With the Winter Olympics coming to a close, Brig caught up with Stirling’s own Snow Sports club president, Savanna Butler.
Savanna is in her fourth year with the club, having joined in her first year with no experience. She went to an assortment of give-it-a-go’s before settling on SUSS simply because she thought “they looked fun, and the rest was history”.
The fun nature of SUSS continues to this day, even in Savanna’s role as president – “snow sports is kind of just like a big friendship group, so it doesn’t really feel like a presidential role, it’s more just like making the hard decisions and then hanging out with everyone; so it’s a lot of fun.”
What is SUSS?
SUSS offers beginner lessons for skiers and snowboarders, there are competitions throughout the semester, and they are a part of the UK-wide university snow sports community.
Scottish competitions tend to take place in Glasgow as there are two slopes there, and BUDS (British University Dryslope Championships) often takes place in Edinburgh at Hillend. However, this year it took place in Bristol, with other competitions happening in places such as Birmingham and Aviemore.
Stirling has sporting success across the board, and SUSS is no different. Savanna commented that “last semester our slalom team was really successful, they put a lot of work into it and a lot of practice.”
If you are considering joining SUSS, Savanna tells us what your week would look like. “It’s busy. We jam pack the schedules quite a bit, we usually train on a Tuesday, so we pack up the cars with the equipment and drive to Bearsden in Glasgow and we do slalom training for one to two hours. If the freestyle slope is available, the freestylers will do their thing over there, and then probably stop at McDonald’s on the way back, maybe go to the pub, and then obviously socials on a Wednesday. Sometimes we’ve got competitions and little group trips on the weekends, so it’s different every week.”
Every year SUSS has a big snow sports trip, with their most recent one having a record number of attendees, showing just how much people love the club.
Why Should You Join SUSS?
SUSS gives you the opportunities to “meet so many new people, you’re constantly making connections.” Savanna also added that as a committee member, she has learnt a lot about how to deal with “businesses, and negotiations, and contracts, and just trying to speak to people who don’t really prioritise what you want, and trying to work with that.”
If you think that SUSS might be the club for you, but you aren’t sure about the sport itself, that’s okay too! SUSS “will teach you if you want to learn, and if you don’t want to learn, you can just come and have fun!” Savanna goes on to add that “we’re like a big family, everyone’s welcome”.
So, if Savanna has convinced you to join SUSS – or even if she hasn’t yet – she urges everyone to “just come give it a go, come and say hi; we’re really friendly, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out!”
Image Credit: University of Stirling Sports Union.
Student journalist and Sports Editor for Brig Newspaper
