Campus Opportunities: Joining a New Sport

Outside of classes and work, there are so many opportunities available to students on campus and in the surrounding area. In this blog, I’ll be discussing joining a new sport, and how the experience has shaped this year at Warwick for me.

I first tried out dodgeball in my second year at Warwick. It was the start of a new academic year in Autumn 2020, and following the confinement of covid lockdowns I was desperate to do something active. I’m not sure what drew me to dodgeball. Perhaps it just stood out as an unusual sport but nonetheless something I’d enjoyed playing at school. Either way, I attended a few training sessions and was just starting to get to know the club when the November 2020 lockdowns hit and I largely lost contact for the next year.

Re-entering Warwick in Autumn 2022 following my year abroad I was searching for opportunities that would make me feel connected to campus life. Now that many of my friends on my course had graduated, I wanted to meet new people across different years and degrees who I could plant roots with for my final year of undergrad. So I ended up back at a dodgeball taster session in Week 1, spotted a few vaguely familiar faces from two years before, and once I had my class schedule confirmed, I made a resolution to commit to the club, to really try it out and give it a go. At first, it was intimidating to be playing a new sport with a whole bunch of new people. I felt awkward when I didn’t know the rules of the game or couldn’t remember someone’s name. But luckily, I had made a resolution to stick to it, and in the end I struck gold. While I am no dodgeball pro, I’ve certainly improved, and I feel comfortable about my health and fitness for the first time without worrying if I am exercising too little, eating too much, or even simply not meant to play sport. The people are what make a sport special though, and I’ve been lucky that my sport, like all played at Warwick, put inclusivity and community first. We play to win, but we also play for fun, and to see our friends, and we welcome any interested students. Having something to do on campus other than studying has definitely increased my motivation to make the most of the university grounds and the many resources available to Warwick students – the sports and wellness hub, the SU, the taster sessions put on by sports clubs. Most importantly, I’ve learned that balancing work with fun and exercise is the best recipe for success. So, to summarise, if you’ve ever considered that joining university or starting a new year of your degree might be the perfect time to try out a new sport, I couldn’t recommend it more. It might be a cliché, but there’s always more to discover at Warwick.