#teamkent

[leiace]

It's not perfect (or anywhere near so), but I am proud of the improvements I've made with my roundoff this year, and I am so ready for comp tomorrow! 💖🎀 . . #kentcheer #teamkent #thiskentgirlcan #roundoff #cheer #tumbles #icc💪🏻 (at Canterbury Gymnastics Club)

[vpsportskent]

Sport Matters - The Year Ahead

Sport is an integral part of many students lives here at the University of Kent. For some it entails competing on a weekly basis in the University colours as part of the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) programme, others compete on behalf of their college in the Inter-mural system, whilst others partake in sport as a means of socialising and exercising with fellow friends and colleagues alongside their studies.

In my role as the Kent Union Vice-President for Sport, I aim to provide our students with the best possible opportunity to thrive and to develop by means of playing sport. Regardless of whether you’re competing in a National Championships or having a kick about with your housemates on a Saturday morning, sport means so much, to so many of you and throughout this year I will strive to make it more accessible, affordable and ultimately more enjoyable for all.

Sport plays an important role in several different areas, such as employability, recruitment, widening participation, retention, wellbeing  student satisfaction and community engagement. Sport has the power to change lives, with the ability to enhance and to develop ones personal skills through means of working and interacting with others. It is imperative that we make each and everyone of you aware of the skills in which you’re gaining as a result of playing and volunteering in sport and how best you can articulate those skills to enhance other areas of your lives, none more so than your academic studies. This year I will be focusing upon the importance of sport within Higher Education and staking my claim that sport at University really does matter. 

Over the past year we saw the evolution of Team Kent, which resulted in us finishing 30th, in the BUCS league tables, which is our highest finish in recent years. As we look forward to the new academic year we have 12 teams currently in BUCS 1A and the National Premiership combined. Last year we saw a number of our teams battling it out for promotion of which 10 clubs won their respected leagues, 3 of which made it into the National Premiership playoffs. Besides the traditional BUCS Wednesday afternoons we had many outstanding individual performances throughout the year, which resulted in national success, both in the form of titles and national selection. Amongst all this success we once again regained our Varsity title for the 17th successive year with a record margin of 30-10.

Over the next year, I would love to see Team Kent, grow and develop even further. We've now laid the foundations to build upon our success. Over the next twelve months I’ll be working very closely with our individual sports men and women and their respective clubs as I hope to provide them with greater resource and expertise to allow them to progress. In the near future I would also love to be able to bring a number of major University Championships to our campus, in doing so putting the University of Kent on the National sporting map.

Sport is for everyone and this year I am really excited to work with numerous clubs, organisations and societies as I strive to make sport here at the University inclusive and accessible to all. Over the next year expect to see a number of campaigns and events that not only raise awareness of various liberation groups, cultures and non-traditional sports but also provide greater opportunities for each and everyone of us to get involved within sport, regardless of our ability and our background. 

I stand here today in what is an extremely privileged position; I have the opportunity to stand forth on behalf of our students to provide them with the best possible opportunities with regard to sport. I am so very fortunate to have been given this opportunity, one that I will give my all. My time at University wouldn't have been the same if it weren't for getting involved within sport. On leaving University, people remember their time through the people they met, the things they did and the places they went. Sport epitomises this and presents many incredible opportunities for all those that get involved and I cannot reiterate those words enough. For all those who have thought about playing and/or volunteering within sport here at the University, all I can say is to get involved. Regardless of your ability, your motives and your background, sport can present an opportunity for all, and you never know, you might find yourself apart of the Premiership battling netball squad, playing badminton with your fellow course-mates, or you might even become a student volunteer at the 2014 Varsity Competition, whichever it may be, there are so many opportunities out there waiting to be discovered. So go on, get involved!