VP Sports Blog

Body Beautiful

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:52:00 Z

This February sees the third year of the Body Beautiful campaign. A month long campaign aimed at women of all ages, specifically those that get less than the recommended weekly amount of exercise of 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Only 24% of women get there recommended activity compared to 37% in men according to government statistics. From this we can estimate that 76% of UWE Female students and staff also do not get the required amount of weekly exercise. This campaign brings UWE Students and Staff fitness classes, sports, workshops and activities over two of our campuses all free and just for women. This year we also have an addition of 3 sports that cater for those with alternate abilities, those with lack or no function in lower limbs and those with sight impairment widening the inclusivity of our activities. This year also introduced into the campaign are the Body Beautiful Challenges, where you are required to complete a certain amount of activities from each category and completing them will win you either Bronze, Silver or Gold. Gaining the awards gets you an Official Body Beautiful T-shirt designed by the winner of the Body Beautiful T-shirt design competition it comes printed with the award you gained.

With this month acting as a starter point we hope to encourage participation in activities on a full time basis whether through our 40+ UWESU student led sports or through the wide array of classes and sports at the Centre for Sport. We will monitor the amount of individuals we get in every activity and class and get feedback from each class to aim to gather how many individuals will go on and continue to increase their exercise load per week.

To get involved with this campaign simply go to www.uwesu.org/campaigns/body-beautiful where there are a number of resources for you to download, the body beautiful booklet with advice on food, healthy eating and exercise; the booklet also contains the full timetables of activities for both campuses and the achievement record card and information on how to gain them. The timetables and achievement card can also be downloaded individually. Once you have these essentials the majority of classes are run on a first come first served basis and require no technical ability, so why not get your gym clothes out and trainers on and we shall see you in February!

Week in the life of VP Sports 7th-14th Jan

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:16:00 Z

Elections are soon upon us so I am blogging weekly about what VP Sports Role entails. I wasn't sure what the role involved before I actually joined and it was far different than i imagined! So I am providing these to give a true insight into what I do!

Nominations are February 7th-28th and Camapigns week starts the 8th-14th March!!

I am in the office to answer any questions you may have on the role! Good Luck and I hope to see you stand for VP Sport and Health next year!

October VP Sports Newsletter

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:14:00 Z

VP Sports Newsletter

Welcome everyone!!

Hello, my name is Nina Gizzie and I’m your new VP Sports…that’s me in the picture below. I’d like to welcome you to the First 2012-13 issue of the Monthly VP Sports Newsletter, this will contain information on events coming up, results on fixtures/competitions, what I’ve been up to, what I’m doing next and anything else sport at UWE related. You deserve to know exactly what I have been getting up to. You can also get regular updates on FB or on my blog

What have I been doing and what are my plans?

After starting in June and the vigorous training that followed you may be thinking what exactly have I been doing this summer…sunbathing? Sleeping? Drinking copious amounts of tea? Well the latter I have but here’s a few of the things I have been getting up to now that the new term has started

Information Board: Improvement on the design of the sports and societies board in the undercroft with basic details of prices and training days…keeping it simple but with all the relevant information.Cycling: One of my main focus’s this year is on the health aspect of sports to start of the year I am promoting cycling! Hopefully you saw my contributions to fresher’s fair outside. I had travel advisors talking all things travel like cycling, Safety advice, Accessories, Cycle paths in Bristol, Buses and so much more. Right next to them was the Cycle Hub who was there all day to do any bike repairs, maintenance and safety checks all for free! Missed them? Don’t worry! They will both be back Tuesdays in car park 15 between 8am and 6pm.

