Coming in to freshers week this year, I told myself that I would get involved in loads of taster sessions, and try as many new sports as possible. I failed pretty miserably- got over to a few sports I was comfortable with playing, went to a couple that I’d never played before, and that was it. Coming along to a session where I had no experience of the sport, and nobody that I knew was a pretty daunting prospect. Soon enough, I was playing, and chatting, and I left each session so thankful that I had gone along, but that first step is really significant, and I know I'm not alone in my experience!
Not much needs to be said around the benefits of getting involved with sport at uni. I’m sure everyone knows by now- improved physical health, concentration, stress relief, and a community to name a few….
So what stops us getting involved in sport at uni?
Financial barriers and time commitments are areas that we’ve been working on quite a lot, with significant subsidies to sporting memberships and plenty of free social sport. However, the emotional commitment is a huge barrier that’s often missed. Not having any mates at a session with you, lack of experience with the sport, joining late- any of these factors will (and do!) make the prospect of stepping into a session hugely daunting!
So what have we been doing to reduce the commitment of initial involvement?
Development pathways
Ever been to a restaurant with a big menu and had no idea what to order? With 49 sports clubs, trying to get into a sport at Bath can be a little like that...
Semester 1 saw two initiatives helping to pair people up with sports, in a recreational and competitive capacity! They were low time, zero financial and importantly, low emotional commitment, allowing mates with different sporting interests to come along together, and for participants to meet club members and get a foot in the door, making that first session less daunting!
Speed dating for sport involved two completely recreational (indoor and outdoor) 2 hour sessions split into 20-minute mini-sessions of different recreational sports. We chose clubs with a substantial recreational provision, so people could get involved after the event too. This saw around 100 people (including yours truly) get involved in these super fun, relaxed sessions. We had some great feedback on the events (despite the weather at the outdoor session) and several awesome stories of people coming along to club sessions and buying memberships for these incredible recreational sports!
Talent ID went down the more competitive (and sciencey) route, running hour-and-a-half long testing sessions to determine what sport each participant is most physically suited to and then signpost them to the clubs! The clubs selected all have a development pathway to gradually get the participants involved with competitive sport over their time at uni. After the success of this year’s testing, we are looking to get another session in for next semester!
Keep your eyes peeled for our next sessions!
Club awareness
Since getting involved in Volleyball at college, I’d not really ventured outside of my sporting comfort zone. I had a sport, and community that I was familiar with. On reflection, it’s pretty easy to forget starting out, and how that felt.
In early October, at our first committee night, we discussed the various barriers to involvement at every level of the journey, from coming along to your first session, to becoming a member, all the way to becoming fully integrated in club life. We then discussed the ways in which these barriers can be reduced within an individual and club capacity.
I’m sure it comes as no surprise that a few of the key issues raised were around perceptions of sports being ‘cliquey’, elitist and alcohol-orientated, but it was good to see clubs keen to shake these stereotypes, creating action plans to combat this and become as welcoming as possible!
Barriers to engagement can be sport-specific, so encouraging our clubs to think about their demographics relative to that of the university can help clubs to understand where barriers to participation may exist. With over half of the Sports clubs applying for this year’s Inclusivity award, ensuring more proactive, genuine engagement with underrepresented groups is high on the agenda of sport in SU Bath! I’m really excited to see what initiatives are put in place by clubs to reduce the barriers for underrepresented groups in sport!
Be that person!
This is just a snippet of what’s being done, and I’m so thankful that the majority of our committees have been so engaged with this topic. However, it shouldn’t stop with them! Sometimes the simple act of chatting to someone new at a session can be the most effective way of making someone feel part of the sporting community. So, keep your eyes peeled, and be aware of how much of an impact a simple ‘hi’ at a session can be.
PS. Finding new, fun ways to engage people in sport is pretty tough, so please do feel free to drop me a line if there’s something you’d like to see!