Lee Warren is one of just three students in the country up for British Universities & College Sports (BUCS) Endsleigh Insurance Student Volunteer of Year award – for his work into launching the FA Mars Just Play! scheme, as well as the BUCS Team Twenty Three programme at the University.

With the help of fellow Bedfordshire student Sam Page, Lee has delivered both the men’s and women’s weekly kick-about sessions at the University’s Alexander Sports Centre in Bedford for students and staff.

As part of Team Twenty Three, the Sport and Exercise Science Master’s student has also brought Futsal to the University and since January has run a Friday Night Futsal League for students and staff, which has led to the introduction of a Bedfordshire team into the 2014/15 BUCS Futsal League.

“I am absolutely thrilled that the national governing body for Higher Education sport in the UK, BUCS, has recognised the volunteering work I do at the University with other student volunteers,” said Lee.

A keen footballer and futsal player himself, Lee has been learning his trade as a sport scientist at Stevenage FC as part of a one-year internship with the Hertfordshire club.

The 22-year-old, who recently put Alan Shearer through a fitness test in the Lucozade Sport Conditions Zone, which replicates the heat and humidity conditions of the Brazil World Cup, added: “I’ve played football for a number of years now and it’s something I really enjoy doing, so introducing a new initiative, futsal, to our football programmes seemed appropriate, I wanted to see if there was an appetite for the sport at Bedfordshire, as traditionally it’s played in South America and Continental Europe.

“Futsal is growing in the UK and the amount of participants (125+) that have tried the sport at Bedfordshire over the past eight months, makes the whole volunteering programme worthwhile. It’s a sport that needs to be introduced at grassroots level across the country to enhance the technical ability and skills our young players acquire.”

The BUCS Awards take place on Thursday 10 July at Swansea University, and will be hosted by John Inverdale, the BUCS President and respected sports television broadcaster of 30 years.