Para-Swimming Blue Status Motion Passed

Christy Sadler and Emily Manock have recently succeeded in passing a motion for a Para-Blues status, following the success of the Para-Varsity event as a part of the 2020 Varsity Swimming Match.  The decision was reached after a Blues Committee meeting on the 11th of December last year, with a unanimous outcome of 35 votes in favour and 0 votes against or abstaining.

The project came about as part of both swimmers’ desire for greater inclusion across Oxford sport. Both Christy and Emily have held positions on the Sports Federation Executive Committee, and Christy worked with Emily both before, and after she competed in her first Varsity competition to make the OUSC more inclusive of swimmers with disabilities.

The two worked closely with the OUAC, following their successful implementation of a Para-Blues status after Polly Maton partook in the BUCS athletics competition with great success. The proposal faced several hurdles when working out the best and fairest possible solution for all athletes.

Setting the Full Blue status at a national standard seemed fair, as it represented the prestige of obtaining a Blue. However, when it came to working out a Half Blue status, things became more difficult. Since swimming matches had been cancelled due to the pandemic, finding any relevant times to base the policy on was difficult. Such was why the swimmers decided against regional times to work out the Half Blue Times. Instead, they used a time equivalent to 75% of the points needed for a national time.

This information then had to be compiled into the format of a Blues Committee proposal, so that it could be passed by the Blues Committee and implemented in all future Varsity competitions. It explained the background of Para-swimming and swimming at Oxford before moving on to describing the recent success of the Para-Varsity event. After a long Zoom call, Emily and Christy waited for the news of their proposal and were thrilled to hear it had passed.

By Emily Manock