Hello, I am Laura Copley, currently a student at the University but I am also a qualified exercise instructor. I run the well-being booster at Sutton Bonington Campus.

A well-being booster class is a class which aims to bring together groups of females to help develop confidence in gym surroundings. Each week, the itinerary changes so you develop a wide range of fitness knowledge. We work in pairs, as a whole group and also individually allowing you to meet and chat with new people but also giving you the opportunity to focus on yourself and achieve your own goals.

I came up with the idea of a well-being booster class while working alongside a group of netball girls. I learnt about how intimidating the gym can feel and the feelings of not knowing what you should be doing or if what you are doing is correct were more common than I first thought. Therefore, a class which allows females only to come along and have a taster for lots of different fitness based activities, have a chat and meet new people who they can potentially continue to train with felt like a good idea.

I would encourage people to come along to the Well-being booster class as it will help boost your confidence. There is time in the class to ask questions, choose specific areas of your body you would like to work or repeat specific movements you liked in previous weeks. We have a very relaxed environment although you should expect to get a little sweaty! We do many exercises that can be repeated at home with no equipment meaning you can practice between sessions should you feel motivated to do so.

The best thing I find with the Empower initiative programme is how it brings people together. Getting the girls to work in pairs and push each other to work harder brings lots of smiles to their faces. It is great to see girls coming together and bring out the confidence in one another.

The girls have found the classes really useful. It has been great to see the girls in the gym and in my other scheduled gym classes which they would not previously have felt confident enough to attend.

The well-being booster class will be running next term as well, so keep your eyes peeled for the schedule!

Good morning everyone!

On Thursday evening I attended the Empower Mindfulness workshop led by the wonderful Susie from the university counselling. I cannot rave enough about this workshop, at first I was quite sceptical about what benefits I would gain, but turns out I have been converted to the mindful way of life.

Mindfulness concentrates on acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there’s a right or wrong way to think or feel in a given moment. We learnt about all the health benefits of Mindfulness, it can physically have positive effects on your body and has been scientifically proven to reduce stress levels, improve your attention span and help achieve a better nights sleep.

Susie then guided us through two exercises. These exercises concentrated on paying attention to your body instead of trying to empty your mind. During these exercises my mind started to wonder and I started trying to decide what to have for dinner (the most important decision of the day). While I was pondering the million dollar question Susie interrupted my thoughts by asking us to all bring our attention back to what our bodies were doing as she knew our brains had probably started thinking of other things. Spooky right! (Turns out it wasn’t spooky but just science).

When I let my body relax and stopped thinking about all the essays I had to do (eeek) I noticeably felt better immediately. When we finished our group meditation all the girls said how relaxed they felt while simultaneously feeling more alert.

With the physical effects being so positive I feel that I would be silly to not try to continue these exercises, especially with the stress of deadlines and exams coming up. I mentioned that I may struggle to concentrate for a period of time without someone to guide me but Susie was really helpful in telling us about some Apps that could help.

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Some of these Apps include, Buddhify, Headspace, Calm, Smiling Mind, Happier and Stop and Think. I know that I personally will definitely be using at least one of these apps to try reduce stress and hopefully sleep better which will result in a healthier and hopefully less stressed me!

Empower will be holding another Mindfulness session at Sutton-Bonington campus Thursday 28th November and more will definitely be held next term so keep your eyes peeled!

Hello everyone!

My name is Victoria and I want to tell you a little bit about the Engage tennis session we run at the University of Nottingham.

I have played tennis since a young age but, like a lot of people I would imagine, was too nervous to play at the University during my first year. This is definitely one of my biggest regrets of first year, as since starting I’ve realised how great they are and had nothing to worry about!

The Engage sessions are so relaxed, you just turn up at the Nottingham Tennis Centre (only a 10 minute walk from campus!), meet one of the leaders (they are always very visible right by the courts), give them your name and student number, pay £3 (but if you’re a member of the David Ross gym the sessions are completely free) and join in! They provide rackets and tennis balls you can borrow, and then partner you up with someone of the same ability. Depending on court availability we play singles or doubles and have both inside and outside courts so there’s always space.

