Still deciding who to vote for or just want to make sure you made the right choice? Heres what the candidates for VP Sports had to say about why they should win your votes: 

Chris Havern

If you had to sum up your policy in one word and a sentence, what would they be?

Change. Fairer change and more stability within the full range of the clubs, from the top to the bottom.

What qualities do you have to offer?

My degree, sports and leisure management is made for this position. It’s made for VP sport. I have worked for the SU for a few years, I’m determined, and I’m driven. I always want to better myself.

What immediate changes will you make if you are elected as VP sport?

A lot of my policy is focused on money. I want to make sure that there is a fairer allocation throughout the clubs so that clubs don’t have to struggle to get to competitions. Also, caps on entrance fees for new members to clubs.

What sets you apart? (From the other candidates)

Again my degree (Sports and leisure management), the other candidates have great qualities but I have actually spent time studying what is needed for this role. I have knowledge of UPSU, how it works. I have been a manager and I feel that I am really driven.

How are you planning to support up and coming sports teams?

Obviously they need a stable framework and I’d aim to give them that. Better advertising so that clubs get the members and that all-important framework to get students more involved in sport.

One issue throughout the societies is the fair allocation of funds. How do you plan to address this?

I want to formulate a strategy as such, so that the funding is with the members and not just the popularity of sport. I know that a lot of clubs have to raise their own money to get to competitions for away games etc. even though the sport is relatively popular, so I’d like to address how many members it has and how many competitions it enters and how we distribute the money, around that. so that funding can be taken into account and everyone can at least have their travel paid for. 

What changes (in regards to PU sport) are you hoping to have made by 2013?

Obviously I have talked a lot about funding. I also want to develop intermural sport. I really want to see people getting involved in the university, some are a little intimidated because of the competitive aspect, Intermural has that competitive edge but it’s also a lot of fun. People don’t play because they want to win they play because they enjoy it. I want to expand intermural throughout the sports, five or six different different sports and hopefully consolidate it all on a Sunday, essentially I want to develop intermural-Sunday. So that all intermural happens on a Sunday.

How do you plan to promote the importance of fitness and sport to all students?

As I say Intermural so (students) can give playing a go. Fitness is massive, for me it’s one of the main focuses of my life. If someone is running around the pitch for 60 minutes every week that’s more than they might have done last year because they had had the opportunity to participate in sport.

Nathan Gornall

If you had to sum up your policy in one word and a sentence, what would they be?

Unity. And the sentence would be; utilising the already great assets that the union has and creating a unified and forward thinking sports strategy.

What qualities do you have to offer?

I am very confident and I am a great speaker and good at leading people. I mean, if you had seen my speech (available online) I feel I conducted my self well. And obviously I’ve been running the sports committee so I know I can lead people well and do a good job of it. But at the same time, I think what sets me apart in particular is just my sheer passion for sport. I’ve been sports editor of The Knowledge back in the day, I created and implemented the idea for a sports based radio show and I really just throw myself into everything to do with sport at university. I think if you mix that passion with the leadership skills I have developed I could be a really good VP sport.

What immediate changes will you make if you are elected as VP sport.

I want a more vibrant sports committee that’s not all about; how do we fix this problem? I want it to say; we’ve achieved this, what’s the next step? How can we make this better? I feel that the vibrancy of this approach will definitely spread throughout the union. 

What sets you apart from the other candidates?

If people see me and get some face time while I’m about and campaigning they will see that I am personable. Just come and have a chat. I’ve always felt that my approachability really helps me out in whatever I do.

How are you planning to support up and coming sports clubs?

Obviously we have 53 sports clubs, a few big ones that everyone knows about and we’ve got some brand new ones that are already making themselves known. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is brand new last year only got a few members at the moment but its becoming one of the most important martial arts because of the popularity of UFC. Sports like that do need support from their sports VP. The media outlets are a massive part of that, I want to utilise the radio get a brand new website incorporating The Knowledege to get the exposure throughout the uni. Also increasing participation is a big part of my manifesto, with more people having chances to be offered these sports I want to take it further and get more students involved.