Fruit and Veg bowls: Live now is the student cooking corner on the UWESU this will show easy peasy recipes and cooking tips changed every fortnight. This can be found here. Feedback on things you would like to see on this page please email me at vpsports@uwe.ac.uk

Sustainability week: Was from 15^th-19^th October and there were things about recycling, sustainable travel, sustainable food loads of free stuff for grabs and fun things to do, a cycle train was set up where 8 participants cycle from Gloucester road for more information see here:

The results of the travel challenge are also here who do you think got to university fastest from Gloucester road? The winner is…

Motorcyclist 16 mins

2 Cyclists 18and 20 mins - 2 students Joe Hewlings SU sustainability officer and Hannah OWEN

Car 38 mins

Bus 40 mins

Walker 58 mins

Sports and Societies night and other events: I’m passionate about collaborating more of the SU so from this our new and improved ‘sports and societies’ night was born. Allowing societies and networks to join in earning money for their clubs through socializing and working. With your vote it was decided syndicate was the new location for the best Wednesday night in History. The first evening was Wednesday the 3^rd of October and now every Wednesday in term. So far we have raised over £3500 for Sports, Societies and Networks , a massive well done to Lacrosse for raising almost £310 for there club so far. Contact me at vpsports@uwe.ac.uk for VIP Tables where you get seating and free alcohol/soft drinks…there is limited amount and it’s first come first served! Get your wristbands now from the SU 4^th Floor for only £3 (instead of £4 on the door), you get queue jump and 1 free drink with entry. Click here for more info

Watch It, Try It, Do It: Through much perseverance we had WI,TI,DI session through the whole of freshers week and for the first time ever I organized an International Students only Try it session on the 14^th September to encourage higher participation from international students which was a great success, thanks to all for taking part!

Passport Fee: It has been decided and agreed at Finance and General Purpose meeting how we are to share out the passport fee’s and I’ve included a pie chart explaining how this is happening for this academic year. This is based on £40,000 collection, we gained £48,000 last year, anything above £40,000 is to be allocated by your sports executive

Semester membership: Many of our students want to join one term to try it out, only join after the first term or like Glenside students are on placement half of the year so buying a full year seems unfair! So we have introduced semester membership fees for both terms giving students more options.

Stoptober: National Campaign to stop smoking is almost over did you ive up smoking for October? Its never too late to start and check out UWEs new smoking clinic at Main Reception info: Monday 16:30-18:00, Tuesday 11:00-13:00 and 16:30-18:00, Wednesday 14:00-17:00, Thursday 11:00-15:00

National Demo

At the last AGM we were mandated to support the National Demo. So much progression has already been made! Unsure of what the Demo is ? Want to know more information ? Want to buy tickets to the Demo? check out this link: Demo

Sports membership League Tables

Club	Members
American Football	64 members
Athletics	38 members
Badminton	102 members
Basketball	47 members
Boat	108 members	3^rd
Boxing	42 members
Canoe	59 members
Cheerleading	45 members
Climbing	85 members
Cricket	40 members
Dance	82 members
Fencing	32 members
Football Men	65 members
Football Women	38 members
Gliding	38 members
Hockey	120 members	2^nd
Jiu Jitsu	36 members
Kickboxing	68 members
Lacrosse	50 members
Netball	55 members
Polo	26 members
Riding	36 members
Rugby League	31 members
Rugby Union Men	78 members
Rugby Union Women	28 members
Sailing	25 members	Joint Last
Skydive	25 members	Joint Last
Snowsports	145 members	1^st
Squash	42 members
Sub Aqua	36 members
Surf	78 members
Swimming & Waterpolo	40 members
Tae Kwon Do	25 members	Joint Last
Tennis	46 members
Trampoline	55 members
Ultimate Frisbee	25 members
Wakeboard	26 members
Windsurf & Kite	68 members

Meet the sport executive

The executive are the UWESU Sports voluntary helpers, they are current students who use their spare time to help out with many things like sporting events, communication on activities, competitions…generally anything sporty that may be going on. They also sit on the executive panel where we make decisions like agreeing on the budgets we set for the year and honorary memberships. It looks fantastic on your CV and you get to directly influence on how sport is run in the SU by bringing fresh ideas to the table, maybe we will see you in one of these positions in the future!

