Mayhem!

‘Phew!’ is all I can say regarding the first day of Sports and Soc’s fair. It was pretty manic, however, I think that it was a success. I know it wasn’t perfect but we’ll live and learn. Just one more manic day to go. I hope you all had an opportunity to join some new and exciting Clubs. If you didn’t get a chance to join any of our fantastic Clubs or Socs then don’t worry, just come into ‘The Hive’ (in the SU) and we can give you more information or contact details for whichever Club you’d like to join (as easy as that!).

If you are a returning student, then I hope you like our refurbished building and you enjoyed the fair this year. I know the pyramid isn’t there anymore and it is a little sad but a memory will last a lifetime.

Just to give you a little bit of information on what else I’ve been up to:

• Working on Branding for Sports Clubs
• Carrying out Chair Training
• Working and helping many clubs with a wide range of issues.
• Sports and Soc’s Fair (of course!)
• Appeals
• Working on criteria for ‘Club/Society of the Month’
• Looking into ‘Healthy Lifestyle Campaign’.
• Working on Sports awards

… there are a few more things I have been working on but as you can see, it is getting pretty hectic.

I do hope you’re all having and will have a fantastic time this year and that there are no problems in your lives. If there are, remember that your Students Union is here for you with a wide range of things, including Advice, Clubs and Socs, Campaigns and a whole range of other fantastic things. Whatever it is you are interested in, I’m sure we can cater for you or provide you with information on that matter.

Any problems, please come in and have a chat.

Chris

Result!

Afternoon! Within the first month or so of working as your Sports officer I was informed by many concerned students that the prices of the new sports facilities were too much for students. After doing my research it was noted that the prices had indeed been scheduled to be around £5/7 for an hour game of Badminton (amongst other sports).

Without dragging on…after much negotiation I can now reveal that I have managed to get a reduction in prices of Sports Facilities. There will now be a huge reduction in costs of sports hall hire with a ‘Recreation card’ e.g. Badminton is now £2 an hour for a court. This is something that I feel is not only reasonable for students but attracts more students to participate in sports and fitness.

Result!

Chris

Bit of info…

This week I have tried to finalise a few issues and also taken us a few steps closer to others. The J80 Yachts have been an issue in which the Yacht Club have fought for for a long while. It has finally come to the stage where the boats have been moved over to the Mount Batton Centre and with a few more meeitngs/negotiations the club will have agreed to pay a large sum of money along with dedicating so much of their time to maintain the boats. This is something that shows how dedicated Clubs at the University of Plymouth are when wanting to participate and represent the University through sport. I only wish the University would on occasion show some recognition towards the time, effort and money that students place into Sport, especially when most students are in very difficult financial situations as it is.

On the other hand, I have been in further discussion with various people to lower the costs of prices at The Nancy Astor Sports Complex. The discussions have come a long way and it is looking promising that students will be getting a far better deal in the Sports Complex.

Just thought I’d fill you all in.

Chris

NUS and Sports Card

Above are the new NUS and Sports card for the year 2008/09. The NUS card will cost £10 for the year and there is now a possibility to buy a 3 year card for £25. The Sports card will cost you £8, however, if you purchase a NUS and Sports card then it will be as one card which will save a lot of material and will save you some hard earned pennies for the awesome price of £16. Thought I’d just add that to start with.

So another week closer to freshers and another week of progression. More work has been done for Sports and Societies fair, the floor plan has been complete and the last few bits are being finished off. The building work around the Union is slowly beginning to come together and is looking likely that it will be complete in time for fresher’s (Cross fingers). It’s also looking awesome!

Fixtures are all out for BUCS (British University College Sport which was formally known as BUSA) and we await all clubs to come back so we can continue with training for Committee’s to make sure all Clubs are as confident, committed and successful as possible. My proposal for Sports Awards to be separate has also been agreed by UEC (Union Executive Committee) which gives Sports a massive opportunity to show off all of its achievements for the year next April. This also means there will now be an extra awards ceremony for Societies which may also include awards for Course reps, parliaments, media, and other lucky people. This will be on going for the coming months and we look forward to the challenge.

There are plenty of other things that have happenend this week however if anyone would like to know more info then come on in to The Hive and we can have a chat.

