Bid to increase student sport 'for fun'
Posted: Friday, 4th May 2012
SPORTS Management students have been working with the University to launch a new campus recreational sports programme that will see more students playing sport in the next academic year.
A series of sports tournaments are taking place to raise awareness of the new programme which starts in October and to encourage students to get involved. John Seefus, Oliver Dawes and Alistair Waddell worked with Jonathan Fletcher, the University’s Sports Development Officer, to promote and deliver the 9-a-side football tournament.
“For the Event Design and Development unit we have to organise an event and we chose to work with Jonathan to organise the football tournament,” explained undergraduate John.
“One of our main responsibilities was promoting and marketing the event and then organising things on the day. We’ve learnt a lot about about event promotion. We designed, printed and distributed posters and flyers and went round the halls of residence knocking on doors to ensure that people knew about the event and to encourage them to take part.”
Recreational
Seven teams took part in the tournament, including the White Wanderers, whose goalie James Rodgers said: “We decided to enter the competition and then put together a team that’s a mix and match of flat mates and people from my course who enjoy having a kick-about.”
The teams who entered the tournament very much represent what the new recreational sports programme is about as Jonathan Fletcher explains: “We want to encourage more students to play sport at a recreational level where the emphasis is on enjoying playing and the social side of being in a team.
Students will put together their own teams, for example they might be on the same course or house mates, and play a sport they already know or try something new. There will still be an element of competition and friendly rivalry but the main thing is get out and enjoy it.”
I’m hoping to recruit teams from as many courses as possible so it would be beneficial for me to get the message across to staff that a campus sport program is launching in October.
For more information about the recreational sports programme, please contact Jonathan Fletcher, j.fletcher@mmu.ac.uk, 0161 247 6887, or follow it online via Twitter (@MMUSport) or via Facebook (Sport at Manchester Metropolitan University).