Manifesto Points:

1. Collaborate with Student media societies to increase the promotion of both college and university sport
2. Organise an Intra-Yorkshire University Competition to develop bonds between universities
3. Campaign for free sanitary products in York sport facilities to decrease period stigma in sports

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Hi, I’m Liv, I’ve been the president of Gymnastics for the last 2 years and am hoping to be your Sports Officer next academic year.  My main focus is to increase engagement and participation within sports at York.

How will I do this?

• By collaborating with Student Media societies, I aim to increase the reach of sport across the university.

• Media coverage, such as weekly news reports, of University Sport will bring it to greater attention, boosting engagement and providing frequent opportunities for those interested in sports journalism.
  • This would be for all abilities of university sport, with the hope of inspiring people to join something new, even with no experience.
  • Within this, I will promote College Sport, giving it the acknowledgement it deserves
  • I will push for visible promotion of sport, such as on the billboards around campus, and the streaming of student sport in Courtyard.
• I will organise an Intra-Yorkshire University sports competition, helping to build bridges between universities.
  • This offers an opportunity for clubs to more frequently compete in friendlies with other local universities.
  • This provides an opportunity for local businesses with Yorkshire pride to invest in local sport.
• To help increase engagement I will reorganise the structure of the sports committee
  • I will group similar sports together under relevant representatives, similar to the societies’ committee
    • g. grouping racket sports under one representative from a racket sports club, means each representative will better understand the sports they advocate for.
  • Frequent newsletter style emails from committee members about fixtures and events, and visiting training and fixtures to show support.
    • Helps foster a sense of community between similar clubs, and increases trust and communication between clubs and their representatives
  • I will reinstate the role of EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) Officer on the committee
    • A dedicated EDI officer is needed to ensure that there is adequate time spent on improving accessibility for all within the Sports Union.
  • I will campaign for free sanitary products in York Sport facilities
    • Period stigma is one of the biggest barriers to participation in sport, at all levels.
    • By providing free sanitary products, York Sport can help reduce the stigma around menstruation in the world of sport. This is especially important as York Sport also caters to the public, including younger athletes who often drop out of sport once reaching puberty, for reasons like period stigma.

Why am I the right candidate to fulfil this manifesto?

• Over the last two years, as President of Gymnastics, I have drastically increased engagement within my club, with the number of active members growing almost tenfold. I will use this experience to increase engagement across the sports union.
• This last season, alongside only two others, I organised a successful regional competition with over 120 participants from 15 different universities. This knowledge and experience equips me to organise competitions such as Roses, Varsity, and a new Intra-Yorkshire Competition.

The manifestos appear here exactly as they were submitted to us. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of York Vision. 

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Don’t get us wrong, the York SU elections are very important. But so much of the election process is formal and serious…which means it can also (at times) be a little bit dull. 

But we don’t think it has to be like this. So alongside their manifesto, Vision asked each candidate a series of light-hearted, get-to-know-you type questions. This should give you a little dive into the individual personalities of the candidates:

What would be the theme song for your campaign?

We will rock you

If your campaign had a mascot, what would it be?

The kingfisher: a symbol of elegance, rarity and adaptability

If you could only play one sport for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

Gymnastics

We gave the candidate a word, and asked them to think of what the question would be:

Answer: Rugby

Candidate Question: Depending on what version you are playing, which sport could have either 7, 13 or 15 players per team on the pitch?