Chris

 

 

 

 

Freshers is coming…

Based on current advertised costs in Nancy Astor it appears that I will have to represent the student voice in attempting to ensure appropriate prices for students. My aim is to ensure that costs to students are lower than that of public and staff, after all the building was built for students so lets make sure we have the ability to access it for a decent rate. 

This week has provided meetings and discussions internal and externally. James and I have completed our outline for chair training and are attempting to digitalise the completed floor plan for sports and soc fair. There have been other issues here and there with building works and other areas however I wont go into too much depth as it will probably take up to much space. The positives are that we will hopefully be open on time for Freshers.

Other than that, it’s been a productive week and if there are any queries with sport or anything else please don’t hesitate to come and have a chat.

You may be interested to know that the bars and room names in the Union have changer, they are now:

- Ignition will now be known as Sub:Lime based on the decoration choices (wait for the surprise when you come back….)

- The Fuzzy Duck will now be known as ‘The Snug’

- Drakes (or Fish Bowl depending on how old you are) will now be ‘The Lounge’ and will be a coffee shop / food takeaway type room.

- Illusion will remain as Illusion

Have a great weekend!!

Sports

Developing the Union!

The last week or so we have made some important changes for the ‘greater good’. Sports and Societies council has been cut down to the elected sports and soc’s representatives which will hopefully officially be passed at Parliament when students return. This has been done so all club chairs can feed their concerns into the Representatives and then comments passed onto Council which creates a more productive system.

Kit colours were look at this week as the clash of Green, Black and White with Exeter teams has been of major concern. After discussion with Exeters Athletics President it was decided that we must revise the colours. I then had many discussions with Senior Managers along with other members and it was discussed that the colours that brand this Union should take a priority (Navy Blue, Light Blue and White). This is an on going project which will be developed further in the coming months.

James and I also attended a ‘Developing your memebers’ training in Bristol which helped our confidence and understanding of certain areas such as ‘time management’ and ‘delegation’, not only this but it made us realise how great/amazing/brilliant all members of staff are at UPSU.

Without dragging on to much, this week has been full of meetings and developing Sports and Societies fair which we will hope is bigger than ever.

Keep up the hard work.

Chris

Welcome!

Well, its been a month already and not only has there been lots of things happening around campus but the new Sabbatical team have been training to become ‘Team UPSU Xtreme!’ training all over the south west and Wales to gain as much information to represent all of you guys in the best possible way.

Some of the current goings on around campus are the building of the new Sports hall, the Union and lots of other building work going on to finally make the campus complete. It’s taken many many years but we can only hope that it has been worth the wait for the building work to come to a near end. That aside, I am looking forward to working with all of you to cater for all your sporting needs. There are lots of things planned for the coming year and I will work hard in hope to achieve the most for sport this year in Plymouth!

This week has been very busy with meetings up at Plymouth Argyle FC to look into some great deals for you guys, arranging sports and societies fair, having meetings with our Senior Management Team along with training on budgets, annual accounts, financial regulations, governance and trustee responsibilities…so as you can imagine, lots of information to take in.

Next week will take James and I to UWE (University of West England) Bristol to train on how to best support and develop the Union for all of our members (You guys!). During next week we will also be concentrating on making Sports and Socs fair bigger than ever!

Just before I sign off I will try my best to update this blog every week. This way you will know what I’ve been up to and can leave your comments. Have a good week and I’ll update you soon.

Regards

Chris

Hey Sports fans!

 

Hey! My name is Chris Rees and I’m your new Vice President for Sports. First of all I’d like you to know that I am here for you! if you have any problems or questions then don’t hesitate to get in contact.

 

With over 50 clubs to choose from there really is something for everyone, if there is something you have always wanted to try and we offer it then what are you waiting for….get involved!

 

The past few years have been really exciting for Plymouth with many sporting achievements, last year 07/08 we won Varsity (a competition that sees many sports teams come face to face with our rivals Marjons) and we hope for more success in the coming year. Well now that I’ve give you a brief bit of info all there is to do is wait for Sports and Societies Fair (October 1st and 4th) to join up and have some fun.

 

Have a good one and see you all soon.

 

Chris

P.s – I’ve added a sunny pic at the top in hope that it will stop raining…eventually!