Sports Officer

Name: Miki Parr

Age: 23

Course: Mathematics 3^rd year

Info: I play Quidditch outside of UWE (Yes it’s real) also a massive American football fan.

Random Fact: I can turn my feet 180 degrees

Events Officer

Name: Sonia Mahdjoubi

Age: 21

Course: Physiotherapy 1^st Year

About: I’m really looking forward to my role. I think the events and the sports nights are one of the most exciting aspects of being part of UWE’s sports clubs. The sports nights are a really fun way to wind down after a match and are a great way to connect and mingle with other clubs too! I hope that this year will be another great year for UWE sports, especially after the Olympics. I want to achieve this by listening to what you have to say and valuing your opinions so we can make all the events live up to your expectations. I am here to help plan and run events for you so always feel free to have your say. Otherwise, start to prepare yourself for some of the best sports events to come!

Competitions Officer:

Name: Chris White

Age: 23

Course: Business 3^rd year

About: A member of cheerleading where I was president last year but thought I’d concentrate on my degree as I’m in my final year! This is my second year in this position so I also have extensive knowledge of the SU, whether it be aiding events and trips or organizing varsity

Combat Officer:

Name: Emma Chester

Age: 19

Course and Year: Biomedical Science 1^st year

About: I play Ultimate Frisbee and Fencing where I am on the committee on both as social secretary and Jiu Jitsu so I am busy busy busy!

Random Fact: I am a dog person…true story

Media and Communications Officer:

Name: Tara Kaliszewski

Age: 19

Course: Film Making and Creative media 2^nd year

About: Trampoline is my club where I am on the committee as media officer

Random Fact: I met Jess Ennis and team GB athletes on the way home at the airport

UWE at the Olympics

Even though injury meant Andrew Pozzi (current UWE Student) did not finish in this year’s Olympics, we are all incredibly proud here at the SU of him getting so far! And in 4 yrs time maybe we will see him get the gold!!

Andrew Pozzi wasn’t our only UWE ollympic celebrity this year. Previous UWE Students competing at this year’s Olympics were Craig Figes in water polo in the team who got 12^th place. Larry Godfrey in archery finished 4^th and finally Peter reed in coxless four rowing who got gold.

Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images

First Aid, Minibus and Swim Test dates

First Aid: tests can be booked at your Students Union at your campus and they will take place at Frenchay campus. Only £8!!

- Dates: notable dates: Saturday 10^thNov, Saturday 17^th Nov all 9-5pm

Minibus/MPV Tests: Booked at your student union at your campus and will take place at Frenchay. Cost £30, they go quickly so book fast

- Please ask at SU Reception for dates and times

An official hello from me!!

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:29:00 +0100

Hello Students New and Old

I am your new VP sports for the year. I shall be using this space to update you on all the exciting opportunities and events we have for you this year, and pretty much anything else sport related that might interest all you lot out there.

I am in office all summer so if your around UWE why not come and say hi!

i'll look forward to seeing you all in September for our massive fresher's fair where you can take advantage of all our sports and try them for FREE

Have an amazing summer guys!

Nina

My Final Report and summary of this year

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:39:00 +0100

Final Report

Ariana Alexander-Sefre, VP Sports 2011/12

This year has flown by and gone very slowly at the same time. I am very proud to say that I’ve not lost any opportunity to make changes, as well as actively pursued opportunities that I have felt passionate about. The best way to demonstrate all the work I have undertaken this year would be through a list of achievements, of which you’ll be able to see below.

Varsity series

Even though this year UWE may not have won as many games as I hoped for (Bristol tends to win on penalties anyway!), the spirit and determination of all our sports team members was so wonderfully apparent. Along with my equivalent at UBU, we set up a new Varsity, Fight Night, our first ever boxing varsity. This event was so successful and the atmosphere exactly what you would expect of a heated fight tournament, that next year it will certainly spread out to engage all other martial arts clubs.

