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Contact us Via: Facebook - University of Leicester Swimming and Waterpolo, Instagram: @uolswp and email: su-swimming @le.ac.uk

       

 

About Us:

At the University of Leicester Swimming and Water Polo Club (UoLSWP), we welcome all abilities and offer plenty of pool time for you to dive right into! We're a joint club, with swim squads for different levels, from learn2swim to competition, as well as separate women's and men's water polo teams.

Whether you like competing or just prefer a social swim every now and then, Swimming and Water Polo (aka SWOLO) is the club for you! If you can't just take our word for it, check out all the awards we soaked up in the previous year at the top of the page!

Swimming:

We have regular swim training (see timetable below), + we compete in many events, including Short and Long Course BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sports - the main body behind inter-university competitive sport) in Sheffield, + the British University Swimming League (BUSL). We also compete in the Uni's Varsity event, which is a major highlight on our calendar! We battle it out against De Montfort University at the end of the year and are going into the 2023/24 year as reigning champs. We train in squads/ at swim training, to cater to everyone, and these are as follows: 

1. Swimming Lessons Via Lets Do Leicester:  We offer swimming lessons taught by Level 1 & 2 qualified teachers who are students and members of SWOLO. This is an ideal opportunity to learn a basic life skill; swimming is a fundamental skill and could one day save your life. To participate in this, it is £28 paid via shop.le.ac.uk for eight swimming lessons over eight weeks. You do not need a gym membership for this! We have 18 spots for students of any age. These sessions will run in Term 1 (21st Oct - 9th Dec) and Term 2 (27th Jan - 16th March*). 
2. Social Swimming:  This is perfect for those who wish to maintain fitness at university and make friends! This squad will have 5 sessions a week that you can attend as well as Wednesday night socials! There is a mixture of training sessions for you to attend.
3. Development Squad:  This squad is for those who wish to get into competitive swimming or compete in less intense events, such as Varsity & BUSL. There will be 5 sessions a week for this squad, and there are no trials to be a part of this squad! 
4. BUCS Squad: This is the performance squad of SWOLO! There will be a requirement to train a minimum of three times a week. There will also be trials for this squad in October. The BUCS squad will have a maximum of 16 people: 8 men and 8 women. This squad is for those wishing to compete at the highest level in swimming at university level. 

Training Timetable for Swimming 2023/24:

Day	Time	Facilities	Squad
Monday am	7:30am – 8:30am	Danielle Brown	Social + Development
Monday pm	19:00 – 20:30	Roger Bettles	BUCS (Compulsory)
Tuesday am	6:00am – 8:00am	QE2	BUCS (Compulsory)
Tuesday pm	19:00 – 20:30	Roger Bettles	Everyone
Wednesday pm	15:00 – 16:30	Roger Bettles	Everyone
Thursday pm (TBC)	19:00 – 20:30	Roger Bettles	TBD
Friday am	7:00am – 8:30am	Danielle Brown	BUCS (Compulsory)
Saturday pm	15:00 – 16:30	Roger Bettles	Social + Development
Saturday pm	17:30 – 19:00	Danielle Brown	Let’s Do Leicester Swim Lessons

We will host give-it-a-go (GIAG) sessions for swimming and water polo and trials for the BUCS swimming squads. The dates for these are Swim: Tuesday 26th, Wednesday 27th, Sat 30th September and Polo: Thursday 28th September + Thursday 5th October. All information will be on our Instagram + Facebook.

Water Polo:

If you need a bit more motivation to swim (ie chasing a ball and the dopamine hit of scoring goals), we also have two water polo teams, a women's and a men's team. If you've never heard of water polo or don't know what it is, check out Swim England's explanation or this video.

Both teams currently contain both experienced players and those who took the sport up at uni, and we are very welcome to all abilities including absolute beginners.  Coaching is provided throughout the season, and both teams compete in BUCS Midlands 1A, with the men last year having had a particularly stellar season, winning every match, and their league, and the cup! We also have the opportunity to play friendly matches (as a warm up) before jumping into our major leagues.

In our polo sessions we work on things like technical skills, fitness and game play. Players are able to go to all swimming sessions as well, with Tuesday evenings at Roger Bettles in particular more aimed at water polo players. The game is tremendous fun and an amazing way of building a close-knit team, it's a great workout and highly rewarding, what's not to love? 

Training Timetable for Water Polo 2023/24:

Day	Time	Facilities	Squad
Monday pm	20:15 – 21:30	Cossington	Polo
Thursday pm	19:15 – 21:15	Cossington	Polo

 

Socials!

It’s not all work and no play, though!  Our Social Secretaries ensure that there are a range of social events going on throughout the year. We have Weekly wednesday fancy dress socials with bar crawls, pub golf or team pre-drinks at our local pub ending up at the SU, along with team meals every term and various other activities, including pub quizzes, summer BBQs and non-drinking activities such as bowling. At BUCS weekends, our Social Secretaries ensure we have a blast by organising many social activities alongside the gala, including a team meal; trust us, it’s not one to be missed! During the Easter break, we often also take Swimming and Water Polo on a team holiday; previous years have included places such as Croatia.

Charitable Fundraising:

Raising money for charity each year is a big part of our ethos, and last year we raised over £1000 for BEAT, over a series of events such as a raffle at our SWOLO Charity Ball, a swimathon and a charity water polo match. This year we're raising money for Mind, a charity that means a lot of many of our members, and it's a testament to the spirit of the club that everyone always gets behind these efforts and they are so successful.

Membership:

We have two memberships available for 2023/24:

Swimming + Water polo Membership	2023/24 Annual Price	What’s Included
Competitive (recommended)	£52	If you wish to compete at BUCS for Swimming or Water polo, or any Swimming or Water polo local leagues, or Varsity & BUSL you need to have this membership. You will not be able to compete if you do not have this.
Social membership	£40	f you wish to swim/play socially during your time at University this membership is for you! If you purchase this membership, you are NOT able to compete in any events for the club. Please only buy this membership if you are certain you do not want to compete this year.

Both memberships grant you access to two sports - Swimming and Water polo and can be bought once you have your university login from the Products part of this page.

Alongside the SWOLO membership, you will need either a Team Leicester Membership, OR a Gold Gym Membership (this includes your TL membership for the year)

Membership	2023/24 Annual Price	What’s Included
Gold	£150 – the Early Bird offer (if purchased before 16th October, or if you had this membership the previous year) £180 - if you are a fresher, or you have not been a member of the gym facilities at uni before, or you missed the early bird deadline	Gym Pools Sauna, Steam + Spa rooms Group Fitness classes Court, Pitch + tennis bookings UNIversal Access to Team Leicester
Team Leicester	£100	Access to Team Leicester

We recommend the Gold Membership as it includes access to both gyms and all facilities for just £50 extra for the whole year (bargain).

You may feel you want to get a try for the club before purchasing the membership, so please come along to our 'give-it-a-go' swim sessions which will be on Tues 26th, Wed 27^th + Sat 30^th Sept, and for polo these will be Thurs 28^th Sept and Mon 2^nd Oct. 

After dipping your toes in for your first few sessions you will need to buy these memberships to participate in 'Swolo' for the rest of the year by Tuesday 3rd Oct - ready for swim trials!

These trails will be at roger bettles on Tuesday 3rd + Wed 4th Oct. Everyone is invited to these, even if you don't fancy BUCS squad, its great to see where you start the year and how far you can improve by the end!

Hope to see lots of you in September!

Please contact us via Instagram, email and Facebook with any questions! 

SWOLO love xx