[Lifesaving] BULSCA AGM

On Saturday morning, BULSCA held their AGM before the final competition of the academic year. This was a bit of a change from previous years; traditionally the AGM has been on the Sunday following the competition. But with a start time of 2:30pm, and the problems experienced in the past with tiredness, hangovers, and travel for some attendees (particularly our representatives from St Andrews), the decision was made to move it to Saturday. A very popular decision it was too! Two years ago I ended up taking a flight home after the AGM whilst the rest of the team drove back, so I was glad not to have to do that again. 

However some things about the AGM never change. There was plenty of passionate discussion, lots of side-points, tangents, and distractions, and it went on for far longer than it probably needed to. But all of that was to be expected, and the Chairperson was much better at keeping things moving than he had been at the mid-season meeting back in December. 2.5 hours sorting out the calendar for next year was definitely more than anyone wanted to spend, although it was worth it to avoid too many back-to-back competitions. 

There were some contentious issues brought up for discussion. In particular, one proposal related to the student championships created a lot of debate. In the past, there has been a feeling that some of the member clubs of BULSCA only attend a few league competitions, but turn up to the Champs with a squad loaded with swimmers, many of whom never take part in league competitions, in order to win loads of medals and the trophies for the Speeds on the Saturday. This has created some ill will, so the proposal was to disqualify squads from scoring points if they contained one or more members who had not competed at a league event within the 12 months preceding the Champs.

I was somewhat conflicted over this proposal. On the one hand I could see why it was proposed, and the intention behind it is one that I have grumbled out before myself. However I'm not convinced that it's the way that BULSCA should be going. Lifesaving, particularly at a university level, is a small sport, and in my opinion should be doing everything that it can to encourage more people to participate. Inclusivity should, in my opinion, be a major focus of BULSCA, and I saw the proposal as going in the opposite direction. Speed lifesaving is, in my experience, more widely practised on an international level than the SERC-based branch of the sport that BULSCA runs, and there are many people who specialise at the speed events. I could see no reason to penalise those people for wanting to represent their university at the speciality. Moreover, punishing their entire squad seems unnecessarily punitive.

Another argument against it was that it would unfairly punish smaller clubs. St Andrews, for example, would have lost two of the female members of our squad if the proposal had been in force. Finally, in some ways it's a matter for each university's individual team selection procedure to deal with.

The St Andrews squad at this year's Champs. Under the controversial proposal at the

AGM, two of the female squad would have been disallowed. (Credit: David Brown)

On the other hand, individual competitors are already allowed at the Champs, and perhaps speeds specialists who have never attended a league competition should be encouraged to enter in that manner. They would still be eligible for medals, but wouldn't contribute to their universities points towards the trophy.

Ultimately though, the proposal didn't pass. Many of the arguments against it were based on the logistics of its implementation rather than its substance though, which I find concerning as I still don't believe that it would be beneficial.

As well as sorting out the calendar and dealing with rules change proposals, the executive committee for the coming academic year were also elected. Ella, a previous captain of the St Andrews club was elected to be the chairperson, although she did require the rules to be changed to allow her to run as she's graduating this year. Two of my other friends were also elected to the committee. Alex, formally at Warwick with me, is the new treasurer (appropriate since he works for a bank), and Oli (formally Birmingham based) continues his perpetual role as the webmaster.

St Andrews will also have another representative on the committee - me! I stood on the day for Champs coordinator, and was duly elected. I'd been thinking about going for a place on the committee, but it turned out that other people were going for the roles that I'd considered. Except for Champs coordinator, a job that no one really wants. I'm not sure what I've let myself in for; lots of my oldest lifesaving friends have told me that I'm an idiot for taking it on, and one reminded me that I used to laugh at the Champs coordinator owing to their job and how difficult it was. Oh how times change! However I'm not too nervous about it. After my experience of organising the St Andrews non-league competition this year, I have a vague idea of what to expect, and some of the problems involved. I'm also very lucky that Rachel, the outgoing coordinator and a former captain of mine, ran an excellent, well organised event this year that I can build on. I'm nervous about it, but I think that I'm up to the task.

How I'm feeling about being Champs Coordinator.... (Credit: http://saintmarty-marty.blogspot.co.uk/)

A competition report from the weekend will be going up in the next couple of days.