Mind and sinew

Playing the game is one thing, organising it another matter altogether. Land had been set aside for a recreation oval along with the original University and denominational college grants in 1853. But opposing clubs quickly refused to play cricket there because of the lack of a fence while the colleges declined a request from the cricket club to secure the oval boundaries.

By the 1880s University Council joined sporting groups to tame the area between Tin Alley described in June Senyard’s The Ties That Bind – A History of Sport at the University of Melbourne as “a wild, where weeds and flowers, not to mention scrub and waterholes promiscuous shot.”

Even after the oval was brought up to first-class condition complete with Merri Creek soil for the wicket area, producing, according to foundation curator, Sam Morris, “a batsmen’s wicket”, getting it ready for the transformation to football season was not without its problems.

In 1881 the newly formed football committee asked University Council for financial assistance to improve the ground for the coming season and proposed to “have one hundred sheep to eat the grass and then men to fill up the inequalities”.

Fast forward to 2011 and the oval’s village green perfection has been achieved only through a complete replanting with drought-resistant grass to meet the climatic challenges of the 21st century.

But no less now than in the earliest days of the University have the struggles to provide sporting facilities, teams and competitions for Melbourne’s students from the elite to the recreational been worth the effort and expenditure.

“The benefit that regular physical activity has on the body and mind is well documented,” says Melbourne University Sport (MU Sport) Director Tim Lee.

“MU Sport provides all University community members with a fantastic opportunity to improve their physical and mental wellbeing on a daily basis. The University’s sporting facilities and activities allow people to choose between exercising in a fitness centre, hiring facilities or having a casual game with friends. If that doesn’t motivate people, then there is always the opportunity to join one or more of the thirty-nine sporting, recreational or instructional clubs on offer.”

The breadth of opportunity to take part in sporting activities and the proximity of facilities to University learning, teaching and other activities makes sport central to University life.

“Sporting facilities and clubs add enormous value to the University by enriching the ‘Melbourne Experience’,” Mr Lee says.

“Sport is a large part of Melbourne life in general and an excellent outlet for everyone. Whether you need an escape from your study or work or you’re an alumnus who likes to head back to campus, being involved in sporting clubs and activities is a great way to achieve that.”

Sport at Melbourne is being taken up in record numbers due to the continued support of the University and the hard work and dedication of staff and volunteers to sport.

In the most recent figures for the year ended 2009 a new record of in excess of one million visits from students, staff and alumni was achieved as they participated in a range of sport, fitness and recreation opportunities offered by the University.

5000 students, staff and community joined the Fitness Centre, with over 222,000 individual visits. The University has 39 active sport and recreational clubs with over 5000 members competing in community, regional and international competitions as well as providing a range of instructional activities.

46,216 participants took part in 2317 group fitness classes while there were 52,000 visits to the pool. There were also 6500 individual bed nights at the Ski Lodge at Mt Buller.

MU Sport managed the Collegiate Sports program with 20 separate competitions providing more than 3000 participant opportunities, with 900 students and staff involved over the 36 weeks of the Campus Sport program.

High performing athletes face special challenges to meet both their university requirements and those of their sport. To this end, the University is a signatory to the Australian Sports Commission’s Elite Athlete Friendly University network which as Rod Warnecke, Sport Development Manager and Elite Athlete Contact Officer explains, provides a framework for the flexible provision of study and meeting assessment objectives..

“Our agreement with the Sports Commission recognises the impact of training, competition and the associated travel often required to be an elite athlete, and allows the University to play a role in ensuring many of our sporting champions have the skills and qualifications for their life after sport,” he says.

The University has also developed its own Elite Athlete and Performers Policy to further strengthen its agreement with the Sports Commission, and is one of a few universities in Australia to provide such a policy to its elite student-athletes.

World Champion and Common-wealth Games gold medallist swimmer Marieke Guehrer is one of the University’s elite student-athletes to be supported by the policy. Studying for her Bachelor of Arts, her heavy international travel commitments and time away from campus have been tempered by the support of her lecturers and the ability for her to complete assessment tasks over an extended period.

