On Thursday 11 January, Vice-Chancellor Ian White held the first Vice-Chancellor’s Breakfast of 2024 with members of the student body and SU Sport Officer Abbie Watkin.
The VC Breakfasts are held periodically across the academic year and are a wonderful opportunity to reward and recognise students for their hard work and efforts. For this latest breakfast, the Vice-Chancellor invited members from sport groups to join him to recognise their achievements in Semester One.
Abbie chose to invite members of the Sport Executive Committee – Media Officer Nell Powell, Performance Officer and Hockey Vice Chair Liam White, and Treasurer Jamie Cubitt – to discuss what they had been working on as execs, and how this impacted sport last semester. They talked to the VC about upcoming events and projects that they have been a part of.
Representatives of the Rugby Union were also invited to celebrate their successful season so far. Chair John Taylor was in attendance to represent the men’s team, and Dominic Goulder-Perks represented the women’s team. Acknowledgement was given to Women's Rugby 1XV, who were undefeated in their British University and College Sports (BUCS) league, as well as successful development for the Women's 2XV’s with their first fixture win!
Archery Chair Daniel Clarke and Yoga Chair Katherine Ashley Easter were also in attendance due to their successful membership intake – Yoga have sessions on every single day except Saturday and have exceeded their membership target by over 150 people! They had the opportunity to discuss the ways they have taken initiative to meet the demands of a large membership basis.
The Chairs of Netball, Molly Robb, and Ultimate Frisbee, Max Kienzle, discussed the measures they had taken to provide an offer for individuals who had missed out on the BUCS team this season. They explained how this has helped increase the number of recreational offers for clubs, resulting in an increase in membership numbers across all teams.
Touch Rugby Chair Matt Coombs was praised for the way Touch have established themselves as an individual club after splitting off from Rugby Union and League this season, a move which has been extremely successful for them.
Sport Officer Abbie really enjoyed the whole breakfast and commented that, ‘it is a great experience for these student leaders to meet the Vice-Chancellor, Ian White, and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Student Experience, Cassie Wilson. It also gave them the wonderful opportunity to express challenges and successes they have experiences so far, and to discuss what the future of sport at the University looks like for students.
The next VC Breakfast will be held on January 24.