All About the UTM Sports Learning Club (UTMSC)
No Experience? No worries, UTMSC is here to help!
The University of Toronto Mississauga Sports Learning Club (UTMSLC) is a place for students who feel left behind when they think of sports. It’s for students who feel they cannot participate in sports on campus due to their peers having years of experience over them. Some may feel that it is “too late” for them to get into sports. The UTMSLC is here to tell them that it is never too late. No matter if you have the experience we mentioned, have none at all, or just want to learn about sports, UTMSLC is the place for you.
Our goal at UTMSLC is to bring a wide variety of sports that students may not have been introduced to beforehand to them. This will be done through classroom sessions and gym sessions that will be held separately. The goal is to boost confidence, improve skills, and build an engaged community. Many sports clubs focus on competition, while our main goal is to teach, encourage participation, and create an environment where everyone can learn and feel welcome without uncertainty about whether they are good enough.We will encourage all our members to step out of their comfort zones to try and learn new sports without the pressure of having tons of experience or being highly skilled.
Throughout the year, UTMSLC will organize in-class sessions and gym sessions depending on the sport. Sports will include fencing, basketball, rock climbing, tennis, and a lot more! In-class sessions will have experts in the sport come in and teach us all about the sport and show us some interesting facts. This will include experts teaching club members about the rules, basic techniques, strategies, or even the cultural and competitive background of the sport. This will allow everyone to build knowledge on sports they may be interested in and get any questions they may have answered.
Gym sessions will provide the opportunity to physically participate in certain sports. Members of the UTMSLC will be put into casual, low-pressure games where the focus will be to learn, improve, and have fun, rather than battle in a highly competitive environment. This will ensure that students feel comfortable and welcome no matter their skill level, athletic background, or experience with sports.
The sports that we will pick will be through a vote system when students will apply to be members. At the bottom of our form for the applications, we ask members to tell us which sport they are most interested in participating in or learning about. From these votes, we will pick the most requested sports and will announce them weekly through our Instagram (@utm_slc), Discord server, and email.
UTMSLC is not just about physical activity, but about physical literacy as well. Physical literacy emphasizes the necessity of developing the confidence, skills, and motivation that are required to participate in physical activity throughout our lives. Studies show that when people are given opportunities to learn movement skills in enjoyable environments, they are more likely to stay active and have positive physical, mental, and social health outcomes.
Officially being a UTM-approved club, we are committed to promoting inclusivity, learning about many sports, and building a community through sport.
For inquiries on our events, such as the in-class sessions and gym sessions, make sure to follow our Instagram page (@utm_slc), join our Discord server, and sign up to be a member through the form in the Instagram bio.
