Your Sport EO candidates chatted to Label about their plans if they were to be elected!
James Greer
What are the main points of your manifesto?
My manifesto has 4 points; clarity, integrity, inclusivity and opportunities. With clarity it’s about making sure that students know exactly what is going on in sport in terms of the whole sport pathway. When it comes to integrity it’s making sure that we are representing Loughborough in the African Violet in the best way possible, making sure that even though we want to win, we win with pride and we lose with grace. We want to be proud of what we do when it comes to sport and that even though we are the best when it comes to winning, we are also we are also the best when it comes to opportunities within sport. With inclusivity I believe in sport for all and one of the things that I would aim to implement is a communications and outreach officer within the sports. This is to ensure that we are listening to all student groups within Loughborough whether you’re post grad and alumni, international student, minority student it’s important that we listen to those students and we have representatives across all sporting strands. I think it is important that we implement someone who can specifically go out there and listen to what specific groups have to say, so that we can be held more accountable for making sure that we’re not causing bad participation within diverse student groups.
Opportunities – I think that sport isn’t just about performing it’s about getting involved in a variety of different way, whether that is coming onto committee, whether that’s being a nutritionist or a performance analysis I think that at any point in the whole school program I think that it’s important that we see that you don’t just have to be a performance to get involved in sport – you can be a journalist and you can write a journal on sport, you can be somebody who’s doing a PhD in nutrition and you can help support one of our rugby teams. Sport offers you loads of transferable skills.
What experience do you have that makes you suitable for the role?
When I was a fresher, I ran in the exec elections and I won the role of welfare. In my second year as a welfare officer on the executive team and then currently I am now the AU Clubs Officer which is a new sabbatical role it was previously AU intern. I basically oversee all the development and training and have a vice presidential role within the AU. It’s really allowed me to understand the other sporting strands within the sports office create. I’ve had really good collaborations with IMS, social sport, the CVA and My Lifestyle. I’ve started to understand more too. If elected as the sport executive officer I think that the knowledge and experience that I’ve gained will massively benefit students who feel like there needs to be more opportunities and better inclusivity within sport. I think that some people think that within sport you’ve got to be a certain level to get involved, but what I would do is ensure that actually is not just about being the best of the best, if you’re passionate and you want to get involved in sport then there is a place and there’s an opportunity for you to do so.
How will you promote sport across the university and the college?
Primarily through the students mainly I think the student voice is a very powerful tool and at the end of the day when it comes to my lifestyle for example and the para sport programme which has just recently been released its the students that represent that it’s the students that lead that and I think the great thing about Loughborough the whole is that we are student facing we are student led and I think as long as we continue to do that and we listen to our students and we implement the changes needed from what students say then i believe that where once step closer to being an all-inclusive compass in an all inclusive
What sporting event at university has been your favourite and why?
That’s difficult because there’s so many sporting events. If I look at it purely from a sporting side, I really enjoyed going down to see BUCS Nationals. I really enjoyed watching our big matches that we put on especially the doubleheader very recently, but I think other events in which you kind of celebrate things and you raise awareness for example AU Ball and AU Colours where you celebrate the successes that people have done within the AU I think are phenomenal events. I think also our charity events like AU Lip Sync Battle and Naked Calendar are also really good events that we put on. Across the whole board I think that every sporting event that we put on is really special and really memorable moments for Loughborough so I can’t really pin down one!
What do you think IMS adds to the university experience?
IMS has a really strong presence within halls and I think that it’s important that people associate sport to their hall, because a lot of students who are freshers are very proud with their hall and a good way of showing that is IMS sport. The IMS program is important and we need to strengthen our links as to how people can get involved. What people forget about IMS is that it’s a massive part play within the sport pathway as it is that link between getting involved in sport to progressing into that into development and then going into the AU. Big events like All Stars are really important event for when it comes to that natural progression from IMS to AU. IMS is a really good platform in which athletes can actually grow, develop and improve.
If you could be a biscuit, what biscuit would you be?
I’d be nice biscuit because I’m a nice person!
Samy Guglielmino
What are the main points of your manifesto?
- I’d like to make sport inclusive and for all, so that everyone can get involved and increase participation.
- I want to diversify the sport offered by potentially offering new sports and developing and introducing new AU Clubs.
- Improve and expand the promotion of Loughborough sport by providing constant updates and improving the info and content from social media
What experience do you have that makes you suitable for the role?
I was part of the AU club committee in basketball, was a sports sec for halls, am currently part of Social Sport Exec, I’ve also been a society chair, course rep, and have volunteered in several events with the CVA. I’ve taken part in most of the traditions of Loughborough sport!
How will you promote sport across the university and the college?
From what feedback I’ve heard, Freshers can be a good period to show opportunities – I think it would be a good idea to have tasters throughout the year, including Freshers, which will help people join throughout the year, increasing participation. Also, we could improve the use of social media, for example in IMS/Social Sport the use of social media could be used more often so that people can see what options there are.
What sporting event at university has been your favourite and why?
For me, a big one was the IMS football cup final as the Holt were in it, it went to extra time… it was big for us as a small hall. But also… the U17 Euros Champions held here at Loughborough where I was a volunteer; it was fun and I got loads of experience!
What do you think IMS adds to the university experience?
It unifies the halls; it creates lots of opportunities to participate in a competitive environment that is more friendly than AU which is purely competitive. It also provides a good opportunity for people to go and compete and enjoy sports.
If you could be a biscuit, what biscuit would you be?
White chocolate cookies!
