Laura Shaw is running for Sports President in the 2024 Student Union Elections. She has built her manifesto on accessibility, collegiality, and engagement.
The Sports President is responsible for leading the Sports Union, working alongside teams, athletes, and the University to improve sports facilities and develop teams.
Laura spoke to Brig about her manifesto.
Experience
Laura has been a student at the University of Stirling for five years. She graduated from her undergrad last year and is currently studying for a masters in Sports Psychology.
“Going through my masters I realised I actually want to go into student support. I enjoy the benefits of student sport and what you can give back to people.”
Laura continues to be involved across the Sports Union. Her experience includes being a fundraiser, president, and now secretary of Stirling’s swimming club, working as a Sports Engagement Intern, and being a member of this year’s Sports Executive Committee.
She told us about her experiences with the Sports Union through her time at Stirling:
“All of my happy memories are down to being part of a sports club, and I think that’s really important. I want other people to have the same unique experiences as me.
“I want to give my all to help to develop the Sports Union.”
Accessibility
Laura’s first value in her manifesto is accessibility and approachability. She wants to focus on everyone in the sports facilities feeling valued and listened to.
“I’ve always prided myself on being an accessible person,” she said.
Following this, Laura was very passionate about removing the financial barrier to sports, especially through kit costs, to open up sports to more students.
“One of the biggest challenges was with kit. It’s quite an expensive cost.”
She would achieve this by creating a kit bank for students to take from free of charge, stocking it with donations from alumni.
“It’s a piece of kit that can be recycled. It’s looking at the sustainability in sports.”
Through this scheme, Laura hopes to make sports more accessible to as many people as possible.
Collegiality
Laura perked up when we got to talk about the second value of her campaign, collegiality.
She told us passionately about the importance of consistency in clubs, as committees evolve and develop.
“I think the success to change and changing committees is just making sure it’s consistent.
“I want to set up a handover toolkit or a template that the committees fill out, [including their] social media password, important dates for social media, how to run the give-it-a-go, and sports bizarre information. All of that in just one document, which you can just edit as you pass it down committees, rather than it being a different handover experience for each committee.
“I think it will make all the difference.”
Engagement
Laura is keen to work towards developing fan engagement through social media and fixtures coverage, and to help everyone get involved in the sports union. She plans to approach a range of clubs and societies across the university to bring people together.
“I don’t do a task half-hearted. I put my entire effort in.”
Through her other goals of accessibility and collegiality, engagement should come naturally as the three values are interwoven. Laura wants to encourage this and plans to further develop the Sports Union as a whole – should she be successful.
“My focus is developing [the Sports Union] for the greater experience of everyone at university.”
Why vote for you?
“When I look at myself as a person I know I can give my all to this. I know I am really passionate about it and I’m so keen to just get out there,” she said.
Laura concluded the interview confidently and humbly.
“I pride myself on doing well. I would be extremely grateful and I’d love to maximize the opportunity to benefit the Sports Union as much as I possibly can.”
Featured Image Credit: Stirling Student Union
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