Whereas BUSA cater for university sport, UCS traditionally focus on elite and grassroots sport, and so the new organisation will see greater unity for university sport and the opportunity for institutions such as York to develop their sporting programme. Not only will the BUSA competition be replaced with BUCS, but the nature of the competition will also see a shift to a more regionalised sports programme.

BUSA have designed a league format, after requests from institutions to provide a full two terms of sport for the winter league sports, but with the awareness of the financial implications and the pressures placed on Athletic Unions.

Below the highest level, the belief is that students are spending too much time and money competing in national competitions. The principle of a two tier sport has been introduced which means that for Tiers 2 and below, the knockouts will be regionalised.

This means that there will be no more lengthy coach journeys to knockout games in places like Aberdeen or Cardiff. It also signals the arrival of a longer season for all teams.

Whereas at present the BUSA season ends in January, and only the best performing teams progress to knockouts, the proposed changes will integrate a cup programme similar to the way the FA cup is integrated into the Football League.

It has been proposed that the National knockout competitions be replaced with a five Conference Shield Knockout based on regions. This gives all teams the opportunity to have an extra seven fixtures throughout the term, and regardless of their success in the knockout competition the season will continue through until March.

The league structure will remain unchanged with the majority of leagues of six teams competing against each other home and away. The format for promotion and relegation will remain largely unchanged.

This year has been a hugely successful year for York sport; Roses and Varsity victory and a top 40 finish in the BUSA table (last year we finished 52nd). I hope York next year continues to develop a sporting reputation as good as its academic one.

What a weekend. After going into the weekend 12 points down from the rowing, I was a little concerned that our little jaunt across the Pennines wouldn’t be as successful as I’d hoped.

But Friday and Saturday couldn’t have gone better. We were winning the fixtures we were favourites in, and winning the ones that on paper we should have lost. At one stage on Saturday afternoon we were 24 points ahead of Lancaster, and the Lancaster tournament secretaries were starting to look extremely concerned.

Perhaps we became a little complacent after sitting 18 points clear on Saturday night after clean sweeps in the skiing, fencing, sailing and tennis. Coming into Sunday, we needed just 19 points from an available 54 to win an Roses away.

Sadly we made life difficult for ourselves. With just three fixtures remaining it could have gone either way. All we needed was a draw in football, hockey or table tennis, and with just minutes to go, we were losing all three fixtures and contemplating a long trophyless journey home.

I spent Sunday afternoon enjoying the gentleman’s pastime of croquet with the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor. I had a great start, but as reports of scores kept coming, I lost the plot. Neither James nor I could focus on the croquet, we were both nervous wrecks. I have never felt so sick in my life.

I couldn’t have told you who won the croquet. As soon as we scored the equaliser, securing York the Roses win, I abandoned my mallet and sprinted down to the Astroturf, nearly falling head-over-heels in the mud on route.

I am so proud of the teams, they really deserve all the credit for last weekend’s success. York has now won an awat Roses three times in the last sixteen years, whereas Lancaster hasn’t taken the Carter-James trophy home from York since 1985. So what made the difference this year? Was it simply that we had the better players? Possibly. But for me, the professionalism and passion of the York teams was the fundamental difference.

Plain and simple: we wanted to win more.

Admittedly, three 10-0 clean sweeps in the tennis and two 3-0 wins in the volleyball weren’t too hotly contested by St John, but so many of the fixtures that resulted in a York win could, on another day, have swung the other way.

Our netball first team beat their York St John counterparts 35-30 in a thrilling game. York St John first team netballers have just won their BUSA league, a league above our netball first team. Give Amy Smith and her girls some credit, it was a great result, although perhaps a little lost in the excitement of the day.

Equally, the Halifax netballers, masquerading for the day as our netball fourth team won in superb fashion against a team that compete in BUSA. They did themselves proud.

Continuing their great form this season, women’s hockey proved that they will not be completely outplayed in BUSA Div 2B next season, after clinging on for a 2-1 victory over a team that play in the league above them.

Men’s football 3rds scored a late winner and ladies’ badminton narrowly won.

If these results had swung in St John favour, suddenly a 39-point gulf is more like 10 points. The Ashman-Leslie trophy may not have made it to the other side of York yet, but the competition is not as easy as the scoreline may suggest. Give our guys some credit; there were some hard-fought victories out there.

