By Aaron Wade, Chemical Engineering PhD Student
I’ve spent four years at UCL and during my undergraduate studies, I was a member of Barbell Club, competing for the powerlifting team. In my last year as a postgraduate, I also joined the American Football Club. Although both the societies I joined are completely different, I think they’re both great for postgraduate students for several reasons.
Powerlifting/weightlifting is an individual sport and it was fairly easy for me to balance being a member of the Barbell Club and do my postgraduate research. I say it was easy because the Club’s primary training and coaching sessions occurred on Saturday with training being carried out alone and coaching done online - I could easily do everything around my studies.
American Football has two training sessions, which would be common amongst a team sport at UCL, one being on a Wednesday and the second being on a Sunday. The weekday training usually starts around 16:00, and is local to UCL so I didn’t have to leave early from the lab and place of research.
Barbell Club has a strong number of postgraduate students as members, who often train together in the evenings or early mornings so if you are new to UCL it's easy to find a group of friends in a similar position to yourself. Although American Football has fewer postgraduates, due to it being a team sport, it is easy to get to know your teammates and develop friendships through the Club.
Both sports offer a range of socials, varying from nights out to post-training meals. Like most things, the more you put into a society, the more you get out of it - the more sessions you attend and the people you meet, the greater your experience will be. From both societies, I have met a wide range of people studying different courses, all at different points in their studies. Overall I have had a great experience being a member of sports societies whilst being a postgraduate student, and would definitely encourage anyone thinking of joining a sport to do it.