Sport for all

Love sport but fancy something less mainstream? Perhaps Historical European Martial Arts or Bollywood dancing just for fun?

Whether you like to compete or play for fun, get involved and active with our sport for all societies.

Here are just some of the clubs and societies on offer to our students – check out the SU website for the full list, ways to join and how to start your own.

• Airsoft: “Airsoft is a team sport in which players shoot each other with small round plastic pellets, otherwise known as BB’s, launched by imitation firearms, otherwise known as Airsoft guns. In this sport you will team up with a bunch of players and take on the enemy team in a multitude of game modes from a simple team death match to objectives like capture the flag and attack/defence. This society is here to bring players together and go out there and have some fun as a group. We plan to meet up weekly or bi-weekly to discuss strategies and hang out and are hoping to make it to an airsoft field once a month to play some games either against each other or other players from around the area.”
  
• Bollywood Dance: “We are here to learn Bollywood dances together and even put up a few performances! As we have many festivities in the Indian culture we will try and host different events. For example, we hosted a Diwali event. We performed, sold some treats and proceedings of the event went to charities.
  
  If you’re not interested in dancing, we also have days where we socialise, watch Bollywood movies together, play games and just have fun together. It’s a great opportunity to make new friends and ensure your first year as a new student is as amazing and fun as it can be!”
  
• Fencing: “From seasoned veterans of the GB fencing circuit to anyone who likes watching Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, or the Princess Diary everyone is welcome. We have an external coach hired, who provides full kit for us to use and as members become more experienced, our aim is to encourage interested members to undertake an L1 coach qualification.
  
  We will be arranging a variety of socials, which will cater to both drinkers and non-drinkers so keep an eye out for details. In the near future, we aim to become a university-affiliated sports club, which will allow us to compete in the BUCS league against other universities, around the country, and attend the Student National Championships.”
  
• HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts): “HEMA is a growing field of research into historical weapons and systems of combat. Here at the University of Gloucestershire, we are supporting that research by keeping old styles of combat alive. For those of you familiar with HEMA, we study historical manuals of Fiore dei Liberi with a little bit of Wikenauer thrown in to mix things up. For those of you new to the sport, we focus on Italian longsword from the renaissance but sometimes look at German styles from the same time. If you fancy giving longsword, dagger and hand to hand combat a go, pop along to one of our free sessions. No equipment of prior knowledge required.
  
  Whether you are a HEMA enthusiast, a history lover or just curious – you are welcome to attend one of our sessions.”
  
• The Referee Society: “Here at UoG we pride ourselves on enhancing students sporting experiences and CV’s and officiating within sport is the perfect way to do so!
  
  Over the course of the year, there will be multiple officiating courses been organised and if you are a qualified sporting official then come and join our society to enhance your officiating abilities with some world-leading officials in all disciplines.”
  
• Dodgeball: “Our main two focuses are having fun and grabbing life by the balls! We are looking at making Dodgeball a big part of the university and to provide a good experience of dodgeball for both experienced players and newcomers to the sport. UGDBS welcomes all players of all abilities, genders and plan to cater for the needs of players, looking at developing as many players as possible to enter more than one team into the league.
  
  We plan on playing in the South West Bath Dodgeball league once a month on a Sunday. As well as this we are looking to join tournaments including; Remembrance Sunday Tournament and Bournemouth 7’s weekend tournament. This is an easy and enjoyable way to stay fit and healthy whilst launching balls around at your friends all afternoon.”