Let women lead uni comp
Bond pushes for female focus on new initiative
BOND University executive director of sport Garry Nucifora believes a push to launch university-driven elite national sports competitions should focus on women.
Nucifora feels the time is right to capitalise on the momentum of the Commonwealth Games and pointed to last year’s inaugural Women’s University Sevens Series as proof of the concept’s merit.
“Apart from the Australian University Games (now University Nationals) there is no national competition structure,” he said.
“While the Nationals are now looking to have more of a competitive edge with two divisions, it’s still a one-off event.
“National sporting organisations (NSOs) are already starting to reach out to universities because they have the educational opportunities they value for their student competitors.
“So the idea would be to select some of those universities that are already in touch with NSOs and find which core four or five sports could service a national women’s universitylevel competition.
“The competition would probably only need to involve six to eight universities. The model should then be incorporated with the NSOs’ pathways and selection processes.”
Nucifora suggested swimming and netball as leading contenders for inclusion and added that the concept should centre around women’s sports.
“There’s a general observation that there is a far greater embracing of the edu-sports concept with women, compared to men,” he said.
“Australia may well have some of the best sporting women in the world. Perhaps the best, anywhere.”
The concept has the support of Olympic champion and Bond medicine student Melanie Wright, who says regular competition sharpens athletes for international events.
“The number of student athletes at the Rio Olympics crept over 50 per cent but they won a higher percentage of the medals,” she said.
“I talk from a swimming background but any time you can get an elite-level competition where you are up against the best in the country, it’s a good thing … that’s what prepares you for something like the Olympics.”
Nucifora and Wright’s comments follow UniSport Australia chief executive Don Knapp flagging the idea, but with sports popular across both men and women.