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AN EMOTIONAL Emily Scott accepted her new position as York Sport President on Saturday, following an intense election campaign.
The YUSU results night revealed that Scott’s wealth of experience had been finally rewarded, with results displaying an impressive majority. The Halifax third-year beat her nearest rival by over 600 votes, exclaiming “I’m elated- ecstatic- so happy! And also a bit relieved that the campaign is over.”
Scott campaigned tirelessly in the lead up to the elections, using fancy dress and posters to get her message across. “Experience gives me an invaluable insight into how sport works at this university and what problems it is likely to face,” Scott told Vision. “I suspect it is this that set me apart from the other candidates in the eyes of the voters and I definitely intend to put this experience to good use.”
Fellow candidates Michael Leahy, Gemma Johnson, and Michael Sneddon lost out, although Scott admitted “I think all the candidates offered different things to the role. They would have done it well in their different ways, but was quite surprised at their lack of presence during the campaign.”
Throughout her campaign, Scott was keen to emphasise that her policies were realistic: “I did not say anything in my campaign that I do not believe to be feasible.” Her main focus will include making York Sport more transparent and improving communication with the clubs. Scott also hopes to get funds to help clubs do well at Roses and bring back Varsity for a warm-up to Roses.
Interview (Inside)
AFTER MONTHS of hard work, weeks of campaigning, and a hectic results night fraught with nerves; most people would allow themselves a day off. Not Emily Scott though. Instead, she spent the day doing what she has done for the majority of her student life; playing sport. College hockey in the morning, followed by an away hockey match in Leeds, then a swim and shower before heading off for a hockey dinner. Somehow, she also managed to find time to speak to Vision in the midst of all the exercise.
Scott’s sporting CV is impressive. Halifax sports rep multiple times, women’s cricket treasurer and captain, Hockey club president, and York Sport ordinary member. Not to mention winning York’s highest sporting accolade, the Justin Taylor Memorial Award, in her first year. The award prompted her to consider running for sports president; “when so many people came up to me and told me how many past AU Presidents had won it – I think a little bit of me started to wonder if I could join that list then”.
Scott believes that her experience at both university and college level are essential for what she hopes is a successful year “I think this experience gives me an invaluable insight into how sport works at this university and what problems it is likely to face.” Having eventually eased to victory by an impressive margin, Scott also thinks that this experience may well have been the reason for her win on Saturday night “I suspect it is this that set me apart from the other candidates in the eyes of the voters and I definitely intend to put this experience to good use.”
Yet Scott was not content to rely on her sporting background, and she is keen to stress that she was not making empty promises, “throughout the campaign one of the main things I kept reiterating was that I was a realistic candidate.” Her knowledge of York’s sporting infrastructure evidently helped her to achieve this “I did not propose splitting the Sports Centre and York Sport membership again because I understood the financial repercussions to York Sport and the clubs if this was to happen. I did not say anything in my campaign that I do not believe to be feasible.”
Understanding the implications of York’s sporting finances will hold her in good stead. Rather than trying to make radical changes and cut costs, Scott explains her view on the irritating hole in students’ pockets that is the university sports centre, “They are too expensive, but they can’t really be reduced. The sports centre is a business and they need to cover their costs. Alex Lacy did propose finding a sponsor to generate money to subsidise the amount, but I’m not sure how feasible this is due to clashes with clubs’ individual sponsors and the financial climate.”
So what does she intend to do? It seems the answer lies with the people at the head of our university; “The University doesn’t invest in sport. They need to prioritise and it will certainly help York’s image if they do so.” The distinct lack of interest in sport has been an undeniable hindrance to any progression of sport at York and current York Sport president Alex Lacy has also been keen to criticise it. Despite this sticking point, Scott remains adamant that York can do better: “We have the potential to be really good. Universities such as Warwick and Durham have a similar amount of students, yet they place far higher than us in the BUCS ranking.”
Scott’s predecessor, Alex Lacy, has had a turbulent year. His wide scale changes have not had the desired response from many clubs. Scott is sympathetic to him and argues “I think Alex received a lot of bad press. He worked really hard and made so many changes and I agree with a lot of them.” Nonetheless, she admits “he wasn’t always particularly diplomatic”, a problem that she is happy to remedy by providing “better communication so this doesn’t happen again”
Emily Scott certainly has the qualifications for the job; dedicated to sport, eager to work hard, and an extensive and detailed knowledge of York Sport. Fingers crossed her determination and vigor will help to boost us back up the Bucs rankings next year.