On Friday, The Student sat down with the newly elected president of the Edinburgh University Sports Union (SU), Liv Stevens, to discuss a multitude of topics, such as her approach to the role, and some of the measures she would like to see taken next year.
Firstly, Stevens outlined some of the broad goals she sets out to achieve as president: “My main two were wellbeing and widening participation. So with wellbeing, one of the things I want to look at getting is mental health first aid training for any wellbeing officers on committees … [widening participation] is obviously one of the things that sports always wants to drive.”
She elaborated on this in regard to widening participation and intramural sport, saying the SU would want to involve even “more schools having teams, and even more societies – anyone could have an intramural team.”
Interestingly, Stevens noted that the scheme for mental health first aid training was something she observed at her job, “with all my supervisors, so it just kind of gives people more of a toolkit to feel like the advice that they’re giving is sound as well as for the people who are going to the people [welfare officers] for advice, just knowing that there’s a bit more backing behind it.’
Stevens also underlined the importance of greater interconnectedness within the SU between various clubs. This would involve “the presidents [of various SU clubs] becoming a little bit more involved. Normally, it’s just one meeting that you have at the start of the year with the president.”
While there is obviously contact between club presidents and the SU committee members after the initial meeting, Stevens would look to formalise this and “introduce a second semester meeting at the start as well, just to keep everyone on track.”
Inclusivity was one of Stevens’ key motivations for running for the role. A great deal of “what I campaigned to do was work with groups like the 93% club, who obviously represent state school students at Edinburgh more broadly, but then I work with them more specifically on the sport.”
Stevens is state-educated herself, and thus this motivation is especially important, however she underlined the complexities of achieving this in such a large organisation, with the SU boasting 71 clubs. She explained the importance of “getting to know what each club needs in terms of inclusivity, because obviously the range of cost barriers differs.”
Furthermore, the aim of getting more international students involved in sport at the university is complicated by the number of “quite UK-centric sports.” These factors underline why tailoring policies to meet all of these demands is such a challenging task.
Next, the important balance between performance and accessibility was discussed. Stevens stated that “a lot of clubs want to bridge the gap with their performance athletes,” and the necessity for “investment going in to actually support them and getting them into competitions,” should be tempered by the additional goal of “just getting a load of people playing.”
Once again, Stevens argued that a case-by-case approach was needed. For Netball for example, one of the larger clubs avoided “having separate recreational socials and then competitive socials,” however this is less applicable with different clubs.
Stevens acknowledges the challenge of managing clubs of various sizes. She said that “one of my priorities is making sure that the smaller sports feel like they’re heard. When I was campaigning last week, a lot of the discussions I had with some of the smaller clubs was that they do feel like in the past that they have been a little bit neglected.” Naturally, the larger clubs, like rugby or hockey are influential, but this must be moderated, and the difference between BUCS and non-BUCS affiliated sports is also crucial. For the latter, Stevens emphasised how the fewer events they had each year would be prioritised, with the SU “helping them make the most of it.”
Finally, Stevens highlighted how the different aspects of the SU’s internal structure can work together to achieve the ends she set out. The SU has an elected, student-run committee, but also has a team of professional staff involved in the running of sport at the university. She argued “they worked really well together,” adding that there is a positive blend of staff who are “young and enthusiastic about sport,” and those who are older and bring invaluable experience.
This interview revealed the level of complexity of the role of SU president. However, the ambitious goals which Stevens outlined represent a positive framework for the year ahead and provide a clear roadmap for how sport at the university could develop.
“File:Student Union buildings in the Pleasance.jpg” by Kim Traynor is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.