BWL’s proposal moves to implementation stage of BUCS sport review’s second cycle

Cycle Two of the Sport Review process opened in April and at last week’s BUCS Winter Seminar an announcement shared that five proposals have been invited to advance to the implementation stage of the process.

Following member-wide consultation throughout November, the proposals will now transition into the final stage. The proposals are a mix of changes to existing BUCS competition structures, as well bids to include new sports within the BUCS competition programme.

Full details related to each proposal can be found on the BUCS website. The five proposals progressing to implementation are

Baseball and Softball: to introduce both baseball and softball into the BUCS Competition programme.

Dodgeball: to introduce dodgeball into the BUCS Competition programme.

Golf: to create two new Premier leagues in the top tier of BUCS Golf.

Weightlifting: to introduce Olympic Weightlifting and Paralympic Powerlifting into the BUCS Competition programme.

Wheelchair Basketball: to introduce Wheelchair Basketball into the BUCS Competition programme.

The consultation stage allowed sports to demonstrate the rationale behind each proposed change. The implementation stage will now test the feasibility of each proposal with those institutions and student-athletes directly impacted. Progress updates will be provided to BUCS National Competitions Group throughout 2020.

The timeline associated to implementation will be individual to each proposal and dependant on discussions between BUCS and the proposers. The proposals which are successful in the implementation stage may see changes for the 2020-21 season.

There were two additional proposals which also progressed to the consultation stage of Cycle Two, theses were both related to changes within BUCS Rugby League. The men’s proposal has been invited to host further consultation prior to a decision being made to move the proposal to implementation. Whilst the women’s proposal will be asked to continue its development outside of the process and re-engage with Cycle Three.

Commenting on the outcome of Cycle Two, BUCS Director of Delivery Jenny Morris said:

‘It is exciting to see the Sport Review process continue to evolve and provide such a fantastic opportunity for sports to improve their offer within Higher Education. I’d like to thank all the proposers for their hard work and commitment in engaging with the process. A number of the proposals have been in development for over 18 months, so it was brilliant to see institutions provide such valuable feedback during the consultation phase.’

‘We will now work with proposers, institutions and student-athletes to ensure that the proposals continue to progress. We look forward to seeing what changes may be possible for next season.’