Vision can announce that York Sport President Cassandra Brown is set to launch her Key Contacts Scheme tonight, starting with a workshop on the aims and plans of the brand new project.
The scheme, which is one of Brown’s most prominent policies for the year ahead, will create a set of volunteers from within York’s sport clubs, who will act as important contacts for students looking to join the respective club.
Speaking to Vision, Brown said: “Following loads of great research by ourselves and by the NUS, we know that to improve participation in sport amongst groups such as disabled or LGBTQ students, we need to ensure that sporting opportunities are fully inclusive and accessible.
“We must also make a really positive commitment to fight negative perceptions about sport amongst groups currently feeling excluded, and show that our teams are working hard to make sure everyone can be involved and feel part of a team.
“The Key Contacts pilot is a chance for a small number of clubs to demonstrate really clearly their commitment to making sure their clubs are welcoming and accessible to all students.
“They provide a friendly face for all those who want to try out a new sport or find out more about the club whatever their background. The key contacts will get loads of training and engage with all sorts of different groups of students to find out how they can make their clubs as accessible and as inclusive as possible.”
A series of events including improving assertiveness and brainstorming ways to aid the development of disability sport will be run throughout the year for the scheme, which will teach volunteers integral skills to help them to deal with important situations.
As well as this the volunteers will learn how to deal with any issues of confidentiality and develop their role in the University community, whilst also improving their listening and communication skills.
Different areas of sport at the University such as Disability Sport and LGBTQ involvement within the York Sport Union should be improved by her scheme.
In turn, sports clubs at the University should benefit from this by enjoying an increased diversity within their club, which will help them to attract more members and promote events within their society to a wider structure of people.