One issue throughout societies is the fair allocation of funds, how do you plan to address this?

Probably won’t be very popular for how I address this… Actually the allocation of funds is quite good at the moment. It shouldn’t be all about what is available to them, a figure on a piece of paper ‘this much to this much’. I think it should be a more creative and interactive conversation about why they need the funds; of course I’ll always be approachable. If a club really needs a bit of extra money so they can achieve next year, I’ll be happy to have a chat with them.

What changes (in regards to PU sport) are you hoping to have made by 2013?

It’s hard to measure. I really, really want more recognition of sports clubs achievements. Some of the things they have done recently… I’ve just spoken to the netball team and one of the things I said to them was; last year you won 18 out of 19 of your matches, how many students know that?
How many celebrated that fact? I really want a campus that can celebrate their own student’s achievements and really make the most of it. This wont just be performance driven. The netball club also raised 3k for the masquerade ball, how many people who enjoyed that (the ball) and celebrated the contribution? We need to use our media outlets to really bring the university together and have a united campus with a varsity atmosphere all year round.

How do you plan to promote the importance of fitness and sport to all students?

Coming back to my first manifesto point about increasing opportunities for students who might not get encouraged to take part. It’s not all about joining a club, becoming the elite, chosen by the selected few to play and continue it. I want to take the intermural models from netball that footballs starting to do as well, I really want to take those models to other clubs. To give anyone, no matter what their abilities… the chance play sports they enjoy. I want to work side by side with university schemes and get more opportunities out there for people.

Verity Warnecke

Sum up your policy in one word and a sentence?

Team. Together everyone achieves more.

What qualities do you have to offer?

I have been chairlady of the hockey club this year and I feel I am a confident approachable person who wants to make a difference, and opportunity to be the voice of the student body.

What immediate changes are you going to make if you are elected in?

I will make sure that Wednesday afternoons are available for sports teams and anyone else who wants to participate. I want to make sure that participation levels grow across the whole of the university. I want all sports to be recognised across the university, not just football, rugby, hockey and netball. My aim is for surfing, badminton… absolutely everything to be recognised properly. Everyone should be in team Plymouth kit to show a united front and I want us to grow in the intermural football and netball league.

What sets you apart from the other candidates?

I’m a girl. It’s been five years since a girl has been elected in (as VP sport) it would be nice to see a bit of a change. I’m really passionate about sport and always have been. I’ve been through a lot through sport, I was told I would never play sport again and I’ve battled hard to get back to it.

How are you planning to support up and coming sports teams?

I want to meet each individual society on a one to one basis to find out what they require, what they need to achieve success.

One issue throughout the societies is the fair allocation of funds, how do you plan to address this?

I want to go further than what Tom Davidson has done, to look for more funding within external companies across Devon and Cornwall and look at them sponsoring individual clubs or the clubs as a whole. 

What changes (in regards to PU sports) are you hoping to have made by 2013?

Definitely want everyone in team Plymouth kit, because it will show that we are a united front. I want to further the intermural football and netball league and to let people know about the league so we can get more participation.

How do you plan to promote the importance of fitness and sport to all students?

I wan to run a healthy living campaign so I can show people why it is important to take part in exercise. It benefits you takes down your stress levels and it makes you feel good about yourself.

David Deberger

Sum up your policy in one word and a sentence?

Commitment. Working together as a team.

What qualities do you have to offer?

I feel I have a variation, a nice range. I have been involved in sport at different levels from working in leisure centres, outdoor centres, personal development training days and again working based around some activities here with the SU. Apart form that I have helped write policies, operating procedures and risk assessments so I’m really up with what is current in the level of H&S and the reality of money.

What immediate changes would you make if elected?

One of the big policies that I’m looking at that is quite different to sport, if you read all our policies and look online at our manifestos they are all really similar. We are all passionate about seeing sport develop and create participation. One of the things that is different in my manifesto is using footage from team members who are out on the pitch, on the sidelines watching their team play. There is no reason we can’t show it here on the screens in the SU and be more of a community together. Again, getting the scores up on the screens in the SU so when the guys come in they can see how are teams are doing across the country.

