Taking part in a sport is a great to meet new people and develop yourself!

Hi I’m Sofie, a final year undergraduate student studying physical activity, sport and health. I’m originally from a small town in Leicestershire but moved to Sheffield to attend university. I live with three of my course mates, about a five-minute walk to collegiate campus.

Outside of my module classes, I enjoy training as a part of the Hallam swimming team, a BUCS top five university. I train in the pool four mornings a week (5.30am wake ups do get easier, I promise!) and on average each session is 90 minutes long and tailored to helping the team’s performance to peak in time for the competitions throughout the academic year. The main competitions we work towards throughout the year are BUCS short course in November, BUCS nationals in February and Varsity and BUCS teams, both in April. I also complete one strength and conditioning session a week, where the coaches that work for Team Hallam devise a specialised programme for each team. This improves our strength, power and endurance which enhances our performance in the pool. I also complete around four sessions a week at the university gym, often with my housemates, to maintain a base level of aerobic and muscular fitness and spend some time with my friends outside of a lecture or seminar.

I first started swimming when I was two as it’s a great life skill to have but I have been competitively swimming for 13 years, and I knew I wanted to carry this on when I moved to university. I feel that it’s a great sport for teaching characteristics such as resilience, discipline and selflessness which are skills that are applicable to other parts of life.

I would definitely recommend taking up a sport at university. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people as well as develop the level of sport you were at before or learn something completely new. The environment on a university sports team is completely different to a home club team, not everyone is from the same county as you and they all participate for different reasons so you really do meet a diverse range of individuals. There’s something unique about completing a difficult training set or placing well at a competition that brings you closer together as a team, which is particularly special about university sport. It’s also a great way to ensure that you spend time with people that aren’t on your course as well as taking a break from the pressure of assignments during each semester. There’s also the opportunity to run for committee role within the teams which is great to put on your CV and get more involved in the logistics of running a sports club.