Mental health support at Uni - social sports clubs would help not just for elite players

[Neapolitanicecream]

Hello all my YP is struggling with loneliness at a Uni that was considered top last year !!!! A lot of the clubs are on paper only so it looks good on someone CV 🤔

her cousin at a very sporty uni is thriving at a midlands uni renowned for sports, (so he thought he wouldn’t get into any clubs) but the uni have inter-houses social football…. Brilliant idea to support YP mental health.

please please so called top unis with amazing sports facilities please introduce social sports and not just for the elite

I feel that the student , there on the ground, has a much better idea of the reality of what is actually available, than you tapping away on your computer's search engine.
I see no reason why a person who enjoys playing social football , would lie about their experience??
Also if footie is his thing, why are you suggesting he should play mixed netball or go scuba diving as a substitute???

It probably is rare for there is be social teams in more obscure team sports like hockey or lacrosse? There probably aren't enough interested social players to sustain a social league so the uni will just have a first team.
Not the point of thread I know, but the "obscure" sport of hockey is the second largest BUCS team sport with over 550 teams competing across multiple leagues.My DS is a fairly serious hockey player and the hockey provision is something he's looked at in some detail during his research about which Universities to apply to.Far from having only a first team the majority of Universities will have several mens and womens teams competing in BUCS leagues and the best also play in the highest level club leagues. But there are frequently also less serious teams within Universities that play each other and/or lower level local club teams. If anything, it's one of the sports that is more likely to have a wide range of participants and there's lots of variations on the theme such as mixed hockey and walking hockey - it's generally a very inclusive sport.

I don’t know why there is such a reluctance to identify the university on this thread. It’s not particularly helpful when the names of lots of other unis are being thrown around and people skimming will inevitably identify some of those uni clubs as being unwelcoming or inaccessible to non-elite sports people.

Because sometimes, particularly when you are suffering from depression and anxiety, it is much easier to make out that there is a unavoidable barrier to doing something (like playing social sports) than admit that you are feeling too sad or anxious to be able to seek it out, join in with strangers and interact with people.

It's not that they are lying maliciously about their uni. It's that sometimes their version of the truth is quite the reality.

For them, there are no social sports teams that they feel able to join. Maybe there is nothing in their immediate vicinity in halls or with people they already know participating? The idea of asking a bunch of strangers to join their social team in another department or hall might be too terrifying to contemplate. But saying that is also hard - easy to say there are no teams at all.

What they need is support in finding ways to be able to reach out and find their tribe - it might be via doing activities like scuba diving where almost everyone doing it at uni is new to the sport so all on equal footing.

If the important thing is finding their tribe rather than specifically playing football, doing new activities may be a better approach.

(Sorry @MrsAvocet for saying hockey was obscure. I've never met anyone who played it! Hopefully lacrosse works as a good example of the point I was making at least. )

It can actually be quite unhelpful to continue this narrative of "finding your tribe". Its an odd saying that has come about for no real reason but it can lead to massive expectation and then disappointment when a young person has read over and over again that they will go to university and have an amazing time and find their tribe.. but then they don't.

Actually back in the day it was probably more likely. Those who went to university were in the minority. So it was probably more likely to be the case that they had more in common with others who also went to university than perhaps some of their school friends who had left education at 16. Now more kids go than don't go. As such the variety of kids at university is far greater. Its actually important that kids go with the expectation that they will need to get along with a very wide variety of kids many of whom won't be "their tribe" and will have nothing at all in common with them.

Would you YP consider Yoga/Pilates/Dance type classes? Even just for the next term? I realise they aren't team, but movement and breathing to music is (in my opinion) so much more effective than antidepressants, with the added benefit of a gentle and lovely way to meet like minded people. I know one of our local Uni's runs free sunrise classes on their rooftop etc and those chance encounters & conversations tend to lead to offers to come along to this, or that, in time.

I really feel for your YP & really hope things come right for them - be that staying at Uni or deciding to take a different tack - both very valid options.

Now more kids go than don't go.

I don't think that is true by a long long way.

A quick Google suggests just over 1/3 go:

The higher education entry rate among UK 18 year olds increased from 24.7% in 2006 to 30.7% in 2015 and peaked at 38.2% in 2021. It fell back to 35.8% in 2023 (2 Jan 2024)

Ok well my Google from a new statesman article says that in the late 80s it was between 8 percent and 18 percent and it’s now 50 percent. Either way, far more kids now go and it’s unhelpful to continue the narrative that they will “find their tribe”.
Most will hopefully make new friends. Not everyone will and some people will get housed with others they have little in common with which can make life more challenging. They go with such massive expectation (which isn’t helped by social media) and this can make it even harder to settle. Lots of kids go and are quite lonely, particularly if they expected everything to automatically click into place for them.

50% was a target set by Tony Blair in 1999. To the best of my knowledge it was never achieved.

The target was scrapped in 2020.

