UGM Report
Hi everyone! Here’s what I have been up to since our last UGM update back in December.
After a restful winter break, I came back to the SU ready for a jam-packed Winter Welcome!
What I have done since coming back:
Dodgeball
In January Dan (Welfare Officer) and I successfully organised and ran a dodgeball tournament to find a team for Varsity. We had 6 different teams take part (including a team filled with our Officer team) with one team emerging victorious and will go on to compete against Staffs during Varsity next month.
Clubs of Keele - taster sessions
During Winter Welcome I visited a total of 19 AU clubs to film their taster sessions and get the word out about the various sports we have to offer at Keele SU. I expanded my visits to include off-campus training sports such as our wonderful Mountaineering and Swimming clubs. This part of my clubs of Keele campaign was a huge success, I hope to make some reels and more social media content to highlight these clubs and want them to be used to promote clubs throughout the rest of the year and for our new intake during Welcome Week. I am going to continue to attend club training sessions taking part in those that have signed up to Glock Gives it a Go! And getting footage for all clubs to ensure they all have a chance to showcase themselves.
Winter Welcome Sports Fairs
During Winter Welcome we also had our Sports and Society sign up fairs. This semester I decided to mix things up a little and host the second day sports fair in the Sports Centre. I had big hopes for this event as we had a designated demonstration in the center of Walshaw for clubs to show off their skills and entice new members. Unfortunately, only a handful of clubs turned up, however for those in attendance, the demonstration area was a great help, and it is definitely something I want to bring back for future club sign-up events with better knowledge of how to organise it.
In the works...
BUCS Nationals
Later this month from the 24th to 26th February myself, Felicity, and our competing AU members will be travelling to Sheffield for the 10th annual BUCS Nationals competition. Competitions include Badminton, Swimming, Climbing and Athletics.
Keele x Staffordshire Varsity 2023
We have officially launched our Varsity for this year. Varsity events will take place from Sunday 19th March through Wednesday 22nd of March with competitions split between the Keele and Staffordshire campuses. Varsity photos will be taken on Friday (10th Feb) at Middleport Pottery and will feature 23 different clubs. Planning this event has taken a significant amount of coordination between our AU and Staffs AU and hopes to be an incredible event again this year. Hopefully this will be our 12th consecutive win (not including 2020 and 2021 which didn’t have Varsities)!
Harper Adams Summer Games
Due to scheduling conflicts my meeting with Harper Adams has been moved so I unfortunately do not have an update at this time. Once this has been scheduled and taken place, I will update everyone through my Officer Instagram (Maisie_KeeleSU) and at the next UGM.
Keele Athletic Union Past vs Present – The Summer Games
I am in the process of planning a brand-new sporting event - Summer PvP. On Saturday 29th April we will be hosting our second round of Past Vs Present competitions of the year, with a special School Disco night out to follow. The day will be filled with PvP matches throughout the Sports Centre followed by a BBQ for all to enjoy and a fun-filled night of socials at the SU before the school disco. This was originally a sports day event that has been transformed into a PvP event, hence I may be adding a couple of additional competitions/races such as a staff v students costume race for those who don’t have PvP matches – this will be dependent on interest/ sign ups to the events. This is still in the works so if anyone has any ideas to make the event even better, I would love to hear them!
AU Council
I will be hosting our first AU Council of the year soon so keep an eye out for information to be released about this!