Our Twitter updates keep a growing number of sports fans up to date with the latest scores and goings on within University Sport and links into our well-established Facebook page. We've continued to develop our audio offerings on our Soundcloud page, interviewing players and coaches to highlight their successes.
One of the projects that I've been most excited about this year has been the redevelopment of the University Sport website. With Leeds Met finishing third in the BUCS overall tables for the 2008/9 season, it was clear that the website was in need of a redesign in order to showcase our successes and better represent our stature at the pinnacle of British university sporting achievements.
The new site www.leedsmet.ac.uk/sport has been launched this week and I'm really pleased with the look and feel of the new design. Thanks and doffing of hats must go to, Andrew Ramsden, Duncan Worth, Glenn Herbert and Pete Butler who have done a sterling job in designing and putting it together and putting up with my constant prodding, questioning and hassling for the last six months! The new navigation means that (hopefully) you'll be able to visit each sports club's information with ease, using the fancy icon scroller Pete & Andrew designed. The images that Vicky from Icon took for the site headers are awesome as well and add a real wow factor to the user experience.
Since September 2009 I've been working with the University's excellent video production team to produce a weekly sports video. In the seven episodes since its inception, Carnegie Sports Weekly has registered over 11,000 hits on Leeds Met's Youtube channel which I'm absolutely chuffed with. We've covered a variety of sports from hockey to volleyball, football and boxing and I've relished the opportunity to get in front of camera and make a fool out of myself! It's only when you work with a camera pointing in your face and a script that you can't remember, that you realise the skill and talent that a TV presenter must possess. Without this natural talent, I've had to make use of the camera technicians' patience and quite a few takes to get it right (well over 20 is the norm!)
Last week though, my best John Motson commentary skills were put to the test as we trialled a new project and a first for University sporting action...a live broadcast!
Following the success of our students' involvement with the Northern Ballet Theatre's production of Peter Pan before Christmas, we decided to let them loose on our sports teams. Netball provided an ideal platform to trial this new coverage and a crunch match against arch rivals Loughborough to see who finished at the top of the league was too good an opportunity to miss.
We duly managed to rope in a number of students to film, direct and produce the footage and ex-England international Tracey Neville kindly agreed to commentate on the game. I was expecting to front the coverage as usual, but in the end managed to get promoted to the dubious privilege of being the second commentator for the game!
Despite a real lack of technical knowledge of the game, (despite a few sneaky games a lifetime ago at school) Tracey put me at ease and we had an absolute ball in the end. I soon got used to the swing of the match and for the first time was able to appreciate the various nuances of netball and the skill and speed at which the elite game is played.
The four 15 minute quarters flew by and the game had a dramatic climax as Leeds Met were able to hold off a Loughborough comeback and win the game by a point! I was really proud of everyone who was involved in the project and the students did a fantastic job aided by our incredibly capable in-house video production team. I'm really looking forward to continuing our live coverage and have definitely got the bug, so Motson you better watch out!
Well I'll finish my ramblings and leave you in peace, but on a final note there are two issues dominating office politics at present. One is the new office pet, Palaquin who has received a mixed reaction from colleagues and the other is the seeming obsession with the American television series Glee which also has completely divided opinion. Spare a thought for us as we grapple with these two heavyweight issues...
Mark
