“It doesn’t really matter whether you play for University or College - just play some sport!”
As you freshers reach the end of your opening two weeks, blink your drink-hazed eyes and emerge, grunting probably, into sunlight, stumbling around like Bambi after a particularly hard night on the mossy ale, exercise may not be high on the list of priorities. (I am simply remembering my own discovery of a world outside alcohol). Anyway, when the need for exercise does rear its ugly head, each one of you is faced with the age-old problem: do I play college or university sport?
It is commonly assumed that people who play university sport are better than their college counterparts – that college sportsmen are the University’s rejects. Anyone who has ever played college sport would contend this, and not just because no-one particularly wants to be called a reject. It is simply that university sport is not everyone’s cup of tea, and there are really only a small percentage of people who are truly suited to playing consistantly competitive sport. That does not make the rest “worse” in any way. It takes a definite level of commitment, passion and love of your sport to train five days a week and consistently compete for the University. To have that drive is an admirable attribute, but it is not very common. Neither is it a particularly genetic attribute, as a sportsman’s drive can come and go. Compared to that, college sport is very laid back, with hungover - or even drunk – participants not only tolerated but actively expected, even in the more competitive sports, such as football. While the games can still be heavily competitive, the focus leans far more towards enjoyment than it does for university sport. Apart some some notable exceptions - football having already been mentioned - college sport is more of a social event, with a bit of competitive pride thrown in to the mix; sort of the youthful equivalent of a pub team, where the socialising matters almost as much as the actual playing.
Come to think of it, I’m not sure how many college sportsmen would appreciate being compared to a bunch of paunch-ridden middle-aged men doing anything to stay away from home on a Sunday afternoon.
I guess college sport is whatever you make of it. You can trundle on down to the sports hall in a spare few minutes for a spot of table-tennis, or you can put the effort in and try to get involved with some football or netball. You can do it simply for the enjoyment of the sport, or you can engage in all the other accompanying social aspects, such as the infamous Langwith football ‘punch’.
University sport is not nearly so open or friendly. You play hard, you socialise just as hard. Participants will argue that it is just as sociable as college sport – most even recommend the social side of their clubs as one of the main incentives for joining – but there just seems to be something slightly different to club socials compared to college ones. In college sport, you are pretty much socialising constantly – during training, matches and in between. By contrast, sports club events seem to be the social equivalent to binge drinking, in that you train and play all week, then dress ridiculously, consume obscene amounts of alcohol and (for the men, anyway) produce laughable attempts to dance in Ziggy’s.
Incidentally, surely the impulse that causes most sportsmen to remove their tops in clubs should be the subject of some sort of scientific enquiry - surely it would be worth the funding, more than most other inane studies carried out. Up until now, I perhaps haven’t given university sport a fair plug in comparison to college, but it does have its positive aspects - and many of them. As it is so driven, with so much work involved, the rewards, both in a physical and a mental sense, are greater. It is beyond doubt that the sense of achievement is higher in university sport – the commitment that the players put in ensures that the emotions from both winning and losing are certain to be higher than if one just turned up slightly hungover for a bit of a kick-around.
Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you play at least some sport during your degree, even if it is just for 10 minutes every other weekend - just to halt that slide towards that ever-increasing beer belly.
