Absoloute Boarginners: A guide to pick and mix sports

[dropacap]I[/dropcap]t’s week three. You’ve been to the sports fair, you’ve taken home more leaflets than you can physically carry and you’ve been to all the taster sessions you could fit in – but you still haven’t found the sport for you. Shouldn’t it be easier than this?

I was thinking something along these lines in my first term at Warwick. It’s a common problem: You want to try something new but you’re overwhelmed by the endless opportunities. Taster sessions are useful but they often clash with your super busy early term schedule and only run for the first two weeks: after that, you’re on your own.

From Floorball to Fencing and Quidditch to Climbing, you get the chance to try things you would never have dreamed of dabbling in.

Pick and Mix Sports represents an antidote to this problem. Every week we try out a different sport in two-hour free sessions. Newly combined with Warwick Active, we cover the sports that the ordinary Rock Up and Play sessions don’t – from Floorball to Fencing and Quidditch to Climbing, you get the chance to try things you would never have dreamed of dabbling in, and isn’t that one of the best things about university?

So, if you want to get active this year but you’re not sure where to go, make sure you come along to one of our sessions. It’s completely free to sign up: all you have to do is pay £2 to get into the sports centre for each session, or use your Warwick Sport membership if you have one.

Above all, Pick and Mix aims to be accessible; you can come as little or as much as you want, it’s the one of the cheapest ways to take up sport on campus and, most importantly, it’s open to people of all abilities. Since you’re going to end up taking part in at least one sport you’ve never tried before (and usually many more) everyone’s in the same boat. So fear not, even if you’re an absolute boarginner at one of the sports we cover, you’re pretty much guaranteed not to be the only one.

Having said that, there is still room for improvement. The clubs we run each session in conjunction with often use pick and mix sports to scout new talent, whilst also using the sessions as a chance plug their own sport. As with taster sessions, it’s also a great way to help you decide on a specific sport; last year, a session with Pick and Mix persuaded me to join the Chinese Kickboxing club – a great experience that I would never have seized on if I hadn’t had the opportunity to try it.

So fear not, even if you’re an absolute boarginner at one of the sports we cover, you’re pretty much guaranteed not to be the only one.

The most important aspect of Pick and Mix, however, is that we have a group of regular members who turn up every week and really make the group feel like a community. Weekly socials in addition to the regular weekly sessions have helped turn what started off as a bunch people sweating it out in the taster sessions into a genuine collective. So, if you want opportunity, accessibility and community, then Pick and Mix Sports is for you.

With activities such as this, how could you not join Pick and Mix Sports?

Here’s a list of all the sessions we’ve got planned for the rest of term 1:

Week 6: TBC

Week 7: Cheerleading

** look into pre-season**

Week 8: Climbing

Week 9: Archery (Westwood Games Hall, Wednesday)

Week 10: Christmas Variety

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