Thursday 06-09-2018 - 10:27

"Second blog time! I’m starting to realise that so much happens in such a small time that my blogs will either need to be more frequent, or a novel size parchment. I’m from Wales, so trying to start with a classic Northern Big Brother ‘Daaay 47 in the MMU Union…’ line just doesn’t do it justice, so at the end of probably our most glorious summer in 200 years, I bring you an update on all things Sport Officer.

Training is coming to a close so I’m just about (just just about) ready to roll over the edge, walk the plank, jump into full on student officer life. While training has been going on, so has planning for a fantastic 18/19 year. There’s still a few things that can’t be shared yet but here are some highlights and new opportunities I’ve brought in for all our sports students!

Sport Surgery – I have no qualifications in medicine, trees or as a general practitioner, so I can’t officially call myself a doctor, but I did do two animal degrees, so I guess I’m a few degrees of separation from a vet?! Regardless, sport surgery is a new 2 hour slot every Monday 12pm - 2pm in The Union where sports students can pop in to a private room with me and discuss in confidence and anonymously any issues they may be facing either as an individual or as a team. Also come and tell me all the incredible plans and ideas you guys have whether it be for events or just things you want support with. Good or bad, the doctor is in!

Ride Along Wednesdays / Game days – I perhaps need to come up with a better name for this as I guess at the moment it sounds like I’m auditioning for a music video, but this is again something completely new. Every Wednesday or game day I will be going along with clubs, whether home or away, to support our teams on the field. I want to be on the ground, at the matches and frankly as engaged as possible in order to celebrate and show support for all the things our fantastic teams do for MMU. I was overwhelmed by the responses and the support from teams when this was put to them, it will be an honour to be alongside you all.

Our Fencing team have gone from strength to strength over a very short period of time and are truly a fantastic asset to sport here at MMU. I recently had the honour of writing them a nomination for University Club of the Year as part of the prestigious British Fencing Awards. Best of luck to the whole team and we all have our fingers crossed for you!

The Taekwondo club here at MMU were recently announced as the Number 1 University team in the UK and following on from this were successful in their bid to host the National Student Taekwondo Championships in February 2019. This is a huge achievement for the team and we are all very proud of you. Let’s hope we can get a big support down at Platt Lane come 2nd term.

Student led events are coming In fast and we’ve had awesome ideas put forward. We have some original events returning and some brand new events to look forward too. One to watch out for is Rounder’s ‘Silent Disco’ event, a completely new event that sounds pretty ace. Details of this one will be out very soon! We have also had confirmation that Fight Night is returning for a 4th year - we have a new format, but that’s all I’ll say for now! If you have an idea of an event or want to continue the tradition at your clubs, get in touch and we can fill the calendar with incredible student led events here at the Union!

The countdown is on, just under 2 weeks before all you lovely students come back. 2018/19 we’re coming!"