From Freshers’ Fair to Lacrosse Field: How I Accidentally Joined a Sports Team

During my second year, me and some of my new flatmates decided to go to the sports fair just to see what is on offer and snag any freebies we could! I wasn’t hunting for a spot on any teams as I was trying to not overcommit my time. I went by the lacrosse stall, which my friend was running, just to say hello. Instead, she convinced me to try throwing and catching the ball and giving lacrosse a try, and my friend decided that was enough – I was going to lacrosse now. 

I took a flatmate with me so that I would know someone, the first session itself was a lot of learning the basics and practising throwing and catching and a few drills. The best bit was after, once training was done, we went to spoons had a few drinks and just got to know each other. By the time I left, I had some new friends!

In the end I kept showing up, not for the sport, but for the people. After a couple months numbers dwindled as some got busy with work, but I kept showing up slowly getting better and better, even during the cold rainy sessions. I possibly had better attendance for lacrosse then some of my lectures! Students can join at any time even if they missed sports fair! About midway through the year, we managed to recruit a few new players on a night out in forum, and I officially became one of the more experienced players (even though I’ve never played a match!)

My advice? When you're in first year you have nothing to lose, so just join a sport or two, make some friends and maybe pick up a new sport (bonus points for lacrosse). It’s the easiest way to make friends outside of your classes and it's nice to have friends who don’t study the same thing as you. One of my biggest regrets from first year was not joining a sport sooner - having done it this year I have some great new friends, and it’s turned Monday from the worst day of the week to one of the best! 

Also how else are you supposed to get a monk, dog, nun, cowboy, and an uno card and more all on the same night out? 

I am a second-year computer science student here at the University of Hertfordshire. I am interested in AI and its use for certain real-world tasks which has led me to join our formula student AI team as one of the planning and control team leads, also leading to my current side project of a grid world-based maze/puzzle solver. Outside of things relevant to my studies I play lacrosse and have an interest in Pokémon and things with wings.