One of the positions people are running for this year is the Vice President Sports position. This position is based around sport here at NTU on all three campuses and the successful candidate will be responsible for various different roles throughout the year with students of all abilities. They will have to liaise with the Universities Sports and Lifestyle Department and will play the lead role and figurehead of student sport. It is also seen that they will provide a strategic direction to the continual improvement and quality of the sports teams that are run by the Union from both leisurely played sports to competitively played sports. Throughout the year they will also chair all of the Sports Exec meetings and Sports Committee meetings, which will aid the way the committee is run. The candidates for this position are Prudence Bowley, Pete ‘Cass’ Cassidy and Scott Hayes. We emailed all candidates and asked them a few questions about different aspects of the role they were applying for.
One of the 3 candidates is Prudence Bowley, 20, who is studying Psychology with Criminology. She believes her course is good for the position due to the way she can research, interview and present findings, whilst also supporting an argument which she feels would help her in her role. She is good at speaking to students and putting their opinions over to the correct student body. This year Prudence is the Hockey President which she also feels has given her the experience of being part of a sports team and the running of it too. She has also been part of the Sports Exec team for the Students Union, which has meant she has had to work closely with VP Sports before. This has given her a great insight in to the world of work behind the scenes, as well as on the front line with students from different sports teams, both niche and mainstream. Some of her manifesto points include hosting a Nu2 sports event at all 3 campuses. Prudence would also love to include Brackenhurst more in all the NTU Activities related to sport and feel more needs to be done to include them. Something that could bring more people together is also the Varsity Series which she believes needs to have more coverage and get more supporters at each of the games.
In competition with Prudence is Peter Cassidy, also known as ‘Cass’. He 23 and studying Sport & Leisure with Psychology & Education. He believes that his course can help him a great deal, as he studies a lot to do with coaching, development and also the psychology behind it all too. He has worked part-time for the sports development charity ‘Balls to Poverty’ which recently won the Queens Award for Further Education, something which he is very proud to be part of. He is dedicated to every sport he plays and how he firmly believes he has a lot more to offer. He says he has a professional, whilst approachable attitude, which he feel is vital for working in a student based environment. He feels being a Head-fresher rep has bought him a great deal of experience that he can carry on into later life and he is also President of the Men’s Football at NTU which he feels gives him the experience of niche and mainstream sports. His manifesto includes working closely with each sports team individually and the committees too, whilst also liaising with VP Activities in order to create competition between campuses, such an Olympic style games. He also intends to improve the Varsity series and create more involvement with them so that NTU becomes more community orientated and everyone at NTU feels as much love as he does for our university.
The third candidate Scott unfortunately did not respond to the questions but instead we will briefly list his manifesto points. In his statement he says ‘NTU students should vote for me because my aim is to improve the structure and face of sport at the university, primarily through being the voice of the student body. I want to involve more students in sport and other physical activities whether it be for; competitive, social or just enjoyable reasons. I have always been interested in a variety of different sports therefore all societies will be heard equally and get a say in how they want their teams to be run and any changes that they wish to make. If you vote for me I will ensure your voice is heard and that your views are always taken into account’ Some of his manifesto points also include more inter-mutual sporting events between campuses ranging from badminton to 5-a-side football and also maintaining the excellent price for the sports facilities that exist this year. Scott also mentions that he wants to utilize the bottom bar of the point in to a TV area for Wednesday afternoons so that BUCS and varsity games can be shown, as well as Trent TV.
Good luck to all the candidates for the VP Sports position, may the best person win!
Sophie Davis
Tags: candidates, ntsu, ntu, sport, student committee, Student Union, voting