We had planned for a Polo Varsity to take place on May 13^th, however against the Polo clubs’ and my relentless fight to keep the event from folding; due to funding issues the Varsity could not go ahead. However, the foundations of the Polo Varsity are now established, and next year I am sure it will go ahead.

The other Varsities including Varsity Day were all successful, and we even managed to pull off perfectly hot weather for the Boat race.

Varsities we won include American Football, Cricket, Netball, Women’s Rugby, Men’s Basketball, Women’s Squash, Ice Hockey, Football 2nds.

My Culture Project

If you see www.mycultureuwe.blogspot.com you can follow the progress of this project from the ideas of sport related art and photography into the gigantic art murals you see all over campus today.

This project was an Olympic ‘Inspire marked’ initiative with an aim to showcase the culture of sport through the use of creative arts. The reaction to the project has been awe, questioning, debates, a heightened interest in UWE’s Olympic connection and most importantly – better acknowledgement and visibility of the SU’s presence!

It has been very important for students to see the SU do something at such a large scale, and when they question, we let them know that no idea is unobtainable! This project has received an Olympic Inspire mark and a £1000 grant from NUS.

Sports Ball 2012

This year has been the biggest Sports Ball UWE has ever seen. We sold out of tickets over a month before the event, before the shortlist even came out. Because of such high demand, I released 50 ‘After Dinner’ tickets, because the venue could only cater for 350 seated dining.

The event turned out beautifully, and was a true embodiment of UWE spirit. We had Steve West, Alex Isaac and a two time Gold Olympic medallist, Steve Williams in attendance. All guests had a wonderful time, and the atmosphere throughout the whole night was superb. I am incredibly proud of this event, and very happy with the choices made on location/decor etc.

The Sports Ball has a real potential to grow, and as long as promoted in the right way, can become a lot bigger next year.

Body Beautiful Women’s Campaign

In February I ran a campaign called ‘Body Beautiful Olympic World Tour’- this was a month of free fitness classes for women. The classes were inspired by many cultures around the world, and we had sessions such as African Samba, Salsa, Bellydance, Zumba, Indian Yoga and many others.

This campaign succeeded in attracting girls who would not usually be involved in sports and fitness, and through talking to the girls it is clear that everyone thoroughly enjoyed the sessions.

Sports Night (Après Sport)

This is a weekly event I established in January as a way to directly raise money for sports club; with a % of funds going to support the Sports Ball.

The weekly night was very successful, with the venue getting totally full with my target audience, the sports teams. I hosted a few larger events such as ‘End of term’ and ‘end of year’ parties, which turned out phenomenally.

Après Sport has made over £10,000 for sports teams in just 12 weeks of running!

Door money got split based on % of how many people from each sports club were in attendance.

Heightened Profile of Sport at UWE

This year I have taken a focus in heightening the profile of sports and sports related activity at UWE, even if it just means making more people aware of what is going on or getting news articles published.

A heightened profile for teams can mean more interest in sponsorship from local companies, more opportunities for the Students Union and better links with the local community.

I managed to get some of our Olympic activity (CocaCola Olympic torch and My Culture project) in the Evening Post and I also appeared on ITV news doing an interview on Sports sponsorships in Bristol. Following this interview I had numerous emails and facebook messages from prospective students inquiring about sports at UWE and what they can expect.

Hangover Yoga

These were yoga classes I started at Glenside and Bower Ashton. The Glenside classes were incredibly popular and most weeks got totally booked up. I felt yoga was a way to try and get more people into fitness in the mornings, and using the name ‘Hangover Yoga’ as a tongue-in-cheek name to attract more students who may not usually keep fit and active.

Sports Tour

This year I organised a large group sports tour (largest UWE sports has done before) to Lloret de Mar, Spain. It involved over 80 sports players- mainly from Football, Netball, Hockey and Kickboxing.