Edit: Apparently it was achieved in 2019

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49841620

I think you’re trying to square a circle, sports are by nature competitive and selective.

Not all sports.

OP: I know you don't want to name the uni, but could you say which sport or sports it is?

My "find your tribe" comment wasn't particularly meaningful, I just meant that he would find people who he's comfortable hanging out with, to have lunch with etc.

If she’s at Bath and it’s hockey Buccs is a great club. Based at the uni but a town club. Also team Bath AS for swimming likewise.

yes it was the uni of the year !!!! But what the hell for ????

Anglia Ruskin was voted “University of the Year” last year.

”Anglia Ruskin was named University of the Year in recognition of its role as a hub for skills and innovation in multiple centres across the east of England. The judges were particularly impressed by its development of a new Peterborough campus on an accelerated timetable in partnership with local authorities and industry.”

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/times-higher-education-awards-2023-winners-announced

Pretty sure it’s not ARU, given the high league table ranking alluded to, and more specifically the presence of an Olympic sized swimming pool within the facilities. Which I’d interpret as a 50m pool. There are very few unis in the UK with a 50m pool in their sports centre. ARU does not have one. Loughborough does but has already been ruled out. I think Birmingham Uni has one, likewise the sportspark at UEA. One at Aberdeen Uni apparently. However I’m leaning more towards Bath. Then again Bath does seem to have a wider offering for social football.

Also "university of the year" awards are pretty subjective and made up to sell newspapers. A bit like those "best beaches" articles.

I doubt that it's UEA - my DD is there and they seem very inclusive for sports and wellbeing. Taster sessions for most things at the beginning of each semester, sessions where different clubs invite other clubs for taster sessions, good support services, things like a wellbeing dog walk every fortnight, Try Something Different events for crafts and social things like pool and darts.
My DD is into dance and most of the dance firms run classes at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. I've just looked at the mens football social media - trials for 12 teams including a development league at the start of the second semester.

My advice for anyone looking at unis where sports and social activities are important is to check the SM channels for the different clubs and societies. You can see which ones are active and what they offer.

@Seeline agree. 😀Have had a DC there at undergrad and now finishing off masters. Only mentioned it due to the 50m pool. I very much doubt it’s Aberdeen either or Brum.

another DC at another Uni, pool only 25m ☹️, where there seems to be plenty of social sport opportunity. Though he plays BUCS level at another sport, he enjoys casual footballl and there seems to be fairly regular 5 or 6 aside opportunities with varying groups of people, and where the final score really doesn’t matter. Then again he also has a beach literally on his door step for just fun kick abouts, frisbee etc with friends.

Surprised to hear of this situation. Non club sport was a big thing at my University. But you did need to have people to play with. And the ability to put yourself out and go along to matches/ practices the first few times.

I got a lot out of it and played hockey for two separate teams (academic and another sports society - the sailing club hockey team caused a lot of confusion over the years). Fortunately the two teams never met in a match! I also used to see quite a lot of other people I knew through other routes down at the pitches on a Sunday morning playing for the opposition. Academic grouping also participated in a national intra-university competition which was always fun. And boozy. We hosted in my final year and I accommodated something crazy like 6 players from one of the London universities in my flat.

However, this wouldn't help if you were a bit socially isolated as trying to find a team to join might be difficult. Especially for more minority sports that people aren't exposed to at school. Just had a look at my Universities website and they now do a "matching" service for teams so this is being addressed.

Very interesting to note

that another thread today, also saying that young people are being prescribed exercise by Doctors for mental health issues and to also get them back to work.

Because exercise is so important for mental health,

you would expect this to be encouraged where there are alot of young people to help connect them ?

“to think the government are on a hiding to nothing with their drive to get people back to work? “

My son’s uni (Warwick) has a society football league (probably does for other sports too) so the different societies play each other. He’s in the stats society and the Asian society. So you don’t need to be elite for these teams.

Exeter?

I doubt that it's UEA

I must admit it sounds unlikely.

The only other “number one” uni boasting about an Olympic sized pool is Cambridge, and it hasn’t been built yet.

So many things contribute to mental wellbeing, including a good diet, sleep, reduced screen time, social connections, time in nature and laying off the drink and drugs. You are focused on sport because that's what your kid is aggrieved about.

Universities don't check that students are eating well. They're not checking up on their bedtime or the number of hours they're clocking up on snapchat. They're not bussing them out to the countryside on a Wednesday afternoon or patrolling the pubs and nightclubs reminding students that 4 or more drinks per day constitutes binge drinking.

We all know how to protect our MH. It's up to us to deal with it. I'm a swimmer and now there is no community pool in my town, it closed down two years ago. I don't wail on Mumsnet that the town should build me a pool, I go for a run or a walk instead.

I used to work in sports development so I am absolutely passionate about exercise and wellbeing, but you are just coming across as a slightly whiny, overly precious parent now.