Jo Carter: Week 7

Jo Carter, AU President

The dinner sees awards' handed out and university teams' success is celebrated.

Carter wants to run a “successful” dinner as “we've had such a good year and hopefully the AU dinner will reflect that”. With that being the only AU event left this year, Carter is looking to “lay some foundations” for next year, in particular for a “healthy campus week” but she realises that it would be “up to Alex Lacy if he wishes to implement the plans.”

we've had such a good year and hopefully the AU dinner will reflect that
AU President, Jo Carter

A healthy campus week would no doubt benefit the University, as noted in last term's weekly articles. The fact remains that not enough is done for those not playing university or college sport, perhaps through being ill in freshers week or just not wanting to play sport in their first term. Having a healthy campus week could give potential players the impetus to go and play more sport and could even unearth some university sporting gems.

Another way to unearth hidden sports men or women is through one day tournaments. Last Sunday saw an inter-college handball tournament, a relatively new sport to most people and someone described it to Carter as a “mixture of football, basketball and boxing”.

These one day tournaments aim to introduce new sports, but she admits that “some are really successful, while others are less popular”. The handball tournament can be deemed a success as people new to the sport enjoyed themselves as well as some people who were new to sport altogether. There is a limit of 3 one day tournaments per term however so there is a selection process to go through before giving a sport a tournament. Another tournament is due for this weekend, with lacrosse being the chosen sport.

On the subject of improving sport and participation rates, the Sports Centre is currently undergoing refurbishment with small disruptions to service. Carter describes the disruptions as “minimal when you consider the vast improvements that we'll see come October”. Though it is of a slight annoyance that some facilities are out of use, Carter would “rather see it all ready and disruption free in freshers' term than in the last few weeks of summer when usage is at its lowest.”

Come next October, things should be looking good for sport at the university at all levels with a better Sports Centre, new astroturf, better gym facilities and solid one day tournaments. There should be sport, or at least exercise, for all comers of all shapes, sizes and abilities.

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