This year the club was chosen to represent our constituency on the Athletic Union Council. Our constituency is made up of Surf, Windsurf, Sub-Aqua, Snow and ourselves. From the committee i was nominated to take the position on the committee.
We had our first meeting last night, the main port of call was to approve the grants being handed out. All clubs received similar to last year, based on whether they closed their accounts around the same figure. As a ball park image in regards to why we don't get all costs covered, in total all UCD clubs have a yearly expenditure of €1.8m. The Clubs only get €664k off UCD. It is hoped that there will be an avenue to get the €664 increased at some point due to restructuring higher up in UCD but this is what they AUC have for the moment.
Canoe has received a grant of €4,000 with a special grant of €800 for equipment. This special grant only covers a tenth of what we realistically need but gives us an allowance for some new buoyancy aids which are in need of replacing. Hopefully I can have these ordered in before semester 2.
There is only €9000 in the kitty for special grant allocations this year (compared to €23,000 last year). This is due to an increased expenditure last year for University games. We are welcome to apply for a special grant but I can't see us receiving one as they prioritized us for an automatic allocation.
We will be however applying for a Forum Capital grant. This grant is only available for large capital investments. This will require some form of fundraising on our behalf, as they like to see clubs making an effort to fund equipment when they give the grants. This will probably take the form of Project Freestyle from a few years back, but with the aim of replacing boats and paddles. I was told specifically to have the club apply for this.
There will be an additional €9,000 put aside for Coach training courses within the clubs. As far as they have it planned, this will entail individuals approaching the sports office with a request. It hasn't opened yet, but I hope it will be a good resource for people hoping to do their instructor training.
That is the end of what came from the actual meeting.
Afterwards I spoke to Suzanne about a few things:
The tap (at the end of the sheds)
Essentially this almost deserves a movie by now. The fixed the tap, realised there was a massive leak, fixed the leak and then decided that they didn't want to have a fresh water tap with public access. Suzanne fought our battle, refused to have it relocated inside a shed (for obvious reasons) and so HOPEFULLY it was turned on yesterday. I will check it later this evening to see if it was fixed.
UCD Vehicles
There is no way we can get an exception to the under 25 rule, however as a club using it the driver doesn't have to be staff. Anyone over 25 is permitted to apply to Suzanne for acceptance to the training course.
As the vehicles are a 'privilege' to the clubs, they are picky with who they allow drive them. If a club even scrapes a van, all clubs loose the use of them.
If anyone over 25 wants to apply, let me know and we can bring it to Suzanne.
News reporting:
So another way of getting increased funding for sports clubs is to show UCD we do shit. Essentially, unlike every other university, UCD see's sports clubs as that annoying little sister that they don't want to be seen in public. So the new action plan is to bombard newsdesk@ucd.ie with good news stories! These can be competition wins, helping with LD, competitions being organised, the dodder clean up, big training weekends, passing levels etc. Basically if you helped a granny cross the road we want it emailed to the newsdesk@ucd.ie to smush it in their faces that the clubs are amazing! If you have a story, send it to us, we'll email it over from the club address and send it to the sports facebook page too!
If anyone has any questions let me know!
