of the WRNS 1976-9 Willie John McBride, rugby player. Captain of the Irish international team and British & Irish Lions rugby team Colin Murdock, former professional footballer, now lawyer James Sayers, professor of electron physics from 1946 to 1972 at the University of Birmingham, from 1939 to 1943 developed the cavity magnetron which was essential for centimetric radar, and later worked from 1943 to 1945 on the Manhattan Project Robert Simpson, Ulster Unionist MP (NI) from 1953 to 1972 for Mid Antrim Robin Swann, Ulster Unionist Party MLA (2011-) Party Leader (2017–2019), Minister for Health (2020-) Colin Wallace, former British soldier and psychological warfare operative, subject of a wrongful imprisonment case Sport Sport is an important part of Ballymena Academy and the school is well known as one of the most successful in Northern Ireland, notably at rugby. Head of girls' sport is Diane McNeill and head of boys' sport is John Nicholl. The main boys' sport at Ballymena Academy is rugby. At the Kingspan Stadium, Belfast, the school won the 2010 Ulster Schools Cup final when they beat Belfast Royal Academy 10–7. Previous wins were recorded in 1972 and 1981. The school has also won the Subsidiary Shield on seven occasions - more than any other school. The Medallion (under 15) team has won the Medallion Shield twice, in 1970 and 2018. A share of the shield was secured twice after drawn finals. In 2021, the school won the first ever Danske Bank U16s Schools Cup, beating Methodist College Belfast 29-17. The main girls' sport is hockey and the Ulster Schools Cup has been won outright on six occasions. The trophy has also been shared a further three times after drawn finals. The most recent win was in 2001. Following this, they have proceeded to the Kate Russel All Ireland school girls hockey championship. In 2014 the 1XI reached the schools cup semi-final at Lisnagarvey, they lost on penalty flicks, after a 3–3 draw, to Rainey Endowed school. Coat of arms The red hands are borrowed from the Adair family arms, who gave the of ground on which the original school was built, itself represented by the blue rectangle below. The worker ant represents hard work. The badger on the crest, accompanied by a lamp representing learning, is a pun on 'Brocklamont', site of the new school buildings, with 'brock' being an archaic word for badger (non-archaic Irish, "broc").