Simply one word describes my time, Incredible.

I don’t believe I could do it justice to describe the experience you have when you become a sabb. The job is defined by the people you work with and I can’t thank them enough for giving me a wonderful year. They have guided me through the complexities of HUU and helped me keep the Athletics Union on budget. I have been extremely lucky to have the voluntary base I have as well, practically all the presidents of the clubs have performed exceptionally. They have been spot on this year, met every deadline I have set and they have been fiscally more responsible, which has prevented the problem we had last year of clubs getting into debt. Finally I have to thank my fellow sabbatical officers they have been very supportive and we have worked well as a team, which didn’t necessarily occur last year, every officer got involved with each other’s zone. For example Chris (Marks) has campaigned for the free Wednesday afternoons for the sports teams and Ben (Wilcox) helping me with tour. Everyone has been great help to me even if it’s just pooping head in for a chat so we can offer each other a different perspective on each other’s problems.

It’s been a brilliant year.

What has been your best moment in the job?

When you preside of an athletic union of over 2000 members it’s impossible to pick out a single moment. There are countless highlights which I will remember. One of the most recent highlights would have to be the Netball final in Sheffield which happened before the Easter holidays. The union managed to rally over 70 people unaffiliated to the Netball Squad to wear the ‘We Are Hull’ and come cheer the team onto victory. That level of support had never occurred before and I feel it is a sign that the AU as an entity is growing stronger.

The other sign of this growing strength would be the AU ball, the naked calendar and Tour. The AU ball for the first time in its history sold out, the calendar has sold in record numbers and the record numbers that went on tour this year. 120 more people than ever before, we were largest group on tour and with the societies joining the AU on tour it shows that it’s not just the AU that is getting into the spirit of ‘We Are Hull’.

I just can’t put my finger on a best moment; it’s just been a series of amazing experiences.
 
 
A number of teams have been performing particularly well in national tournaments do you think we can we continue this next year?

This year has been incredibly successful on the pitch. This year we’ve seen a lot of teams mature this year, the majority of execs contain experienced and highly motivated players, I have been lucky to be a VP Sport with that solid leadership base.  For example the Netball squads 16 games undefeated and their triumph in the northern conference cup. This can be attributed to the strong leadership within the club. There are too many examples of sporting success this year to mention but many teams have had an extraordinary reversal of fortunes this year, last year Rugby Union narrowly missed relegation but they finished this season 3^rd in there league this year and the same story with the Golf club they have gone from basic non-existence to 2^nd place in the northern league in just two years. Those are just two examples of dozens of sporting successes we’ve had.

The ability to make to build on this success, unfortunately, lies with the university. Due to budget shortfalls we haven’t been able to fund the AU as we would like to. The University needs to realise how important sport is for attracting students to a university. At present they only offer a handful of sporting scholarships for rugby league players. If this scheme was expanded to other sports and the university invested in coaching staff the Athletic Union can go from mid level union run on a shoestring budget to the top tier of sporting universities, we have the excellent voluntary base all we need now is the investment.

You stated in your interview with hull fire at the start of the year that you aimed to improve participation in the AU. Do you feel you have achieved this?

Participation for me has been tremendously important; it’s one of my buzzwords. The amount of people who have come up to me during the awards ceremonies and into the office and have said ‘I would be nothing without the AU’ shows how important it is to the student body. The Athletic Union is often stereotyped as a bunch of alcoholic students. It’s a complete misconception. The AU is an outlet for students it allows them to meet people that otherwise they never would have, should you have the misfortune to end up with housemates you don’t get on with you can build a whole new group of friends. Without the AU many students would be simply sat on the sofa watching day time TV, the AU doesn’t just offer a binge drinking life style but an outlet for a variety extracurricular activities.

I feel this is recognised by the student body, with 1 in 8 full time students being part of the AU in one way or another. Membership of the AU has gone up by 300 people this year and we want to get even more involved next year and not just in the large clubs like Boxing and Rugby but into the smaller ones such as figure skating. There is a club for every kind of student in the AU.

Three members of the newly elected sabbatical team worked in the AU office. Do you feel that their experience in working in the AU contributed to their success?

The AU office has given those sabbatical officers an advantage but not one that meant that their election was guaranteed. The AU office on average gets around 180 visitors so those sabbs did get to meet a large number of students before they began their campaigns. The office is also a social environment for many students; they may come in to talk initially about a sporting matter but they usually go on to mention other problems they may have from education to accommodation. This probably gave them a good idea of what the wider student body wanted out of their union. However all that is for nothing if you don’t appeal to the student body they were elected on their policies rather than their experience in the office, their effective campaigns won the election for them.   

Societies went on tour this year. Has the drive to integrate societies and the AU been successful? And how much more work needs to be done?

At the start of the year Ben (VP Community) and I agreed that societies should for the first time come on tour. Personally I feel there has never been a divide between societies and the AU. Tour however is symbolic of how were all one union, this year we had 40 members of societies and the entire sabbatical team joining us on tour. It shows how successfully integrated the union is at present.

