Georgia Spry, Cardiff University's VP Sports and AU President, is not only at the forefront of shaping the university’s sports community but also a trailblazer for women in leadership. In this exclusive interview, Georgia shares her journey, the challenges she faced, and her bold vision for the future of Cardiff sports.
What are your key responsibilities at Cardiff Students’ Union, and how do you balance the administrative and community aspects of your role?
As one of seven sabbatical officers in the Students’ Union we are responsible for supporting the best interests of students and campaigning and lobbying for positive change to make the University experience for students in Cardiff as best as it can be. Each of us have our own manifesto of aims that we want to achieve while we’re in post. A few of mine are to continue to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in sports, push for better and improved sports facilities and continue to promote wellbeing and support mental health in sport. Balancing the administrative and community aspects of the role is not an easy task but I make sure to plan my time effectively and look to the amazing staff around me for support. One of my favourite things to do is seeing our sports clubs in action, whether that’s heading out on a Wednesday and watching our teams play in BUCS or popping by a training session/event to chat and show my support. I make sure I have time in my schedule to do this each week.
What initially sparked your interest in sports, and how has that passion evolved over the years?
I’ve been involved in sports since I was a child and my parents put me into swimming and gymnastics lessons. They let me try all sorts of different sports growing up and I attended as many after school clubs as I could so that I could try them all! The one that stuck was martial arts. I loved the physical and mental challenge of it, how strong it made me and how happy I was when I was training with my family and friends. I started when I was 10 and was competing by the age of 12, instructing by 16 and leading my own classes by 18. I have been able to keep pushing myself to get better and help others improve and I love it. Sports isn’t just great to win medals, but to create friendships, develop self-awareness and confidence and support mental health.
Being a woman in a leadership position within sports, have you encountered any particular challenges or barriers, and how have you addressed them?
There are still many problems in sports, particularly barriers for girls and women which CUTV are creating a documentary about that will feature Cardiff University Women’s Football Club and the AU. Our Mental Health Officer and the CUTV Sports Director, Grace, is directing it! During my time as VP Sports I have consistently championed the importance of sports and how it should be accessible to everyone. Last year I ran the Disability Sport campaign, a Rainbow Laces campaign (LGBTQ+) and supported the Black History Month Campaign and I plan to do that again this year. Some of the challenges we are currently facing and talking to the University about funding in sports and the University not seeing the importance of sports. The university sport facilities at Talybont need improvement and expansion to facilitate the high demand of sports activity we are seeing. Sports is so important for physical and mental health yet they don’t have capacity for all our students to take part. Not only that, compulsory lectures are now being scheduled on Wednesday afternoons, leaving students to decide whether they want to play their sports fixture and have it affect their grades or attend their lecture and let their teams down. It’s not good enough. One of the projects I’m working on this year is the weekly Sports Spotlight where I aim to highlight the amazing sports we have here at Cardiff and there will be a large presence of female members.
What are your main goals for Cardiff University’s sports community during your tenure?
I want all students to have a positive and amazing experience while participating in sports. To do this I aim to start the process for culture change in sports by moving away from the strong drinking culture, eliteness and toxic masculinity that is often seen. Already this year I have seen clubs posting about wellbeing and physical and mental health which is promising for the year ahead. The Let’s Talk Consent campaign is already live and educating students on sexual violence and how to be an active bystander and I will be running more projects focusing on sober socials and athlete wellbeing throughout the year. I want sports to be seen as a priority at University and mental health in sports taken seriously.
Looking ahead, do you have any aspirations for further involvement in sports or other leadership roles?
At the moment I’m not sure what I want to do career wise but I think that’s pretty common for most students leaving University. I know that I love sports and being in leadership/management roles so I’m definitely keen to stay involved in sports leadership roles. I think I’ll let those guide me and end up somewhere where I can make a positive impact on those around me.