Recreational Sport Clubs Winter 2023 Recap
Western had 18 Recreational Sport Clubs running programming in 2022-23.
Clubs are open to all Western students and are a great way to get involved in our campus community, meet new people, and access a new and enriching experience. For more information about each one of our Clubs, visit our website: List of Recreation Sport Clubs - Sport and Recreation Services - Western University (uwo.ca)
Registration for Recreational Sport Clubs for 2023-24 will open in the fall. Watch our website and social for more information.
In the meantime, we would encourage you to learn more about what Winter 2023 looked like for some our clubs and their student members, in terms of the programming they offered and competitions they participated in.
Artistic Swimming Club
The Western Artistic Swimming Club had an outstanding inaugural year! With members of varying levels of experience, the club formed both novice and experienced teams, allowing for a diverse group of athletes.
The 1st term was dedicated to choreographing routines, and the season kicked off with a remarkable performance at the London Synchro Watershow, providing an opportunity for the team to showcase their skills in front of a live audience.
The 2nd term started with a unique twist as the team participated in a dance class to improve their artistic abilities, which allowed for more creative choreography. The club also gave back to the synchro community by volunteering at the London Synchro Club practices, helping the younger athletes and demonstrating some of their routines.
As competition season approached, the team competed in Easterns at UofT, their first time competing together as a Western Club. The experienced team achieved a 6th place finish, and the novice duet had an impressive pre-swim. Determined to improve upon their placing for nationals, the teams worked tirelessly to adapt their routines to comply with the new marking scheme. The hard work paid off as the experienced team and duet placed 2nd at the event, with Vice-President Evelyn Young receiving the overall experienced athlete high-point award, and President Bridget Koza receiving the True Sport Award. The novice duo also showed significant improvements with their energetic ‘Lizzo’ themed performance.
The club is excited for what is to come next season.
Equestrian Club
The Western Equestrian Club had an amazing 2022-2023 year! This club is a great place for all animal lovers and for people that are passionate about horses and equestrian sports to come together to share their common interests.
We had an incredible lesson program this year with over 65 students participating in the first semester alone and additional new students joining in the second semester. In addition to the lesson program, we also introduced a horsemanship program this year which was very successful and a lot of fun.
We encourage all level of riders and experience to join our club. Even if you are not interested in riding, we have super fun events that are organized by our amazing executive team. This year we had a few different social nights at local restaurants, a pizza night, a SARI therapeutic riding tour, and a trail ride. Our members had so much fun, and we can’t wait to do even more fun things for our club next year.
One of our biggest events of the year was our OCEA team horse show. Our OCEA competitive team put on an amazing show, hosting three other schools, and coming home with some amazing ribbons and prizes. We had several of our riders qualify for the regional finals which hosts the top riders from universities across Ontario! We are so proud of all of our riders who qualified and competed at finals. We had some incredible results with some of our riders finishing top in the province.
We have had nothing but positive experiences with our club and we want to continue that in the years to come. Many of our members have met their closest friends through our club and seeing the friendships develop throughout the year and the smiles that come is incredible. We want to thank all of our members for a fantastic year and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone next year!
Fencing Club
The Fencing Club had an excellent year overall!
By participating in weekly practices, club social events, and tournaments, our club members were able to develop long-lasting friendships with one another while improving their fencing knowledge, hand-eye coordination, and cardiovascular fitness.
Our club held two practices per week and a tournament at the end of each semester.
Our members were able to develop their skills in all 3 disciplines – epee, foil, and sabre.
To further build better relationships with one another, we held two social events over the course of the year as well, one at Tilt Arcade and the other at a local restaurant.
The Fencing club was rebuilding at the end of the 2022 school year, after not running since before the pandemic. This year, we were able to take the club from about 15 members to hitting our maximum capacity and reaching over 40 club members! The Fencing club looks forward to having an even bigger year next year and are excited to continue doing what we love with our peers.
