Minutes of the BUCS NW Competitions and Participation Meeting,

Minutes of the BUCS NW Competitions and Participation Meeting,held at MMU Cheshire, January2011.ApologiesUClan – Amanda PattinsonSalford – Stephanie PrattLancaster – Caroline + MarcLiverpool – Ryan SwinneyChester – Jane Hodson & Kate EnglandLiverpool Hope – AlexMMU Manchester – Sarah HadlowAttendanceGlyn Parry (Bangor)Sam White (Glyndwr)Hannah Whitton (Liverpool)James Birdsey (BUCS NW)Mike Huss (Keele)Rosa Hussy (Edge Hill)Agi Duhig (Manchester)Phil Kynaston (MMU)Allan Stavert (Cumbria)Sam Hunt (MMU Cheshire)Rob Ledley (MMU Cheshire)LJMUNo. Discussion Action Date by1.1.12.2.1Introduction & Minutes of the previous meetingThe minutes of the previous meeting were passed as a true andaccurate record. Any matters arising to be covered throughmeeting.NW Volleyball – Tier 2 and belowHW gave an update on the competition progress to date, havingdone 2/3 weekends.Generally positive feedback from teams attending on the day,although a number of HEI’s had struggled to field teams still.Officials had been sourced to lead each game, with studentsproviding support as 2 nd referee’s and line judges.Venues hadn’t been as easy to source as anticipated, although thiswas covered.Table was opened to feedback from specific HEI’s.General feeling around the table was to complete the competitionat Keele in Feb, and provide evaluations on the day for teamJB & HWto provide12 th Feb

captains, followed by a full review at next competitions meetings.evaluation.33.1Conference Cup FinalsYork had successfully applied to host the Conference Cup Finals for2010/11. This would provide a more valued event than thefragmented finals held at the moment, with all finals taking placeat the same time / venue.Individual teams would share the facility hire and officials cost,with refreshments and cups being provided as well.A seeded system had also been proposed for next year, wherebyhigher ranked teams didn’t enter until later stages. This wouldreduce the number of matches and also ensure there wasn’t ahuge disparity in standards at an early stage.Action – All would be invited to attend on the day on Wednesday23 rd of March.All 2010/11Season4.4.1Competition IssuesAffiliationsFollowing some confusion over which sports required additionalaffiliations and why these were required, BUCS had published thelist of sports requiring affiliations together with a rationale.It was fed back that the BUCS office was looking into extendedopening hours during the competition season to ensure that staffcould be more accessible. This was proposed to be from 8.30 –19.00.There had also been some further alterations to sportsresponsibilities. These had been circulated via essentials and couldbe found on the BUCS website.55.1AOBNational Advisory Group FeedbackAD gave an overview of issue’s that had been raised at theNational Advisory Group. This included –BUCS Points ReviewLimited progress had been made in looking at the importance ofhaving BUCS points and how these may be restructured to bemore effective.

HW had expressed an interest in this, and it would be taken upnationally by Karen Boug (Notts Trent), who would form aframework of key issues to each region for comment beforedeveloping further.Alcohol PolicyA detailed paper had been formed to provide guidance on misuseof alcohol and appropriate behaviour. This was to be considered inmore detail at next National Group before wider consultation andpotential adoption by BUCS.Wednesday AfternoonsThere had been growing concern over the encroachment ofacademic teaching into Wednesday pm, which had always beenthe preserve of formal sporting activity and student enrichment.Work was being done with NUS and politically to ensure thisgained a higher profile, and links had been made to growingnumber of HEI’s looking to offer 2 year degree programmes withlonger and condensed teaching time.There followed a discussion from NW members about how muchgreater focussed was placed on academic learning by students,with worrying impact on team turnouts, particularly around examperiods.Member ServicesA consultation had taken place around what members wantedfrom BUCS, and how all members could be better engaged andsupported. The response rate had been good, and a group ofDirectors and Students were looking to speak to each regionindividually about their priorities and how to take this forward.Home Nation and Rep Sport, Event Capacity and MultiInstitutional Teams had little movement.Running Sports / BUCS - Club Development WorkshopsEdge Hill and Keele had piloted these last year, with varyingsuccess in relationship to their effectiveness. This mainly hinged onhow well developed the club development programme was at aparticular HEI already.This was agreed as a focus topic for the next meeting.Action – JB to circulate information on workshops.Action – RH to bring sample of delivery programme.JB ASAPRH – Nextmeeting

RFU Development ProgrammeHW was meeting with John Livesey (RFU Student Liason) to gothrough plans for student club development days in 2011. It wasfelt these could be improved with the right input from this group.Participation GroupAs attendance for both groups had been difficult, RH suggestedcombining the next meeting to maximise time available.HW tofeedbackRH andHW towork nextmeetingdatestogetherFuture TopicsAnother suggestion for future topics for the group to cover hadbeen to invite a guest speaker to put on the end of the agenda.Action – All to contribute and feedback to HW types of thing theywould like to cover.AllNW FE/HE Sports Manager PositionUnfortunately, this wasn’t able to be extended through to a lack offunding available. JB thanked everyone for their input over the lastcouple of years and wished all the best for the future!