Other Fundraising Events

Take Me Out: I ran a ‘Take me Out’ sports fundraiser at Reflex which was immensely successful and had an audience of over 300 people. It was such a success that the executive for next year are looking to try and host the event again in fresher’s week. The event made over £800 for sports!

Sport Relief: My Sports Officer worked on two fundraisers for Sport Relief- a charity cycle and a Fun Day. The cycle was along the Bristol-bath cycle route, and the fun day was held at the centre for sport, with bouncy castles, badminton and sumo wrestling. Both events were great fun and can be expanded greatly next year.

Olympic recognition

Succeeded in gaining UWESU a Silver Accreditation from NUS’s Be a Champion accreditation scheme!

Have now applied for Gold too! So fingers crossed.

The Olympic torch came to campus along with Coca +Cola on October 14^th 2011.

Olympic Inspire Mark for My Culture Project

Created the ‘UWE’s Olympic Spirit’ award that was awarded at the Sports Ball 2012. This was won by Annabelle Turner, our new VP Societies and Communication.

Disability Awareness week

Liaised with the Bristol Scorpions to provide a wheelchair basketball session.

Business and Entrepreneurship

I have been keeping tab on business opportunities for UWESU to take advantage of, and a main point of contact has been through the NUS Innovation and Social Enterprise Academy.

After a heated pitching in Manchester on the 2^nd of April, I managed to secure a £5000 grant to set up a student let smoothie stand enterprise.

How will this benefit the union?

UWESU does not currently have any link with student entrepreneurship, and the enterprise zone can only offer guidance, but no structure for direct experience within a body at UWE. This smoothie stand business will give students firsthand experience of business management with the safety of having accounts looked after by UWESU.

The enterprise is also in conjunction with UWE’s Healthy University Agenda, and it tackles the problem of not having enough easily accessible healthy fast food/drinks on campus. Because of this UWE is very much a supporter of the enterprise.

What is the Risk to UWESU?

The £5k grant pays for all equipment, branding and promotion needed, as well as training and certificates. The money left over after costs will be used for the first batches of produce.

When the new team are briefed, they will be made aware that the business’s success is in their hands- and if products do not sell, the enterprise will fold. This makes the experience very real indeed, and UWESU will not be liable to any costs should the stall not sell any smoothies.

However, due to a trial period in December, it is apparent that there is a demand for fresh fruit smoothies.

MY CULTURE CAMPAIGN

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:54:00 +0100

SEE BLOG: http://mycultureuwe.blogspot.co.uk/

Sport relief cycling activity at UWE

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:22:00 Z

Two students are cycling to Paris for Sport relief! to read their story and support them please see: :http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/bristolparis

we will be hosting a cycle challenge in the first wek of April so stay tuned for more info!

Body Beautiful presents... Olympic world tour 2012!

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:05:00 Z

Throughout February we are offering a whole month of fabulously free fitness classes for women!

Timetable:

Mondays

Nike Training Club, 8.30-9.15pm, Centre for Sport Studio

Tuesdays

Spin, 7.30-8.15am, CFS Studio

Nike Training Club, 12.15-1pm CFS, Sports Hall

Step Aerobics, 12.30-1.15pm, Centre for Sport Studio

Indian Yoga, 6-7pm, 2B061

Wednesdays

Street Dance, 7.15-8pm, Centre for sport Studio

Salsa Extravaganza! 7.30-8.15pm, RED Bar

Bellydance, 8-9pm, Centre for Performing Arts (CPA)

Thursdays

African Samba, 5-6.30pm, RED bar

Fridays

Zumba! with Roni, 5-5.45pm, RED bar

See facebook group for all updates! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Body-Beautiful-Olympic-World-Tour-2012/240031019411046

We get a Bronze Award!! :)

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:29:00 Z

UWESU has recieved a Be a Champion Bronze award for our Olymic related work! This prestigious award is given to SU's that show a committment to running campaigns and events based on the Olympic Values :D This is great news- keep looking out for all our amazing opportunities

My most recent exec report

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:56:00 Z

This report outlines all the work i am currently doing.

