting involved in!’

Khalid recently graduated from his degree in Economics and Management (congratulations, Khalid!). The most enjoyable aspect of the course for him was the accounting module: ‘Far from being a typical accounting course, this one focused on the context and international frameworks within which accounts are prepared, making it a uniquely interesting and insightful topic for anyone looking to work in finance.’

Like Laurence, Khalid took part in a wide range of sports whilst at Pembroke, from ultimate Frisbee and mixed lacrosse to rugby and football. However, his main focus was rowing for the Pembroke College Boat Club (PCBC). He explained, ‘I started as a novice in my first year and will be Vice-President this coming academic year. Outside of Pembroke I’ve also represented the University at Judo and so there’s always sporting opportunities available to people of all levels.’ How did he balance his time? Khalid acknowledged that ‘balancing commitments can be tough at times, but taking part in sports also gives you a break from work and can be a good outlet for stress.’

Thinking of applying to Oxford? Here is Khalid’s advice: ‘Go for it! There’s no getting away from the fact that it can be hard, but it’s definitely worth it- I wouldn't be coming back to Pembroke next year for a Masters course if it wasn't!’