Beijing Olympic silver medalist rowers James Marburg (JD of Law) and Cameron McKenzie-McHarg (Master of Finance) have also returned to study at the University of Melbourne with the knowledge that they would be supported by the policy. And with this year’s World Rowing Championships in New Zealand falling on the doorstep of semester two exams, both student-athletes were able to represent Australia comfortable with the fact that they could sit their exams at a later time.

And while the University’s Elite Athlete and Performers Policy assisted some 80 elite student-athletes during 2010, the focus now shifts to offers being made to the new intake of students and elite athletes for 2011.

An important component of the policy, the Elite Athlete and Performers Entry Scheme recognises the impact elite performance can have on a student’s year 12 studies. The scheme provides elite student-athletes with consideration for three or fiveß bonus points around their ATAR score depending on their level of performance and potential impact on studies. The University will review applications for student-athletes, many of whom have already represented Australia, in sports ranging from fencing to rowing and ice hockey to volleyball.

With the University’s support, Guehrer, Marburg and McKenzie-McHarg and co will hopefully head to London 2012 with their degrees well under way and their minds set on Olympic gold. And the thousands of club and fitness members, casual users and program participants of MU Sport will be cheering them on with loud voices and a sense of familiarity knowing that they have perhaps shared the University’s facilities with Australia’s newest sporting champions.

As at the beginning so today obtaining funding for maintenance of facilities and for capital works for new and replacement facilities remains critical.

The $2.9 million Boat House project was signed off in late 2009 with work commencing in early 2010. The extension, due to be completed in early 2011, provides increased boat storage areas as well as a new function space and meeting room.

Consultation continued regarding the replacement of the ageing Oval Pavilion located adjacent to the main Oval within the University sports precinct in Parkville.

After much planning and consultation, it was determined that the new Oval Pavilion project required a change in direction in order to more closely meet the needs of all prospective users. A new round of consultations commenced which explored the possibilities of providing two new pavilions in the sports precinct to service, football, cricket, tennis, athletics and hockey.

The University of Melbourne acknowledged outstanding sporting achievements at its annual sports awards presentation on Friday 16 April 2010 held in the Faculty of Architecture’s Prince Phillip Theatre. Sport Blues for outstanding sporting achievement while representing the University in inter-university sporting competition during 2009, were awarded to 109 student-athletes across 22 sports.

Of the 109 Blues, 61 Full Blues and 48 Half Blues were awarded. As a sport, rowing was awarded the most Blues with 20 in total, followed by Australian Rules Football with 10 and Soccer with nine. Badminton and Basketball each were awarded eight Blues.

Community sport is a growing MU Sport focus. Students, staff, alumni and friends of the University were again invited to participate in three community events in 2010 – Bicycle Victoria’s Around the Bay in a Day, the Melbourne Marathon and the Vice-Chancellor’s Cup – the University of Melbourne Golf Day.

At the same time, MU Sport has taken the time to take stock during the three-year period in which the University continued to support sport since the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism and resultant drop in income, and has developed a strategic plan for sport towards 2015. It has consulted broadly with all interested parties to develop a bold vision for the University of Melbourne to be the leading sports university in the country.

“Irrespective of whether the student fee comes back or not, we’ve got to start planning for a bright future,” Mr Lee says.

“We need to have a clear vision which aligns with the University’s capabilities and potential and where the University sees itself going with its Growing Esteem strategy.

“The strategic plan recognises the enormous contribution that sport has made to the University and the people who have been involved and the strength of that area both through its history and the current structure of sport.”

As a consequence the governance structure of sport at the University has been examined and a new model put in place.

“We now have a new streamlined board which includes high profile people such as James Sutherland from Cricket Australia and the board has been a key driver in developing a new vision for sport,” he says.

“Our plan is built around the two key pillars of participation and performance – recognising that participation is about that campus experience in engaging our community in regular physical activity and the benefits that brings; and performance which is at the other end of the pendulum which is about supporting our high performance students and programs and the profile and relationship which that builds between the athlete and the University.”

So whether you are an elite athlete, at competition level, or purely recreational, the message is get involved for what is personally satisfying and part of a great era of sport at Melbourne.

“Universities can be intimidating and sport and fitness break down barriers like no other activities,” Mr Lee says.

“Building on the rich history of sport at Melbourne and the dedication of all those involved currently, the future possibilities are limitless.”

http://www.sports.unimelb.edu.au/