VP Sports

Ariana Alexander-Sefre

The last few weeks have been a real whirlwind with many successes being complimented by intense stresses. I can’t express enough my love for working with the UWE sports teams! As a general group, their upbeat and un-political nature makes conduct within sports very straight forward and full of action- just the way I like it! Lol.

We have seen many wins in recent BUCS matches and this year has seen a large influx of incredible talented sportspeople. Anyway so I don’t write too much I will outline recent activity in a nutshell:

Successes/events/challenges

· Olympic torch came to campus- this was a very successful event. We had over 500 nominations to become torchbearers and over 800 photos taken with the Olympic torch.

· My Culture campaign- £1000 grant awarded to subsidise artists’ materials to create sports inspired art pieces to put in public locations around Frenchay campus. This campaign has also been awarded an Olympic Inspire mark.

· Yoga classes were set up at Glenside and Bower- Glenside has seen all classes booked out and jam packed- and I have even introduced a second class on Tuesdays. Bower classes need more promo, but are picking up numbers.

· Sports night on Wednesdays have been very successful, the teams are making quite a lot of money through the night, which is great- keep up the support for the undoubtable best night in bristol on a wednesday! .

Varsity

· This year’s set up of Fight Night- a display/ varsity of various combat sports and then finalising the night with a Boxing Varsity.

· Licence is being sorted out to host a Polo Varsity on the Downs. Further info available once licence is approved.

My Culture

This is a campaign I set up a couple months into starting post, and it has received an Olympic inspire mark as well as a £1000 grant. The idea behind the campaign is to help people see that sport is a culture, and you do not need to be typically ‘sporty’ to get involved in sports and exercise. This culture will be demonstrated through sports inspired art pieces and areas of Frenchay being transformed by famous graffiti artists- e.g. nelson St. My Culture ambassador search.

Also searching for a Be a champion Olympic Ambassador.

Sports Awards

Progression in organising the biggest event of the year. 2012’s event will be on a grander scale than any other year has seen- 25^th anniversary and the Olympic year.

Awards will stretch further and offer more, guests will be outstanding and each club will have the chance of recognition. It will not just be for sports clubs,- The event will carry an Olympic Clutral theme and will host an array of awards not just to sports but also to people that have been involved in charity fundraising, cultural, artistic and community activity. I also hope to have presidents awards, so the exec can decide on awards including-

Community inspire award, education inspire award, Campus personality inspire award etc etc..

Sports awards 2012 will be unmissable- more info to come out in the next couple months.

Smoothie bar

· For ‘Feel good Festival’ and ‘feel good February’ I will help set up a social enterprise in the shape of a smoothie bar. This will host winter (in dec) and spring (feb) inspired smoothies.

· The Innovation and Enterprise soc will be using it as the launch for their new social enterprise venture and will be a structure that lets students gain real business experience through set up and running of the enterprise. After the (potential) success of the bar, they will then use the figures and case study to set up an actual business out of it and use it as a sustainable enterprise for students to be involved in.

· Brand etc will be discussed within the enterprises working group that is currently being set up J

Cycle Challenge

In the process of setting up a cycle challenge for next march- this will be in conjunction with sport relief. UWE's biggest ever cycle challenge- planned to do pick ups at each campus.

Olympic Torch Tour bus coming tomorrow!

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0100

The amazing Olympic torch tour bus is coming to campus tomorrow! (14th Oct) fromm 12-6pm!

This will be an amazing Olympic day not to be missed and a fantastic chance to nominate Olympic torchbearers for 2012!asset/Blog/7/uwe_Coke-Poster.pdf