About Us
UCL's Swimming Club is proud to offer something for everyone. Since our founding in 2012, we have quickly grown to become one of the largest sports clubs with over a hundred members every year.
The club is open to all UCL and RUMS students (undergraduate and postgraduate) and all swimming abilities, whether you swim competitively, for fitness, or just socially! We aim to provide a club that is friendly, fun, and approachable, with a strong team spirit and a focus on improving swimming ability and performance.
We offer two types of membership. Our Fitness Squad is open to all swimmers who want a casual approach to swimming whenever they are available and our Competitive Team offers more regular training and competes at the highest levels of British university swimming.
Fitness Squad
Our fitness squad offers swimmers access to up to four hours of swimming every week in central London. Guided by our fitness captains, who have coaching/lifeguarding qualifications and experience, you will be provided with a practice set of drills and distances to guide your training.
Our fitness squad is open to all students of any ability, from those just starting out to former competitive swimmers, and different sets are available for each lane. (However, you must be able to swim at least 100 metres unaided to participate for safety reasons. If you have not swum before, the Students Union's Project Active offers some sessions for learning to swim.)
You can choose which lane (high, medium, and low fitness) best suits you. Our fitness captains are approachable, and you can ask them to help you determine which lane and which set best suits you, as well as any questions about technique and training you may have.
To join the fitness squad, simply buy your fitness membership and join our WhatsApp group. We will publish sign-up links to sessions there. (Please do not buy competitive membership unless you have been selected for the Competitive Team after trials.)
Please sign up before coming to the session because we have limits on capacity at the pools we swim at. You can come to as many or as few sessions you like throughout the year, so just sign up whenever you are able and want to swim!
We recommend you bring a swimming suit/costume, towel, swimming goggles, a swim cap (if desired), and a water bottle to our sessions. Any additional training equipment required (e.g. kickboards or pull buoys) is available at the pools.
For additional information and updates about Club activities, check the website and Instagram page. If you have questions, message us on our Instagram or WhatsApp chat.
Competitive Team
Our competitive team provides a higher level of training and the chance to swim at the highest levels of British swimming. We compete in the BUSL and LUSL leagues, swim at the BUCS university championships, and most importantly race against King's College in the yearly Varsity meet.
This team has limited spaces and requires a high standard of swimming. For that reason, we hold trials at the beginning of each term. These are a chance for our men's and women's captains to determine their teams.
We have a list of consideration times here. Please note that these times are merely a gauge of whether coming out to trials might be right for you; making these times is no guarantee of a spot on the team which is based on an assessment from our captains of your times based on others at trials and based on events where we need swimmers.
If you do not make the squad at the start of the year but are still interested in competing, you are able to come to our winter trials ahead of Term 2 as well.
The competitive team has access to up to five days of swimming a week, including a session at the London Aquatic Centre (the 2012 Olympic pool) and two sessions shared with King's College London.
Once you are accepted onto the team, you will need to purchase competitive membership at which point you will be added to the WhatsApp group. Practice times and schedules, as well as competition dates and times, will be communicated there.
(Please do not buy competitive membership unless you have been selected for the Competitive Team after trials.)
Socials
The Club also hosts a varied social calendar. That includes weekly sports nights as well as regular social events.
Last year we enjoyed a multiple-course Christmas dinner, a boat ball with other watersports and snowsports societies, a visit to the UN's International Maritime Organization with other clubs and societies, and a post-Varsity party with King's to cap off our varied social calendar, and you can expect more exciting events this year.
We also enjoy casual socials such as pizza dinners after training, organised by fitness or competitive trainings, for a chance to get to know the squad or team better.
We also try to integrate some social aspect into our training, particularly where Fitness and Competitive practice at the same time, such as fun relays and races for those interested.
Commitments
UCL Swimming Club have signed the Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment Pledge.
This Club is Pride in Sport accredited.
