I’ll be the Sports Editor for Felix 2017⁄18, and want to encourage you to try sport. With 60+ sports clubs to choose from its often hard to figure out what sport you’d be interested in trying. From sports that require more of a soft touch rather than a hard hit, that are team or individual, or more social than hardcore training. It’s often hard for incoming (or returning) students to figure out what to try when surrounded with so many options. After playing 3 years of American Football (in Edinburgh and Kent, reaching the British Championships for the first time in each of the teams’ histories) I was delighted to find that Imperial had their own team. I was very keen, and emailed prior to starting at Imperial, making sure to free up the appropriate trial day. When my time at Imperial did start it was madness, fresher’s week is still somewhat of a blurry recollection. I never did attend that initial training session. A classic fresher’s trip to Ministry (or a halls/union event, I can’t really remember) left me rather rough and irritated at the even the prospect of going outdoors.

“Even if you don’t want to take sport too seriously you can participate in super fun social teams”

I did manage to trial another day, and have played for two years with the team. I have played, or at least tried, most sports throughout high school and university, and found American Football to be my favourite. Though life may be punctuated with hard times, I have always found sport has helped me through them. The health benefits (both mental and physical) of exercise are well documented. This in and of itself should encourage the reader to pursue physical endeavours. For sports in particular, I have met a lot more people who have regretted not taking up sport earlier, than people who were despondent after realising the sport wasn’t for them. I should note it is rare to have prior university American Football experience in the Imperial team. That is the same with most Imperial teams (especially so with less mainstream sports). Do not be afraid to try new sports if you haven’t done it before. Sports clubs want you to come along and develop you into an athlete. Even if you don’t want to take sport too seriously you can participate in social teams which are super fun too! To get a most complete experience of university I would argue that doing sport is a necessity.

“I have met many people who have regretted not taking up sport earlier at Imperial”

With regards to the Medics and IC clubs, there is only a limited amount of guidance I can give. I know that medics can join IC clubs, and vice versa. As to why to choose one club over the other when they do the same sport, I am less sure… Committees change, coaches change, opinions change, so what I say is try out the clubs. If you find one of the clubs is too socially orientated and you want to be more sport orientated then try the other club, and vice versa. If you are in a medic club you will find yourself usually in Reynolds for sports night, whilst IC teams will find themselves in the Union. That’s about it…

If you are interested in going for a team trial see the timetable extract below. The trials are jam-packed into one day. If you find yourself unable attend get in contact with the club and they will probably have other sessions.