Swimming can be daunting for many. It might be your first-time swimming or for many they might not feel confident in the water. Many people find that their fitness out of the water, doesn’t translate into the pool. Initially, a lot of our members faced these obstacles, but over time have overcome them! As our vice-captain, Revan likes to put it: “Swimming is a great sport to help you with keeping fit but most importantly making new friends and forming bonds which would carry on even after you leave University.”
The swimming club at the University of Buckingham was established in 2020. While we were only able to get into the pool around July 2021, within 1 year the club has seen a lot of progress. Our initial goal for the club was to establish our presence on campus and grow the club community. Today, there are about 20 active members in the club with around 10 members on average who attend practice. The swimming club has had members of a wide range of abilities. One of our former members had never set foot in a pool. She didn’t know how to swim, but within 2 months she was able to swim a length! Personally, I found the experience of teaching her very cheering because the results of her journey were astounding, knowing that it started with getting her comfortable with being in the water.
While the club started off with members with different levels of swimming experience, we have been able to reduce that experience gap between members with the aim of participating in competitions soon. In swimming, progress is often measured with times for lengths. We started out with getting everyone’s 25-metre times and from March onwards, pushed everyone for 50 metres. Swimming 50 metres for time was quite an eye-opening experience for many of our members. Although many dreaded it, they took on the challenge. We adapted our practice sets to challenge and reward our swimmers, as progress can be quite addicting. Over time, our swimmers have adapted to take on challenge after challenge. Although this sounds gruesome, fear not, we also have loads of fun! Most of our sessions end with relays and some fun pool games. We’ve enjoyed playing swimming games like Sharks in the Middle which indirectly improve your swimming by training your lung capacity.
A lot of the progress seen this year would not have been possible without my colleagues on the executive team. In March, a new committee was elected for the swimming club. Revan, our vice-captain has been monumental in helping organise and lead training sessions.
Revan Senaratne (Club Vice-Captain)
The club started off with myself, Atharv and a few of our friends. The club has grown since then and is still growing to this day. It is amazing to see the improvement in every single member since the first day from not being able to swim at all to race a 50m. Swimming is a great sport to help you with keeping fit but most importantly making new friends and forming bonds which would carry on even after you leave University. The main goal of our club is to improve on our swimming but also have fun!! Can’t wait to see more of you join us in the future!!!
Elizabeth, our social secretary has boosted our presence on social media and engagement with other clubs.
Elizabeth Gallagher (Club Social Secretary)
Seeing the swimming club grow in the last year has been one of the highlights of my time at the University of Buckingham . Everyone is super friendly and our captain and vice captain are eager for others to learn and to help everyone to do so. I look forward to Wednesday and Saturday’s purely because swimming training is on!
Prince, our secretary always helps motivate everyone at practice and keeps the morale high during our sessions.
Prince Tandukar (Club Secretary)
I absolutely love our swim club, the team has grown close like a family, we push each other to achieve more and have had a lot of fun. It always leaves me feeling refreshed and happy, no matter how hard or gruelling the session was. I appreciate our members who lead the session with a goal to make us improve our swimming capability, and make us love swimming. All our members do a great job to create a friendly and supportive atmosphere for all the members. The swimming club will always be a fond memory for me forever.
Our plans for the next few months include getting club hoodies and a social event in, which most likely will be a trip to a water park! In the long run, we plan on participating at BUCS in November, so we will be working on our endurance and speed.
We also hope to welcome new members and expand our club! Follow us on Instagram @uobswim for club updates and shenanigans. Feel free to contact us on Instagram or even by email at 1704982@buckingham.ac.uk.