Tour while it’s known for its drinking aspects is also a great team building exercise. It allows members of both clubs and societies to really get to know each other in an environment outside Hull.

I believe that the record numbers on tour, largest ever group going from hull and the biggest contingent out of all the universities, will continue as I have personally been on 3 tours and never heard anyone say a bad word about their experiences while on tour.

Any words of advice for the sabbatical team that is going to be taking over the reins soon?

Selflessness is massively important for a sabbatical officer. You can’t go into this job purely to get an extra line on your CV or attempt to lever your position to gain influence in a political party. A sabbatical officer who does that will not perform well. A sabb must always put the student body’s interests first and ensure he/she works together with their fellow officers as a team otherwise they won’t achieve anything with their time in office.

What does the future hold for James Kerr?

Unlike many students I am fairly lucky with the fact that I have several options on the table. However I do have the opportunity to play cricket for a club in Australia, while I’m going to be very sad to leave Hull behind, it has given me opportunities and allowed me to grow as an individual and given me a set of skills which will be of great benefit to me in later life. Becoming a sabbatical officer has been one of the best things I have done.

Share on Facebook

 The squad is full of dedicated and committed girls, all of whom train 3 times a week, Monday 5-7pm, Tuesday 5.30-7pm and Thursday 5-7pm, and with the new coach Eve, who President Becca Nield,  hails as ‘amazing’, the girls seem to only have greatness awaiting!

 While speaking to Becca, she boasts –rightfully given their work- of the high standard of the first team, as well as the determination and the dedication of the team, and credits their success down to the friendships that have formed both on and off the court and Eve, who helped the squad’s game and given them extra drive to win!

 Overall, the squad sounds like a friendly one, and as Becca explains, a club –like many in the AU- that welcome players of any ability as well as girls who just wish to come along for the social sides, so joining is something all girls should consider! The squad sounds like a great addition to any girl’s life, there’s exercise, competition and for an added extra great friendships waiting for everyone as everyone in the team are ‘genuinely good friends’ –another reason why they work so well as a team and a reason for their success- who live with either one or more of the fellow members.

 If that’s not enough to show the wonders that the Netball Squad can offer, an extra intensive might be the fact that a fundraiser held by the team helped raise £600 to help fund their annual Tour. The AU tour this year shall be in Salou, Spain.

 The girls have a lot to be proud of and a lot to look forward to, from rivalries with Sheffield Hallam, who we have had to play numerous times in the past two years to the semi-final the BUCS Cups semi-final, and everyone at Hullfire wishes them the best of luck!

 Lucy Hutchinson

Share on Facebook

 This made me wonder what his secret could be. We see films designed to make us believe that the ‘underdogs’ can sometimes win but we usually just take it on a fictional basis. I had to wonder was he such a golf extremist that he played all the time and stayed away from the student lifestyle of beer and take-away to concentrate on his golf. On putting the question to him he responded, with a beer in his hand, ‘Nope, I’m a fair weather player’. The more I spoke with him, the more I looked at him as a real role model for anyone wanting to do sports. He didn’t try to make out he didn’t drink with the lads or laze about on a Sunday morning but that by just enjoying your sport you can have a great time, make some great friends and still have a sneaky pint or two.

 I hope you’ll all agree he seems to be playing his sport with the right mind frame and may he have success in his up-coming big matches, especially a national tournament he may be entering at the Forest of Arden in coming months. Let’s hope Hull’s Sergio Garcia (his favourite player) can bring back come medal’s for us.

 Phil Humphrey

Share on Facebook

 While talking with Simon Bennett, the Captain of the Men’s 1st Team, Hullfire found out that it is due to the higher number of fresher intake this year that resulted in bigger success of the club ‘The first year I joined there was 2 new players, making 4 in the team but in the second year 5 new players joined, and this year 12 players’ and this is why Simon wanted to stress that everyone is welcome to join, for one game or for a longer commitment, all you need is a racket or turn up and borrow one with no experience required what have you got to lose? But the experience within the club varies, from ex-county players to non-experienced; some of the players are even sponsored by companies just to play badminton so the levels and challenge levels are up to you to set. Simon explain that the badminton club partakes in a lot of competition by taking part in Championships – which are free- and joining Local league. So next time you’re free, or feel like joining a club at beginners or experienced level why not badminton?

 Hullfire would like to congratulate Simon Bennett, Chris Powel, Jared Matthew, Micheal Reid, Leo Medley, Karl Rummery, Daniel Jeffries and Joshua Cooper – the Badminton Men’s 1st Team on winning Team of the Month and wish them all the best in the future competitions. Hullfire would also like to congratulate Rugby League’s Jordan Rice on winning Player of the Month.

Share on Facebook

 What is the Athletic Union, and how does it work?

 I view the Athletic Union as community of around 2000 students who want to participate in Sport or compete in Sport, but we’re more than that. We’re a social group, we’re a great way to network, and we’re a great way to meet friends and new people at University.

Where does the AU get its funding from?

The AU get is funding from the University from the subvention grant that we receive, so the union receives a subvention grant of I think around £200,000 and that is then split between the 5 zones, governance, education, welfare, community and sport. The sport budget is particularly small but yeah, we get funded from the University.