What sets you apart?

My personality and my experience, I am approachable and good at networking. I have experience working with national companies, local companies media based companies and again working with students. 

How are you planning to support up and coming sports clubs?

One issue is the facilities we have here in Plymouth, we are actually quite limited, one of the things we are going to have to work with is the reality of if these clubs can actually physically run or not. For example, there are rumours of an attempt at dodge ball club next year that is definitely a reality. We have extra sports hall space so it’s likely we can get that up and running. Whereas if you are looking at another league of a field based sport it’s going to be a little harder to get the facilities to support that, we are limited in Plymouth and I just want to make the most of we’ve got really.

One issue throughout the societies is the fair allocation of funds, how do you plan to address this?

There is never going to be an equal fair way of doing this I really like the way the tam behind the desk in the hive have been talking with the clubs and voting together as clubs to make it as fair as possible. That is the only way to get you guys as sports people involved in the decisions being made, they are led by the fulltime staff but we are there to guide you and hopefully when you guys vote me in as sports VP I will be there to guide and make sure that fair decisions are made by the chairs of the clubs.

What changes (in regards to UP sport) will you hoped to have made by 2013

Developing what we’ve got, nothing too drastic. I’m not going to lie to you I want to build on what Toms been doing for the last few years building sports, developing sports and trying to make the most of the facilities we’ve got. Which will then allow new and up and coming sports to come into play. I really want people to be able to come in and have conversations with us, the sabbatical officers, so that even people are not happy with what their committees doing they can be welcomed into the office to talk to me about anything, in confidence. 

How are you planning to promote the importance of fitness and sports to all students?

So we’ve got the Olympics coming up this year one of the big issues currently is lots of funding is being held back until we know the results of the Olympics itself. So hopefully after the Olympics there will be a lot of funding chucked around to build up sport because we’ve (Hopefully) done really well in the Olympics this year, a lot of that we wont know until August, September-time this year. In that sense we have got to be careful in how we big up the sports, what we’ve got to look at is increasing the participation through activities. One of the activities I’m looking at pushing is the ‘give it a go’ programme in the university to get that out to you guys as students.

Emma Baker

Sum up your policy in one word and a sentence?

Sport-in-the-spotlight. A bigger voice for little clubs. 

What qualities do you have to offer?

I’m incredibly friendly, enthusiastic and a really hard worker which, I think, is important for a job where you are representing thousands of people and everyone has a view, I want to be able to be really unbiased and understanding to individuals. That’s what I love to be a part of and involved in.

What immediate changes are you going to make if elected?

I really want to re-evaluate the way the finances work I want to have a look at implementing intermural sport, so there is much more in-university sports going on and I’d also really like to have varsity for the entire uni.

What sets you apart?

I’m a girl. We haven’t had a girl running VP sport for 5 years now I think that is really important. The other thing is I come from a small club, there are 62 clubs in the uni and I understand what it is like to be involved in something that is trying to grow.

How are you planning to support up and coming sports clubs?

One of the main priorities is that what they need is heard making sure that there is a time and a place for them to talk, to hear their voices and make sure it gets passed up the ladder. I also want to see more clubs come in and keep sport in the spotlight publicising sport, within the uni and in the local area, getting it out there. When we have a sport that does well or maybe doesn’t, or moves up a league or drops down, every one knows about it to create a strong sense of community.

One issue within the societies is the fair allocation of funds, how do you plan to address this?

We have to understand that the uni can only give so much money to sports because at the end of the day the uni only has so much. We need to look at how we distribute the funds because at the moment students don’t really know where the money is going. It needs to be made public where the money is going and how much is going to each club sot that all the uni can see exactly what is going on. I want to look at how much money we have got for the next 3 years, make it sustainable and transparent and find a way to make it fair for everyone.
  

James Manthorp

James was unfortunately unavailable for comment, but to view his manifesto and campaign video, visit the following link:

http://upsu.com/content/811333/elections/candidates/james_manthorp/