During his tenure as York Sport President, it cannot be denied that Sam Asfahani has exceeded all expectations in improving the student sporting experience. With a new job recently secured with the NBA, I decided to chat with Sam about his time at York and his hopes for the future.
In February 2010, Sam Asfahani launched his campaign to become York Sport president, which aimed to improve the current cyclical view of sport at York, with policies such as restarting the sports volunteer programme. Sam, reflecting upon the past two years, considered his goals achieved.
“In terms of the 3G pitch; that’s getting built. I promised fundraising, and I’ve raised over £200,000 in my two years here which is more than York Sport ever has done previously. I’ve also tended to focus on five or ten years down the line instead of ‘tomorrow’ – the sport village, for example. I promised transparency, which is for the students to judge.”
Sam’s success in bringing back coaching and refereeing clinics on campus is also great news: “We’ve received funding to start that next year so Charlotte [Winter] can continue our plans with that.” Sam confirmed that not only will it let us have extra coaches but also “help fund our students to get qualified next year.”
Upon asking Sam about which of his achievements he would pick out that ‘defines’ his time in charge, it was clear he was proud of his team.
“Students will define me by the 3G pitch, but I’m most proud of the fundraising element, which allows us to next year hire a brand new staff member, deliver new college sport programmes and give more funding to our clubs.”
But when quizzed about those more difficult moments Sam became cautious: He said that trying to “help all sixty sports clubs on a day-to-day management style” proved tricky: “We’ve got so many people who play sport here it’s really hard to branch out and help everyone. I really wish I could have helped people out more on a one to one basis.”
When asked about who has been his guiding light through these last two years, Sam was quick to praise his York Sport team: “Last year’s committee were ridiculously supportive – Paul Guest was College Sport officer when I was first elected to the committee; he’s one of my closest friends. Also, Rosamund Wood the treasurer was just as experienced as me.”
“Well, you launched your campaign almost two and a half years ago”, I said, “so what do you hope to be doing in two and a half years’ time?” Sam told of his job with the NBA starting this July, about which he was “absolutely ecstatic”. He emphasised: “It’s a dream job for me and I’m really hoping I can develop that career. I’ve proved to myself that I can work in the sporting industry and I would love to pursue that.”
Remarkably, Sam finishes here at York on June 29th and starts his new role on July 2nd. “I literally have just a weekend in between,” he exclaimed: “I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully I can stay involved in some way – I’ve always said I want to be the donator in terms of alumni to York Sport – Charlotte’s going to do a great job and I can’t wait to see what she does. I’ll always keep an eye on the scores here at York as it means so much to me.”
Two years ago, Sam turned down an offer of moving to the USA to coach American Football, allowing him to pursue the position of York Sport President. And he was adamant it had proved to be the right decision: “I was offered a role to coach American Football but I thought I could do that at any point in my life, and I wasn’t sure if that was what I really wanted. Being York Sport President was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I just couldn’t say no. I turned it down before I even knew I had the role here so it was a bit of a chance, but I ran and I got it so I was delighted.”
When quizzed if a move to the US in the future was possible, he seemed very open to new opportunities: “I think it’s very much something I will follow, and I’ve always been someone who wants to move abroad and live abroad so fingers crossed I can get that opportunity at some point.”
Sam also co-founded the university’s American Football team, so I was interested to learn what aspects of the sport he loved – the challenge; the 
entertainment factor? Sam argued that it’s “the team aspect more than anything” – with over “50 chaps here you make so many friends. The American Football team here is so close to my heart.”
“Finally – it’s your birthday in less than a month, any plans?!” I asked, bringing that recognisable cheery element in Sam’s voice: “Well I’ve never done anything big in York for my birthday, but considering it’s also Saturday week 10 and it’s the last moments I get to spend at the Uni, then I’ll hopefully go out and get to see everyone who’s made my time at York so special.”