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From: "Ben Ravilious" <bravil@webleicester.co.uk>
To: "David Grayson" <david@mcg.gla.ac.uk>,
"BRITDISC" <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: starting uni teams & student mailing list
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 23:58:16 -0000
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Dave,
Your story is a lesson for us all! I took 3 long years to pursuade Leicester
that we were worth it.
As for subsidsing new teams, ALL new teams (student or otherwise) can have
provisional (free) membership in their first year. At present we only allow
them to attend three events. Tell me about any changes which you think might
encourage new teams (free student membership - yeah right!)
Nice work - can I keep your story for publication in the future?
Ben
BUF Secretary
-----Original Message-----
From: David Grayson <david@mcg.gla.ac.uk>
To: student-ultimate@egroups.com <student-ultimate@egroups.com>
Cc: P.P.Guest <MBGA5PPG@fs1.eng.man.ac.uk>; Ben Ravilious
<bravil@webleicester.co.uk>
Date: 03 March 1999 14:13
Subject: starting uni teams
To share some information on how we managed to start a Uni team in
Glasgow - apologies for length.
Our Uni had the same system as that described by Paul in Manchester.
That is - there must be 15 members for 2 years before there was any
support given by the AU. Full accounts, membership lists etc. were
also provided.
We got around this by the following method.
1. Our Uni has a system where an individual must join the AU - after
that they can join as many clubs as they like. We set our club
membership fee at zero pounds and took the names and membership
numbers of 15 people (all swimmers as it happens) and they agreed to
join our club to give us the required number of members.
2. We trained on public parks and invited members of the public to
play with us. As we did not use Uni facilities and received no
support we saw no reason to insist on members to join the AU.
At this point we had a distinction between members and players. As
we were not breaking any rules we could be quite open about it.
3. We went to the Sports and Recreation Service in the University -
who run the facilities and explained the situation to them. We said:
"If you give us some hall time, we will run a free session for anyone
in the Uni to come and play Ultimate" We guarantee to get 15-20 people
each week and if we fall short we will give up our time.
The sports service were more than happy to see good use of hall time
and the promotion of a new sport.
4. We had been to the student newspaper and got an article in that
promoted the sport and helped recruit players. They were also
extremely excited about the chance of an anti-AU story (which of
course when interviewed we put across diplomatically).
5. When we went back to the AU we explained what we had done and
claimed that this counted as our first year. We had a constitution
etc. and they accepted that argument. We also got into a long
discussion about the problems of having a sport for all attitude
while still having the 2 year rule. They then came back with an idea
of "starter clubs" which meant that after one year we would be
entitled to 4 minibuses a year and one-third of one percent of the
total AU budget. There would be no more than three starter clubs in
any one year and if they proved themselves then they would get full
affiliation. That year 3 starter clubs were set up (Ultimate, Gaelic
Football and Gymnastics).
What is the take home message? Play by the rules, be honest about
what you are doing, and win the arguments but don't be scared to bend
the rules. We managed to show our AU that there was a demand for the
sport, we could run it, but that we would not be prepared to make our
players join the AU unless they supported us. "Sport for all" always
gets AU peoples backs up - keep making them say they are interested
in sport for all. Also keep other organisations onside - we had the
newspaper and the sports service supporting us before our AU did.
Finally always make them think they came up with something. Our AU
president was delighted to come up with the idea of starter clubs and
take the credit for the recent influx of new sports (which they do
deserve credit for).
Every Uni is different but don't expect money straight off. You will
have to pay for tournaments yourself.
What is the present situation with the BUF regarding new student
teams? Perhaps there could be some sort of a starter club incentive
in the BUF for registering new Uni teams (waive subs, 50% off entry
fees to student indoor regionals?). Just an idea. Seems to me that
at the moment the effort of starting a Uni team will far outweigh the
initial
benefits if a player already has a Uni team to play for. Much as the
experience was fun and rewarding I'm not sure I would have done it if
I could have gone and played elsewhere.
Hope this is of some use to anyone presently struggling with
establishment,
Dave.
Far Flung - Glasgow Uni.