Greetings existing SWA members, XSWA and those who are new to the SWA world! I am your new president. I've windsurfed since I was 10, and my skills do not reflect that. 5 years ago I joined the SWA as a fresher and never looked back; it was by far the best community I could have found myself in. I’m very excited to make my contribution to an organisation that’s just so darned amazing!
We get it, you’re trying to cling onto your student years. But tell us more about yourself!
Excellent question. With 2 years on Birmingham University Windsurf Club (the real BUWC) committee and a year on SWA committee, I have planned almost everything possible through the medium of spreadsheets. This turns out to be as useful as it is boring to everyone else.
As Beginners’ Rep for Brum I didn’t do very much, it was an easy job and the President and VP were pretty on top of everything. Taking over as Vice President and facilitating by a nice boring summer internship, I got a £5k Sport England grant, which was nice. I then pitched for and won Up the Brum II: Res-erection (not sorry for the title). Boy that was a lot of work! Spreadsheets everywhere.
Nearing the end of my physics masters and trying to avoid a future of working with responsible adults, I joined SWA committee and got the role of convincing said adults that they should Sponsor us! I was delighted by how lovely our current sponsors are, and how polite rejection emails can be.
Before getting a real job, I gave a season a shot and popped over to Greece to work for Mark Warner. There they became a sponsor of AK and thus the Mark Warner Beginner Beach came to be. It’s like a normal beginner beach but reminds you that you’re not in the Med but a cold lake in England and that if you get your act together they might just pay you to not get brain freeze when you fall in. Again.
After 4 months of resembling a tomato at the end of each day (zinc sunblock for the win!), I moved to London and offered to help Imperial Windsurf Club run Soggy Cockney II: Return of Big Jon.
With a disposition for running event sequels, I was given the opportunity to run Nationals, Baylord II: Gratuitous Seaquels, alongside Kai Davies from Colwyn Bay (who actually did all the hard work). With Adam going off to actually do his job instead of pretending to whilst doing SWA stuff I saw my opportunity to further relive my student days, as well as pass on my passion for the student windsurf scene, by becoming the new SWA President.
So you’re a suitably qualified nerd. What are you going to do this year?
To start, thanks to the hard work from our Head of Media Luke Storry, we are shifting Presidents’ Training to Bristol. We're still deciding on a fancy dress theme; I'm trying to figure out what "wavy" means. This year your club committees (or you if you are said committee) can be even more clued up, enthusiastic and well acquainted with each other than ever.
And to one up that party, AK Event Coordinator Joel Russel has orchestrated Aussie Kiss moving to South Wales! It’s going to be cheaper, bigger and Storm Brian is not invited.
And after that I’ll continue to rely on useful people to make me look good! (Successful leadership is all about delegation right?)