The newly elected Sports Secretary, Surakshit Soni, has a lot on his plate. He, along with the Sports Finance Council, is tasked with managing the funds for all sports activities, including BOSM. The Sports budget was slashed in half last year, much to the dismay of the sports teams. Teams from Pilani were unable to partake in the Inter-BITS sports tournament and participation in outstation tournaments was restricted. Furthermore, team jerseys and equipment arrived far too late into the academic year. Surakshit has proposed a variety of changes to address these issues.

Surakshit plans on providing team inventory well in advance so that unforeseen delays will not affect teams’ practice schedules. “I’ve observed iBOSM over the years; it’s not structured very well and has become an informal event. I intend on getting the hostel Sports Secretaries more involved in the organization of the event so that it is not just three or four people’s responsibility. Also due to popular demand, Kabaddi and Ultimate Frisbee have been added to the pool of sports. Scheduling was haphazard last year but with proper foresight, it should not be a problem this time around.” Since the sports budget has approximately remained the same as last year’s, he will be procuring revenue from other sources. All teams are guaranteed to go on at least one completely funded outstation tournament. Another partially funded tournament is on the cards too.

Due to lack of financial assistance from the institute, coupled with increasing airfare, the contingent from Pilani did not participate in the Inter-BITS tournament that took place at Hyderabad this year. As a result, BITS Hyderabad has threatened to withdraw from next year’s tournament which is supposed to be held in Pilani.

In the last iteration of BOSM, participation took a hit due to problems with registration. Moreover, DVM’s exit from BOSM has left a hole that Coding Club needs to fill. To boost participation numbers, Surakshit is searching for a popular speaker to address the crowd at the inauguration ceremony and has already informed The Department of Publication and Correspondence (PCr) of the tentative date for BOSM (September 20th), giving them sufficient time to publicize the fest. “To streamline the registration process, RFID cards will be issued to outstation participants. This will also improve transparency. I hope all these changes will reinvigorate the sports culture on campus”.