OxfordUniversity Women’s Blues Committee

Minutes of meeting in 3rd Week HT05

Apologies

Apologies were received from Athletics, Badminton, Judo, Lightweights, Modern Pentathlon, Pistol, Rifle, Squash, Swimming, Volleyball.

Clubs not attending or sending apologies were: Archery, Canoeing, Cricket, Lacrosse, Orienteering, Riding and Skiing. These clubs were fined £5.

Minutes from the last meeting

Minutes from the last meeting in 7thweek MT04 were read out by the President and signed by Alice Beverly of OU Cross Country.

Table Tennis review

The women’s captain of OU Table Tennis, Francesca Parnell read of a summary of their review. The following points were made:

  • The club has approximately 100 members.
  • OU Table Tennis has a Cuppers event every year in which 200 players compete in 65 teams.
  • On the main team they have County and National players, the men play in the BUSA 1st division, women do not.
  • Club was founded in 1922.
  • Current status is 4 Half Blues maximum at captain’s discretion.

The following questions were asked:

QWhy do you not play in BUSA?

ADon’t know hoping to rectify this next year.

QDo you play any other matches?

AYes, Town vs Gown and Varsity.

QWhy is it a vote for restoration?

AStatus was revoked due to non-attendance at 3 meetings in a row and failure to turn up even when put on probation.

A vote was taken Y 22 N 2 A 2 – Review Passed

Yachting review

The women’s captain of OU Yachting, Rosemary Brearly, read out a summary of their review. The following points were made:

  • The VM is “team racing” which means that there are 3 boats with 2 people per boat.
  • Teams have to use the rules of sailing to slow other boats down and gain 1st place.
  • Ladies can compete on Ladies and mixed teams.
  • The blues given on the Men’s committee are in addition to the 6 awards on the women’s committee.
  • There have been 87 men’s VMs and 10 women’s VMs.
  • In the past we have won BUSA and come 2nd over the past two years. We also got the semi-finals of an event in Newcastle and came 6th in the Ladies nationals which were both against non-student teams.
  • In Cuppers 2004 we had to restrict numbers to 20 teams.
  • Yachting involves a lot of athletic ability including strength, speed, reaction, teamwork, need to keep the boat flat in windy conditions.
  • Club was established in 1884.

The following questions were asked:

QThe club gives out 6 ladies Blues and 5 men’s Blues, could someone get two Blues?

ANo as often the teams compete at the same time.

A vote was taken Y 24 N 0 A 0 – Review Passed

Waterpolo status change

The women’s captain of OU Water Polo, Paula Croxson read out a status change proposal, which has come about due to the new Rosenblatt Pool which has meant lots more people want to play water polo now. Rather then training from scratch now we can select people from a squad.

In our Half Blue Status there is no BUSA requirement as we are in tiered system.

  • Propose status change to 7 discretionary Full Blues should the team fulfil both criteria:
  1. Win the Varsity Match
  2. Reach the final of BUSA
  • Water polo have always played in the top tier of BUSA and have already reached the semi-finals.
  • Large Cuppers event this year with 100s of players.
  • Athletic ability required – long match, ball handling (one hand) skills, swim most of the pool playing attack and defence. Club has been running for a long time.
  • Water polo fulfil all the Blues criteria but we don’t want to be a Full Blue sport as such. Discretionary Full Blue would be just for starting 7.
  • Cambridge men did this once.

The following questions were asked:

QHow many women’s teams enter BUSA?

AIn the top tier = 12, bottom tier = 60.

QWould the total number of blues stay the same?

AYes, the full Blues will be upgrades.

A vote was taken Y 19 N 0 A 4 – Review Passed

Netball review

The women’s captain of OU Netball, Geraldine Lynch read of a summary of their review. The following points were made:

  • The club has trials in MT where they pick 25 from 60. Re-trials are in January when all current team members have to try again too.
  • OUNC has been in the top division of BUSA since 1995, currently mid-table. The club also plays friendly matches against local clubs.
  • Train 6 times a week, and players must attend every single session unless seriously ill. If injured you must come down and watch.
  • We would like to bring the criteria in line with men’s hockey and football to: “10 awards at the captain’s discretion”.
  • High degree of athletic ability involved, aerobic and anaerobic fitness during the 60 min match.

The following questions were asked:

QWhy do you want to remove the BUSA requirement?

AThere are 285 teams in BUSA and getting to the L16 is too tough, last season 2003/4 we did not get blues as we lost VM and failed BUSA requirement. The team were young and inexperienced playing at CountyLevel. Cambridge have no BUSA requirement.

The sports Fed president and the Director of Sport expressed concern about removing the BUSA requirement. They admitted that there was a problem with the men’s criteria, and that “automatic blues” are a bad idea.

APlaying in the L16 of BUSA means competing against specific sports institutes such as BATH and UWIC.

QCould you keep the same criteria for starting 7 and make it easier for the other 3?

ANo all 10 people are just as important.

QCould you relax BUSA requirement?

AIf the club was to slip into the 2A league we shouldn’t get full blues.

QCould you change your status to keep your position in League 1A so change to: “10 Awards at captain’s discretion if win VM and/or maintain position in 1A or higher”

A vote was taken Y 20 N 0 A 3 – Review Passed

Elections

At the next meeting we will be electing the new Secretary and President, please tell us if you want to do this.

Women’s Blues Regalia

Georgie and Mark had a meeting with Walters about getting some more blues regalia. They still do scarves but they are not very well advertised. Secretary agreed to get more information on them and put it on the website.

Residency Requirements

Jon Roycroft asked for the residency requirements to be clarified on the website. The Secretary agreed to do this. Jon suggested that you exchange Varsity squads early to check out eligibility.