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Contact us Via: Instagram: @uolswp , Facebook - University of Leicester Swimming and Water Polo, and email: su-swimming @le.ac.uk
About Us:
Here at the University of Leicester Swimming and Water Polo Club (SWOLO) 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 development to competition, as well as separate women's and men's water polo teams! Whether you want to compete or just attend sessions socially every now and then, SWOLO is for you!!
We will be hosting give-it-a-go (GIAG) sessions for swimming and water polo over September/October. The dates for these are Swim: Sat 28th September, Monday 30th & Tuesday 1st October and Water Polo: Thursday 26th September & Monday 30th September. All information will be on our Instagram + Facebook. You may feel you want to get a try for the club before purchasing the membership, so please come along!
Swimming:
We have regular swim training (see timetable below), & we compete in many events throughout the year including: Short and Long Course BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sports - the main body behind inter-university competitive sport) in Sheffield, British University Swimming League (BUSL) galas, the Uni's Varsity event (a major highlight on our calendar!) where we battle it out against De Montfort University where we currently reign as champions!
We train in squads/ at swim training, to cater to everyone, and these are as follows:
- 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.
- Social Swimming: the perfect for those who wish to maintain fitness at university and make friends! This squad will have 3 sessions a week that you can attend as well as Wednesday night socials!!
- 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 3-5 sessions a week for this squad, and there are no trials to be a part of this squad!
- BUCS Squad: 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 2024/25:
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Day
|
Time
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Facilities
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Squad
|
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Monday PM
|
19:00 – 20:30
|
Roger Bettles
|
BUCS
|
|
Tuesday AM
|
06:00 – 08:00
|
QE2
|
BUCS
|
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Tuesday PM
|
19:00 – 20:30
|
Roger Bettles
|
Everyone
|
|
Wednesday PM
|
15:00 – 16:30
|
Roger Bettles
|
Everyone
|
|
Friday AM
|
07:00 – 08:30
|
Danielle Brown
|
Everyone (Compulsory for BUCS)
|
Water Polo:
If you need a bit more motivation to swim (i.e. 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 are made of both experienced players and those who took the sport up at Uni, and we are welcome to all abilities including absolute beginners! Coaching is provided throughout the season, and both teams compete in BUCS Midlands 1A!! We also have the opportunities through the year to play friendly matches between jumping into our major leagues.
In our sessions we work on an array of technical skills, fitness and game play. Polo players are also able to attend swimming sessions too to get more practice in. The game is tremendous fun and an amazing opportunity of building a close-knit team of friends at Uni! While still being a great workout and highly rewarding!
Training Timetable for Water Polo 2024/25:
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Day
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Time
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Facilities
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Squad
|
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Monday pm
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20:15 – 21:15
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Cossington
|
Polo
|
|
Thursday pm
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19:15 – 21:15
|
Cossington
|
Polo
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Socials!
It’s not all work and no play, though! Our Social Secretary ensures that there is a range of social events 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 02 for Letsdisko! 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 Secretary ensures we have a blast by organising 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:
This year we will be raising money for the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), having raised over £1000+ for both BEAT and Mind in the past 2 years!! We do this over an array of events throughout the year from our SWOLO Charity Alumni Ball, a Swimathon, bake sales and a charity Water Polo match! Our charity this year, CRY (https://www.c-r-y.org.uk/) look to prevent young sudden cardiac deaths through awareness, screening and research, and supporting affected families! With cardiac problems being ever present in the sporting community this is charity very close to our members.
Membership:
We have two memberships available for 2024/25:
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Membership Type
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24/25 Price
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What’s Included
|
|
Competitive
(recommended)
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£52
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Access to all Swimming & Water Polo trainings throughout the week.
Ability to compete in BUCS Swimming & Water Polo events, alongside BUSL & Varsity!!
[You cannot compete without this membership]
|
|
Social
|
£40
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Access to swim/play socially during your time at University!
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 alongside our social events 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). We recommend the Gold Membership as it includes access to both gyms and all facilities for just £50 extra for the whole year (bargain) more than the £100 Team Leicester membership (needed to access Team Leicester and compete for them).
After dipping your toes in for your GIAG session and after a few sessions you will need to buy these memberships to participate in 'SWOLO' for the rest of the year by Monday 7th Oct, ready for swim trials (see our Instagram for more details)!
Hope to see lots of you in September!
Please contact us via Instagram, email and Facebook or some of our members below with any questions!
President: Ben Carpenter – bc249@student.le.ac.uk
Vice-President: Emily West – ebw3@student.le.ac.uk
Men’s Water Polo Captain: Max Beaumont – mb958@student.le.ac.uk
Women’s Water Polo Captain: Lucy Baxter – leb56@student.le.ac.uk
Swim Captain: Brooke England – be73@student.le.ac.uk
Swim Captain: Abbey George – ag676@student.le.ac.uk
SWOLO love xx