Karate Club
The Karate Club is proud to have completed another successful year. 2022-2023 focused on activities, learning opportunities, and community building.
Our club events this year included:
- two women’s self-defence seminars in collaboration with the Women In Engineering association,
- a combat seminar with guest sensei Jose Aulenti
- an off-campus recommendation and grading
- a tanbō weapon seminar with guest instructors Hanshi Legacy and Sensei Jaiden Legacy
- one in class grading
- and finally, a club social dinner at The Wave
We also had one member represent the club at a recreational tournament in Toronto, where she won a gold medal in sparring.
Our club also created and distributed new merchandise for club members this year.
Every class, we have a turnout of about 7-10 members. We have members who are consistently present in classes, as well as members who attend our courses with less frequency. Overall, participation in practices helps to build more successful lessons, and we have found our members bring a very optimistic outlook to each class.
Our club is very proud of our volunteer Senseis who provide these classes every week and are constantly bringing new ideas and strategies to the table for the betterment of the club.
The Karate classes are very enjoyable, and the environment is inclusive and positive. Next year, we plan to expand the club more in terms of more members and executive positions and keep coming up with innovative and engaging events and activities.
Kendo Club
Kendo is a sport that not only trains you physically, but also mentally - focusing on etiquette, discipline, and a strong fighting spirit.
Newcomers to Kendo start off as beginners learning all the basic footwork, hitting and most importantly etiquette. Our members will eventually move on to advanced classes with an emphasis on strategies to land successful strikes and defend against them.
At the end of the fall term, we hosted an in-club beginner’s tournament for all the beginners to show off what they’ve learned throughout the semester.
In January 2023, the Western Kendo Club helped with and attended the 2023 Kendo intercollegiate tournament. The intercollegiate tournament is an annual event that is attended by university kendo clubs from all over Canada and the United States.
We also had representatives from the club attend the Japanese Canadian Culture Centre Tournament and grading in November 2022 and University of Toronto Kendo Tournament in March 2023.
All the different events meant there were plenty of opportunities for our members to demonstrate their skills. Although our club is relatively small, this is what helps to allow our members to build a tight relationship with each other.
Squash Club
The Squash Club had an amazing turnout this past year, averaging around 70 members during each semester.
We held two tournaments during the year, that each had 40+ people attend. The tournaments had two brackets: one for advanced players, and another for intermediate and beginner players. During the final tournament, club members received Squash Club merchandise (t-shirts and hoodies), and the winners of each bracket won gift cards to OfCourts, the racket sports store in London.
Our regular sessions ran twice per week, and typically hosted around 20 members of all skill levels.
Taekwondo Club
This season has been a busy, but successful season for the Western Taekwondo Club.
We broke the ice with a group dinner in October 2022, followed by an escape room social in November, and a potluck dinner and white elephant gift exchange in December. We went bowling in February 2022, held karaoke and a skating event in March, and finally - our last social event of the season was at The Factory, where members got to enjoy a day of trampolines, obstacle courses, and arcade games!
Throughout the season, our members were also tirelessly preparing for tournaments,
demonstration performances, and belt promotion tests.
In November, we attended our first official Taekwondo Ontario sanctioned tournament in 3 years at the Toronto Open TKD Championships. Our team came back with a total of 15 medals: 3 gold, 7 silver, and 5 bronze medals. Following the tournament, our members prepared for their first colour belt promotion test.
In March, we were invited by the Western University Korean Students Association (WUKSA) to perform at their annual Korea Day event. This was an opportunity for members to perform board breaking and synchronized Taekwondo routines on stage.
Finally, we finished the season off with a colour belt and black belt promotion test. We had the honour of having Master Johl and Alissa Juman, World Taekwondo International Referee, as special guests to facilitate and referee our black belt promotion test. We promoted a total of 17 colour belts and 3 black belts.
Overall, the 2022-2023 season was amazing and we are extremely proud of all of our members for their hard work and achievements this year!
