Sports impact

Ah – the age-old question: Do I have to be sporty to study at Loughborough? The short answer is, No! I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as sporty. Of course, there is no denying that sport has a significant presence here at Loughborough, but as someone who isn’t that sporty, I found that its less of the actual sports and more the attitude towards sport that rubs off on you. It is hard not to get inspired by the myriad of Olympic athletes that train here, or your flatmate who gets up on Wednesdays at the crack of dawn because they love what they do. People’s passion for their craft and eagerness to get involved can be infectious, I simply decided to take this attitude and apply it to other aspects of my life.

What else is there to do?

So, you don’t want to play a sport –what else are you going to do with your time? Firstly, I’d recommend checking out the Students’ Union website and have a scroll through everything they have on offer! The Union is split up into seven sections: Enterprise, Sport, RAG (Raising and Giving), Action (Volunteering), Welfare & Diversity, Media, and Societies. Each with its own unique identity and community. Beyond LSU, your department also has a committee that will put on social events, welfare events, and anything else they see fit. This is student run and like most things at the Students’ Union, there’s opportunity for both skills building and leadership. The amount of things to get involved in may seem intimidating at first, but we will introduce you to everything during freshers week!

My experience

When I walked into the fresher’s bazaar in October, I think it would be fair to say that I was slightly overwhelmed by the number of organisations I was met with. The room was filled with societies and eager students trying to convince me to join. They had everything from Cook ‘n’ Bake society, to medieval re-enactment society. Whatever you’re interested in, there’s more than likely to be a society for you. Take a look at the societies list here. In my first year I joined LSU SING! – our choir group, Musoc – holding weekly jam sessions and gigs and set up debate society with some friends (if there’s not a club for you, grab 5 mates and you can start it yourself with the help of LSU!) It was amazing to have a place to explore my passion for music in my spare time, and with other like-minded people. In my second year, I was chair of Feminist society, which meant holding a position of leadership that not only looks good on your CV but is such a great learning experience . We held educational events about the different strands of feminism, encouraged activism on campus and created a community of people who would hang out, talk about politics and also just enjoy each other’s company. My second half of second year has to be the most memorable however, as on a whim, I decided to audition for the drama societies (LSU STAGE) adaptation of ‘A Picture of Dorian Grey’ by Oscar Wilde. Surprising myself, I was cast as one of the leads, Basil the painter, and spent the next three months learning lines and bonding with my fellow cast members. I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone by joining stage, but I’ll be forever grateful that I did. I truly believe I have met life-long friends in that group, and we are planning to visit each other after graduation.

So, as you can see, there is an enormous amount of stuff to get involved with outside of sport here at Loughborough, all you have to do is go and seek them out and have the courage to put yourself out there! It is daunting at first, but take a mate with you or reach out to the committee members of the society/organisation that you’re interested beforehand and have a chat before going to an event to make yourself more comfortable. There is life beyond sport at Loughborough! We hope to see you soon. 😊