We asked five university alumnae about the benefits of joining a society or sports team, and how it contributed to their student experience
Michael Bass, Hockey team

King’s College London, 2014
I joined my university?s hockey society in my first year, having played hockey for a few years in school. I knew the skill-level at university was supposed to be a little higher, so decided to give it a go.
I am by no means a natural sportsman, and only ever played on the university second team, but playing hockey two days a week (you would be expected at fitness training on the Monday night if you wanted to play in the match on a Wednesday) was a great way to burn off some of the ?freshers fifteen?.
Sports teams are famous for their social side. Going out as a large mixed group on a Wednesday night, you can make a lot of new friends very fast while discovering novel ways of drinking alcohol. It?s also good to make some friends with people from different courses to yourself, which is something you might not get a chance to do outside of a society ? especially if you?re not living in halls. Above, Kings College London
I ultimately stopped playing hockey in my third year of university due to a drop in my own fitness over the summer and other final-year time commitments, but would recommend anyone on the fence about joining a sports team to just go for it.
If you?re not sure you actually want to play the games, there were plenty of people who regularly turned up for training but ...