It is really up to you how you want to play, usually starting with just a knock about to warm up and then a game or match. It’s the perfect place to practice your slice, spin, volley, smash and serve, but with no pressure! If you do want to get involved in more competitive games you can join become a member of the University Tennis club but Engage allows you to play for an hour a week, no strings attached.

The Engage Sessions run every Wednesday 1-2pm, and you can check out their Instagram page @uontennis, Facebook page @UoNTennis and the UoN Engage @BeginnerSport.

I hope this has given you a little insight into Engage Tennis and I hope to see lots of new faces on the courts next week!

Victoria.

Hi guys,

My name is Rachel and I run the Engage sessions for Women’s Futsal, and I want to share our recent successes with you.

Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced, small-sided game, that is played indoors on a small court. Futsal is all about creativity and expression – using technical skills to take on opponents, play accurate passes and score lots of goals!

We have been running futsal sessions since the beginning of the term, learning more about passing, ball control and shooting. Everyone has been improving every week and coming back with new ideas and different things they want to try.

Three of the girls who attended these engage sessions regularly have now been called up to the University of Nottingham Women’s 5th Futsal team, playing in the BUCS Women’s Futsal Midlands 3A league. This has been a great success – the girls have progressed to a highly competitive standard and now frequently represent the university.

The 5s team recently took part in a league tournament, allowing the girls to show off their skills to rivals such as Wolverhampton 1s, Worcester 1s, and Oxford 1s. It was a great day to be a part of, and the team integrated with ease and confidence. We were the loudest and proudest team on the day!

These girls will now continue to be a part of the BUCS team for the rest of season, including upcoming Conference Cup matches against teams from all over the UK.

If you would like to get involved with the club or try out a new sport, come down to our Engage sessions Thursday 5-6 pm at David Ross Sports Village or message UoNWFC on Facebook for more details.

We are always looking to get new girls involved with futsal as it is fun, exciting and can open up opportunities to join a sports society at the university!

Rachel.

It was fun to be at a place where ladies predominated the scene. I started with salsa – it was great learning the steps (one two, three four and then a tip J) , and winding my waist all the way!

After salsa, I tried hula-hoops and I was miserable at it as I couldn’t keep them around my waist. It was interesting to see some ladies doing it effortlessly.

I made a new friend, Mulenga, and we tried badminton together. Before then, I had only tried Badminton about 16 years ago. I had a good experience at the badminton court. Even when I had difficulties serving, Mulenga encouraged me and gave me some useful tips. As if the universe wanted me to pick up a sporting skill to develop, two other ladies came to the court. Although they were quite good at the game, they encouraged me to keep serving not minding if I was delaying their game or not making it so much fun for them. Now, I know ‘one of my styles of serving’. After some rounds I left and by the way – I am considering going for the badminton sessions at Jubilee campus with Engage.

Well, it didn’t end there, I joined the queue to paint my face, and oh my gosh, such beauty J. And again it was my first time painting my face. I had always viewed it as a child’s act and that is what you get when you are given an opportunity to relax and breathe and enjoy the moment and live your life like a child- great bliss you would agree.

As if that was not enough, I went climbing. I climbed both sides of the wall and I think I did a good job climbing; I had fun doing it and I will do it again. The good thing about this climbing was I didn’t have to jump down, I was gently lowered. (“How do I get down ?” was the first question I asked the lady I met there- I consider that a good question).

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As you can see it was a night packed with much fun.

Here is how the magic mirror captures my before and after pictures. They tell you more than my words.

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…and the morning after…

I couldn’t wait to tell my colleagues everything I did, accompanied with pictures. I look forward to developing my badminton skills and I can’t wait to have this again next year! On a second thought, may be Girls’ Night In can be done every 6 months and students who haven’t settled in fully well at the beginning of the academic session can also get engaged.

Hi all,

We are really happy to start this blog and want to create an interactive space that we can involve you with. Our aim is to focus on our fantastic engage department at UoN and showcase everything we have to offer. Our team consists of the one and only Daniella Dutton and then three student ambassadors; Alex, Rachel and Victoria.

Keep an eye on this page to keep updated with events, news from the Ambassadors and success stories.

If you ever have any questions you can message us on facebook or email BR-engageteam@nottingham.ac.uk