Since getting voted VP Sport, what do you think needed to be changed from last year?

 I think that last year in fact we had a really, really good year in the Athletic Union, we turned things around; we had a very bad year a few years back specifically financially. So, last year was rebuilding and repairing the AU where this year I feel we can move on to build on it with plans, specifically with volunteering in Sport, participating and women in sport. I’d like to see is more internal campaigns run by the AU in these areas so we can target and get people more involved in Sport.

What do you foresee as the biggest challenge this year?

   Finance is always going to be the biggest issue when it comes to the Athletic Union, Sport specifically is obviously a very expensive area. Personally I feel we should bring in more resources into Sport in Higher Education in general. We really, not just specifically us but other institutions too, really struggle finically because everyone would like to get involved it’s just money that’s going to be the biggest problem.

Last year, we asked a few AU members what they felt the worst AU aspect and fair financial support was high on many lists.

How are you planning on changing this so all teams feel valued?

 Specifically this year, it was actually more thrown upon me that no clubs will receive a grant this year because we had a budget cut by about £9000 from last year, so no club receives a budget this year so that’s actually technically levelled the playing field. I had made the promise at JamRadio during elections that everyone would be on a level playing field, so it was my intention that each club, if the budget remained the same, would’ve received £200 and that would have been the flat line budget to everyone so there was no club that was going to receive any particular special treatment, all clubs were going to be financially in the same area. Some sports are more expensive than others and as long as they know that and their members appreciate that than that’s what we’re going to have to work to basically. All clubs are treated equally, any events that we put on all clubs will receive exactly the same information, and all clubs are given the opportunity to respond and get involved as much as possible. 

With the cut in budget, how do you plan on keeping the teams running?

 It’s been quite a difficult year; getting sponsorship has been quite difficult. I’ve been able to raise £4000 worth of sponsorship for the athletic union so far since I’ve been in the post. All that money will be distributed equally among various other plans and we do have the policy of teams can apply for extra funding if they really really require it. We have a small pot of money that we can basically give to teams that require our funding.

What is your big plan this year?

 Biggest plan this year is just t get as many people involved as possible. Participation is the key fundamental to University in general and people getting involved and becoming part of a social network so that is really the area we’re looking towards by putting on big events. Like This week for example (5th-11th of October) is ‘Give It A Go’ week. We’re also putting on a lot of events on in Scarborough like Scarborough Sport on the Beach (8th of October). We’ve also, myself and the Sport Development officer, have put on a 10 weeks participation programme in Scarborough as well. So we’re really focusing on trying to get as many people involved as possible, and people just trying to keep fit and healthy basically is what we’re looking for.

And now that Welcome week is over, what is there for the students to look forward to?

 Well, we publish regularly through our media outlet. We make sure to use Hull Student as much as possible to say what’s going on. Specifically, coming up as well, we have our annual events, we have the AU Ball coming up which is open to AU members and even non-members, we look to those more formal events to try and get as many people involved as possible and make sure they feel not just part of a team but part of the Athletic Community.

You have concerns for women’s involvement in Sport, what are your plans to tackle these concerns?

 Specifically when I went to BUCS Conference’ this year, in Higher Education the thing that was highlighted was the fact that women’s participation in sport is very poor, with something like under 25% of women in HE participate in any form of activity while at University. While I don’t have any set plans yet, during the first semester we will be looking on the figures of how many women take part in Sport or activity and in the second semester we’ll run another ‘Give it A Go’ week specifically aimed for women to participate in sport, fitness, health and well being.

And finally, you have a new idea in the works to encourage participation and reward hard work?

 That is the ‘incentive plan’ that we’re running this year, the money has been contributed by one of our Sponsors and basically how it well run is that I’ve always felt that the clubs do not receive, you know, praise that they deserve. They might receive some praise but they should receive some sort of contribution from from us for their hard work and good results and involvement across the year. So we’re going to introduce this year, Player of The Month, it’s been around for the past couple of years but we’re going to make sure that that’s up and running now. Effectively, every month at the AU Council, a player will be rewarded with £30 worth of bar vouchers, a certificate and have their picture in the shop. We’re also now doing Team of The Month, and team of the month will receive £100 worth of Bar vouchers and £100 into their primary account to reward them for their performances and their involvement. And then also this year, we’re bringing in two new trophies at the Trophies Presentation, Player of The Year who’ll receive £100 and two others nominated that we felt worthy will also receive £60 for second place and £40 for third. And Team of The Year, who’ll also be presented with a trophy and £500.

Awards are open to everyone. It’s down to the Presidents to nominate people who they believe deserve it. And ultimately it will be up to the AU and the Students who is deserves this money and who deserves to be rewarded for their hard work. 

And finally, anything else you want to say to the Students of Hull University?

 I’d just like to say that Sport is a fantastic way to get involved at University, so please get involved. So come down and join, we have 46 different sports to offer you at Hull and 11 at Scarborough this year, so please come down and get involved.

Ekram K Aidaros

Share on Facebook