Stay fit and make friends at UoB through BUCS teams, social sports, gyms, and casual games is the easiest way to build community at university.
One of the easiest ways to settle into university life and stay active is by getting involved in sport. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve played competitively for years or you haven’t touched a ball since Year 9 PE, sport at university is built to bring people together. At Birmingham, especially, there are so many entry points that enable you to develop friendships.
BUCS sport refers to the sport and competitions organised by British Universities and Colleges Sport. If you join a BUCS club, you’re not just signing up for training, you’re joining a ready-made community. Most sports have multiple teams (sometimes five, six, even seven), which means you suddenly find yourself surrounded by people from the same courses, accommodation blocks, and similar schedules. It becomes a little family before you realise what’s happening.
Because BUCS clubs train and compete regularly, usually three to four times a week, you naturally fall into a routine. Whether it’s compulsory team fitness sessions or voluntary gym and running sessions with your teammates, you end up building your fitness together. There’s something motivating about knowing you’re all tired, all cold, and all still showing up in the autumn/winter terms, especially.
If you prefer something a bit more casual, social sport at the university is perfect. Nearly every sport has a social “spin-off”, so to speak, and some societies even create new teams within existing sports. For example, Aussie Rules started as a rugby-based society but eventually added its own netball team. Benchball also has a netball team that plays completely socially, no trials or pressure at all.
Most social sports meet twice a week, which normally consists of a training session and then a match. It’s enough structure to keep you active without the commitment level of BUCS. Also, because everyone’s there for fun, it’s one of the easiest ways to meet people without the intensity of competition.
As someone who hadn’t played netball since secondary school, I was initially quite hesitant to join a team, however, I can safely say that I have met some of my closest friends from my time on my course netball team. As we all take the same course and/or are in the same department, the amount of academic support that I have received has been overwhelming and so amazing to have as a support system. The team truly built up my confidence in the sport as well as in myself. Therefore, I ran for the team’s captain this year and have been running in the position since the beginning in my second year.
One of the best parts of joining any sports teams, whether it is a BUCS club or a social sport, is the socials. Socials include the infamous Sports Nights and sober options like study sessions, team dinners, and film nights. These opportunities make everyone in their teams feel as though they can naturally grow from merely being part of a team, to being part of a familial environment. It feels like a built-in friendship group that extends beyond the pitch.
Even if you don’t join a formal club (BUCS or social), accommodation villages make getting active incredibly easy by offering sporting activities that you can go to without a membership or any long-term commitment. For example, The Vale has previously run regular volleyball sessions in the summer term, and pitches near Pritchatts Park are used to facilitate casual football games between anyone who shows up from the various accommodation blocks that make up the village. It’s a sporting chance without the sign-up responsibility.
There are also societies built entirely around fitness, like girls’ running clubs, great for giving the chance to have sociable runs, thus meeting people who just want to get moving and enable relationships in and around the university.
On top of that, both the Sport & Fitness gym and Tiverton Gym are full of UoB students. Sport & Fitness attracts a huge range of people, and Tiverton is exclusively students, so you naturally get chatting to the same faces. Going with friends is great fun, but plenty of people meet friends there too.
But if you’d rather take fitness outside, areas like The Vale and Selly Park are brilliant for runs, circuits, or even just throwing a ball around.
Staying fit at university doesn’t have to be a chore as it can become the centre of your social life and one of the most rewarding parts of your experience. Whether it’s BUCS, social sport, gym sessions, or casual games on the grass, sport is one of the simplest ways to meet people who end up shaping your entire university experience.
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