Cormac Power – um for the purposes of everyone listening at home, do you just wanna introduce yourself
Daniel Kuzich – Yep, so my name is Daniel Kuzich, at the moment, I’m ECOMS Sports Director, ah the UWA Futsals Division One Manager, and the Interfaculty Football Association Deputy Director. And, I’m studying a Bachelor of Commerce Majoring in Accounting and Business Law.
CP – Cool, and what year are you in?
DK – Ah second year.
CP – Second year, cool, and just for the purposes of disclosure, we’ve been asking everyone this, are you the member of any political party?
DK – No, none at all.
CP – Sounds good. Awesome, so, do you just wanna sorta give us an idea of what brought you to this position, kind what you’re involvement has been at the uni, with the Guild and kinda why you would make this move to run for sports rep?
DK – Yep, so, um, coming into ECOMS was my first taste of ah an authoritative position in a university society and I really enjoyed it and I believe I’ve been performing exceptionally well given what my um committee has been appraising for, but um, no, and really delivering great out comes. And on that note, why I’m running for Guild as sports rep, really looking into the future, obviously, I can’t be ECOMS Sports Rep forever, and really seems just like the next logical step to be delivering outcomes and outputs on a wider scale to all students, not just commerce students.
CP – Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I guess in terms of sorta your involvement in guild, what do you see as sorta the big issues in sorta what our sports sort of environment is right now, what kind of things do you really want to push that you see aren’t being done right now that you’d really like to push?
DK – yeah, so things that I really want to push that aren’t being implemented, to the best extent they could be at the moment, um, is, engagement across all aspects um not just physical sports, not just social sports, but even break into new areas such as e-sports, that sorta thing. Um, and, I guess really delivering things that aren’t really happening at the moment such as tournaments run by the Guild, um you know, pushing for things like 24/7 gym, um just really working closer with UWA Sport in making the services being provided a lot more better effective and efficient and also providing new services that cater to all students.
CP – What kind of hours does the gym have at the moment?
DK – Weekdays is closed at 11 and opens at 6, and weekends, ah opens at 8 and closes at 8
CP – Sure, and you guys want to make sure that’s 24 hours the whole time?
DK – Yep, just like most local Perth gyms and worldwide.
CP – Most places are 24 hours absolutely. Um one of the things that you mentioned in your policy was increasing accessibility in sports and getting people involved, what do you think needs to be done for people who don’t engage with faculty sport, who don’t think it’s for them, what do you plan to do to sort of get those people involved and make those things more accessible?
DK – Yep, so in terms of interfaculty sports, um, really increasing engagement through, from the get go introducing an introduction to interface sports event during Orientation week. There has never been that sort of event run in the past, we did do it this year at the very start, not with the help of the Guild, but um just with sports rep sort of loosely collaborating um from UEC, BPHil, ECOMS, Arts Union and Science Union, um, and it was actually really successful at getting freshers a taste of what interface is like. Literally just free sports two hours every Wednesday, you know, build some rivalry, build connections, make friends, get fit, that sort of thing, um and, in that engagement as well aspect for interfac sports, um, making sure that the sports reps from each faculty have appropriate training and um that their appropriately qualified to be a sports rep coz it’s not the simplest job in the world, I mean it is, but again, you’ve gotta be consistent to make sure the whole competition works, because there is sometimes where faculties don’t have teams and then it doesn’t make it as good for everyone else, because the competition decreases and um…
CP – What are the skills you see as being key for sports rep, if that’s one of them, what other other stuff do you think is important?
DK – Just really effective engagement with your committee and with your faculty. Um so what we’ve looked to provide is ah pretty much like a document um and like a bolstering meeting at the start of the year, possibly even subsequent meeting throughout the year. To see how they’re going with engagement with faculty, numbers of players and that sort of thing, some faculties have really struggled throughout the year, um, not going to name any names but um…yeah, it’s just not great for them obviously but it is really a great opportunity for students to get involved for free, and to get fit and make friends as well so
CP – One of the things that you guys have mentioned and I know that Launch has mentioned it, sort of moving onto e-sports, what was sorta the drive getting more engagement with e-sports, and I guess where do you think it can be expanded? What kinda stuff do you envision happening in that community?
DK – Yeah, so, e-sports ah is gaining a lot of traction world wide, has been for a little while now. Really the areas we’d push for, I guess to build greater exposure from the beginning is hosting an e-sports tournament from the get go. I think that’s set a great precedent for what the sorta scene consists of, and that could be fortnight, or a week, big games that are very accessible, not necessarily any cost barriers there that sort of thing. I see it as a great opportunity for people who may not be as physically inclined to get engaged with sports to still get in there and have a really mental capacity sort of challenge for them, um in that regard
CP – to have a bit of a go, yeah right, absolutely. And what are the other things that you kinda brought up was creating sorta subsidies for uni games and things like that, can you explain what your experience with uni games has been? I know some people have had varying experiences of of uni games, some people take it very seriously other people see it as a toxic thing, an excuse to get drunk, have a good time on the Gold Coast, obviously been some negative issues there. I guess like what do you see uni games culture being like, how can it be improved and why do you think these subsidies are important?
DK – So the culture at the moment and in previous years has been that sort of toxic get pissed on the Gold Coast. But I am going after the elections to Gold Coast for futsal and what we’ve been told is that there have been major reforms in that regard to try and make it more professional and ah really provide great empowerment for students to get involved with sport at a national level, and represent their sport on a national level. In terms of my initiatives for the subsidies, um, fundraising scheme in that we would have um like a whole schedule of events set up ready to go um you know, sort of the planning and everything for that pretty much provided for uni games teams probably a year in advance so they can consistently build up their funds from those events.
CP – So it’d be like sports department running events for a pool of subsidies that kind of thing?
DK – The sports department and the Guild would work together, UWA Sport and Guild would work together to create those plans, but the students in the teams would actually run the events. So they would also get that additional experience in sort of being in a position of authority and also have an active contribution to their teams fundraising. Um and then also offering potentially payment plans as well, so that they don’t have to pay the upfront $500, $600 costs
CP – Kind of do it over a couple of weeks, couple of months
DK – Yeah
CP – Sounds really cool man. I guess you obviously, one of the great things about running for the Sports Department is that it’s kind of removed from the politics and from the craziness of the Guild, for your average student out there who is just kinda concerned about how their faculty sport is going and that kinda thing and doesn’t particularly care about all the other stuff going on, why should they make some time to go down to the booths and to vote for yourself, vote for Star, what’s the takeaway message?
DK – Well sports is a great compliment to anyone and everyone um no matter what you’re study, like I study commerce but still play tonnes of sport, physical activities and mental activities throughout my time always, it’s just integral for pretty much human development and human unity, I’ve made so many friends through sport and really, why they should come down and vote for me, vote for Star….me personally, I have shown my relentlessness in achieving my goals at ECOMS um you know, getting us into interfaculty football league, top of the ladder now, still top of the ladder, getting us brand new kits for inter-fac sports and inter faculty football, um, reforming the whole sub culture, developing a consistent team, I’m looking to push my capacity into the role of Guild Sports rep, um to really deliver on what my goals and initiatives are. Why they should vote Star, the team I’ve worked with have been absolutely fantastic, I can’t speak highly enough of them, they are really hard working and really dedicated to the goal and to the vision and it’s just amazing
CP – Cool, Dan, thank you very much for your time.
DK – Thank you.