In June last year I cycled from York to Amsterdam and back, raising over £500 for Marie Curie Cancer Care. For me, it wasn’t about seeing how quickly I could do it; it was about giving it a go to see if I could cycle for 250 miles. And that’s why I’m running the London Marathon. Yes, I want to finish in under four and a half hours, but the real reason is to push myself and see if I can find the motivation to train and, come April, be able to say that I’ve run a marathon. Perhaps the next challenge is to swim the channel, although I think I would call the line at rowing the Atlantic.
Sport is an amazingly powerful thing: it is universal; it transcends boundaries, speaks many languages, and has exceptional reconciliatory qualities. Sport has helped ease conflicts in countries divided by faction and strife. I think MP Tessa Jowell summed it up quite nicely when she said, “Sport has the ability to motivate, inspire and empower people”.

I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am not going to make it as a professional athlete and the only involvement I am likely to have in the London 2012 Olympics is as a volunteer, but just because we’re not elite, doesn’t mean we can’t make a difference.

I’m organising the Ride of the Roses, a sponsored bike ride from York to Lancaster to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. There are places still available, so if you fancy a challenge, email au@yusu.org for more details.
On Sunday March 16, the University of York will be hosting a Sport Relief Mile. The event is open to everyone and will be happening as one of over 250 events nationwide. If you fancy challenging yourself, sign up now on www.sportrelief.com/themile. And if you want a test, why not do it three-legged with a mate? It’s a chance to make a difference. And if running a mile is the last thing you want to do, we’re looking for volunteers to help out on the day too.

Whether you choose to run a marathon, jog a mile or cycle to Lancaster, make sure at some point this term you drag yourself off the sofa and go out and do something different.

The standard of sport at York may not be on par with the likes of Loughborough, but women’s sport here is an emerging force. Women’s Cricket reached the BUSA Indoor Cricket Championships Finals last season, while just a few weeks ago Women’s Rugby thrashed Newcastle University 111-0.

Both Women’s Football and Women’s Rugby reported that record numbers signed up at the AU Mart, and more women are attending training than ever before. UYWRFC President Karen Barber believes that stereotypes are not the main barrier to participation, but the lack of opportunities: “the problem is not a lack of interest or fear of being considered manly. We find girls aren’t getting into rugby simply because it isn’t offered to them at a young age. This lack of opportunity for girls is our main concern, not what people think of us.”

In addition to the performance of the English Women’s Football team at the World Cup this summer, England’s women won bronze at the European Hockey Championships, securing 2008 Olympic qualification. Despite being light years away financially, female sport in this country is in the ascendancy.

Being the first female AU President in 13 years, I am well aware of the male dominance in sport. However, the fact that 22 presidents of the 54 sports clubs are female speaks volumes about the flourishing status of female sport on this campus.

Nightmarish visions of a cold and wet games afternoon are far from the reality of university sport. Sport at York encompasses everything from surfing to parachuting, via canoe polo and martial arts. And we have more sports clubs than Loughborough.

Your time here is the best opportunity to try something new, and whether it’s rugby or chess; it’s all about getting involved. Everyone comes to University to get a degree, what else are you going to get out of three years at York?

I’ve spent the summer in York with no-one to keep me company, but more importantly, no-one to play any sport with. There are only so many times you can pretend that you’re racing against the guy on the next treadmill, or the woman in the next swimming lane. Competitive? Who, me?
I was recently introduced to the President of the Students’ Union at Lancaster University.

We were having an amiable enough conversation until he made the mistake of bringing up the subject of Roses. I think it would be an understatement to say I scared him with my sudden transformation into a competitive monster. If you get involved in sport at here at York, you’ll soon find out what Roses is about.

It’s big. We take on Lancaster University over three days in just about every sport you can imagine, in the biggest sporting event of its kind in Europe. 45 sports, over a hundred events and somewhere around a thousand competitors. This year we’ll be travelling to the other side of the Pennines to make sure we defend the Carter-James trophy and take the score to 22-21 to York.

And, of course, sport at York isn’t all about the blood, sweat and tears, and most clubs will remind you that the social side is an equally important aspect. Campus Wednesdays aims to encourage clubs, societies and friends to socialise on campus in the evening, either as an alternative to heading into town, or as an ideal meeting place prior to going out. It’s a fantastic opportunity to sample the diverse atmospheres in Derwent, Langwith, Vanbrugh, Goodricke and Wentworth college bars.

Collect a Campus Wednesdays Passport in the first bar you visit, and receive a stamp in each bar that you buy a drink, and in the fifth bar you will receive a free drink. And if you want to know any more about sport at York, just pop into the office, email au@yusu.org, or see me in the one of the bars on a Wednesday evening.