RORY LA TROBE




FOR


SPORTS UNION
PRESIDENT
2025/2026.





ABOUT ME




Hi! I’m Rory La Trobe and as you might have guessed by now, I’m running for Sports Union President for 2025/2026. ‘Why?’ I hear you ask. Ever since the age of 3, my father’s dying wish was that I became Spor…. 
Okay, okay, I’m only kidding. 

However, one thing from that time of my life that I can confirm is that sport has always been my favourite thing. I don’t believe that there is much out there that can be so fun, form communities and bring people together as well as sport 
does. For those that aren’t aware of this, I’d like to let them experience it at their time at university through a pro-active and dedicated approach to the role of Sports Union President.

I am committed to representing all Sports Union members and clubs, to making sure that the voice of all students is actively listened to along with providing support for everyone to help further develop the amazing community that the Sports Union currently is. I plan on putting particular focus into what I believe to be the three key aspects of the Sports Union, communication, social and sporting. I believe that by targeting these aspects with some fresh ideas, the experience of all students and clubs in the Sports Union can be maximised and we can all take advantage of the benefits that being involved with sport at university can bring.

I want to provide an environment that sees us all enjoying sport at university and thriving together. Whether it’s wins or losses, first-time beginners or national athletes, I want to be your main point of contact that makes the Sports Union the best possible fit for you.

This year I have gained lots of leadership experience, I am President of Cycling, SSS Chair of Tennis and I’m a representative for my course’s year group.


MY BACKGROUND IN SPORT



As I said before, sport is my favourite thing. In fact, it always has been since a young age. My main sports are tennis and cycling. I do also love skiing and snowboarding on the winter side of things too. Being perfectly honest though, I don’t often try sports that I don’t enjoy! I have played tennis since a young age and have ridden bikes a lot since starting here at university. As you may imagine, the clubs I have been most involved with in university are tennis and cycling. 

Growing up, I played a lot of tennis and was competing regularly. This taught me a lot about sport and helped me to develop skills that are really valuable in everyday life. I was playing tennis a lot until the time of ending high school/Covid 19. At this point I started to cycle a lot and got into mountain biking. From then on I have probably spent most of my free time on a bike, alongside still playing tennis at university. I feel I have a seen a nice balance of competitive/non-competitive environments by being around these two different sports and think that experience is something that will be beneficial when trying to cater to all desires and abilities in the Sports Union. 

You’ll most likely catch me running, pedalling, tennis-ing or gym-ing in and around campus if you keep your eyes peeled!

Long story short, I like sports (if you can’t already tell!)



MY CAMPAIGN


 WHAT DO I PLAN ON DOING?




THE KEY AREAS I WANT TO FOCUS ON ARE:


Communication
Sport
Social



CHECK OUT HOW/WHY BELOW





THE PLAN...




When I talk about sport, social and communication, I mean that those are the 3 categories that I want to focus on. All of the elements I want to bring into the Sports Union can be categorised back to these 3 aspects. So in general, these are what I want to focus on, but specifically, the following is what I plan to implement and direct focus towards (and how they fit under these 3 main aspects).



SPORT


Sport is the reason that brings us all together here, it’s not called SPORTS Union for nothing! I want to provide a community of sport at university that can cater to anyone from complete beginner to world champion, where everyone can take advantage of playing sport at university for whatever reasons they enjoy it for. To do this, I want to put emphasis on these ideas:

  Continued support and more awareness to the Sport Scholar Programme for high performance athletes.

 Low level competitive box leagues at lunchtimes for fun, recreational sport.

 Recognition for sporting achievements through a ‘team of the week’ 

 Sports Union Strava group for morale, incentive and motivation for members to get involved with sport and bring people together at times that work for them.


Push for clubs to seek friendly matches/ collaborate with nearby institutions for their sports.






COMMUNICATION



Open and pro-active communication can make things a lot easier and run smoothly, and it’s something that I want to direct focus towards. I am aware of the fact that not everyone knows the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ to how the Sports Union works. This why I want to provide clear and readily available information for those who need/want it. Being a great first point of contact for all Sports Union clubs and members requires communication to be at the core, which is why these are some of the things I want to implement:


Competitive sport opportunities for a wide range of skill levels for those who desire to compete through improved communication across the multiple governing bodies in university sport (Local Leagues, SSS, BUCS).

 SU starter pack/bible of all information in one place to be available for September.

 Drop box / anonymous questions service for anyone who doesn’t feel confident with the how certain things work in the Sports Union.

Available ‘drop-in’ times for athletes to come and talk about anything sports related.

 Open two-way communication with clubs to find out how things are going and improve/amend elements that are not working well.


With an emphasis on communication, if you feel there is anything I have missed, please do get in touch! I would genuinely be really keen to hear your thoughts and find out about how things are from your side of things, as I have not been in everyone’s shoes/clubs/positions in the Sports Union!


SOCIAL


For me and many other I know, we have found that the social events that we got involved with by playing sports were the best. Playing sport attracts like-minded individuals to develop friendships and have a fun time. So many life skills and experiences can be learned from the social aspect of sport when the clock isn’t ticking, or after the whistle has been blown. The opportunity for taking advantage of the social aspect of sport as a student is incredible, and to try and allow everyone to experience and enjoy that, I’d like to introduce/focus on these points:


 ‘SU socials’ where a large number of us can enjoy meeting up in a non-sporting environment. Increases inter-club relations and could be a great social alternative/option for smaller clubs.


 I plan to get guest speakers to come in and give talks about unique sporting achievements and experiences to Sports Union members to have engaging information accessible to members.


 Push to continue SU Exec trying the club’s different sports


 Encourage clubs to nominate 1st year ‘reps’ to get more people to get involved with sport at the beginning of Semester 2 (especially the first years and newcomers to uni)









“I want everybody to be able to maximise their experience of sport at university” 

VOTING OPENS

MONDAY

10/03/25




CURRENT  TIME:

VOTING


Voting isn’t open yet. Voting opens directly after SU Hustings on the 10th of March. Until then, please enjoy the campaign, get in touch if you want to chat anything SU related and please consider voting for me when the time comes!

Thanks,
Rory

OTHER

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