University Airsoft Societies??

[skarra333]

I've been doing some googling, and one thing I'm finding is that formal University Airsoft Societies seem to be a very rare thing, and I'm wondering why...? I find it especially interesting given the sheer volume of younger student-type players out there, some of whom will no doubt be at Uni, and the supposed continuing expansion of the sport...

Am I wrong? Are there more out there than I think?

If I'm right, why do you think they aren't put there or growing in number?

What benefits might there be for the sport as a whole for there to be some sort of increased organisation of players into them?

Any thoughts?

 

[DX115FALCON]

I tried to set one up at RGU earlier this academic year. The university were against it due to the "violent nature of the sport". Still, a few of my mates and I meet up to go airsofting

 

[SeniorSpaz87]

I plan on doing something like this at uni next year

 

[BBrotherwood]

Uni I will be going to does not allow RIFs in accommodation which is a pita. I know there is a paintball society but I doubt there is an airsoft one.

 

[Russe11]

Most universities will have a set of rules for setting up sports clubs. In most cases it will just be a case of getting enough signatures of potential members.

A lot of university accommodation will have rules about keeping RIF's. If however they are kept in a case, the only way anyone will know is if they look inside your belongings. Once you have an airsoft club set up, you can ask for help from the Students Union or Sports association with getting rules changed or getting a safe location to store stuff.

 

[NickM]

What is the difference between a paintball society (many uni's have them) and airsoft? The answer is very little, once the uni folk are aware of the sport. It should be pretty easy to get it through.

Most uni's student union just require enough people to be interested to set up the society. The only one I know of that was outright refused was a uni lot that wanted to start a drinking club. Exactly as it sounds, use the start up money to buy a ton of booze and have a huge party on the unions money. Unsurprisingly they binned that one pretty quick. As far as I know they tried again and got it through as something else.

 

[Zak Da Mack]

I was looking at going to Sussex, but they don't have an airsoft society maybe I could set one up if I find people who are interested.

uni of Portsmouth has one. They are allowed RIFs on campus if they join the society. I think they have a lockup they can keep all their stuff in

 

[BBrotherwood]

Ah, I found the union list, seems Aberystwyth does have an airsoft society after all.

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

I set one up when I was at Uni because there wasn't one there yet.

I just had to get evidence at least 12 people were interested, fill some committee positions and then present how it'd all work, as well as doing a risk assessment.

The hard part was finding the people willing to fill the committee positions when they didn't know me lol. I ended up persuading some to just sign the form to say they'd be X position, just to get it all ratified, but promised them I'd just do everything myself.

So I ended up running everything solo for the first year.

3/4 years on and it's doing really well.

 

[jeffery7466]

Glad it worked out for you.

My uni used to have one apparently, but got dissolved a few years before I joined. My friend at uni co-founded a paintball society but that lasted one year I think and got dissolved as well.

The problem with this type of society is that it is very hard to offer anything extra, which is needed for a society's existence. There isn't much interest in airsoft in general anyway, so it is difficult to meet member subscription targets, and for all clubs and societies, interest and attendance drops dramatically as the year goes on due to academic commitments. This is especially true for non-commitment based clubs/socs, whereas for orchestras, rugby, netball etc, members must attend regular sessions to retain their positions.

It is also difficult to request financial support from the union for, say, subsidised skirmishing fees, as there is low interest in the first place. Airsofting is also a relatively expensive hobby, which doesn't go well with students.

Edit: It probably varies a lot between universities.