So... what's lifesaving and why do we love it?? Well… what other sport will give you not only fun and diverse training in the pool, but provide you with the opportunity to earn money through a rare and highly sought-after campus job, keep you fit whilst laughing with friends, and at the same time equip you with valuable life skills that you’ll keep forever!
At Warwick, Lifesaving is a club like no other. Our relatively small community means we all know each other very well – an inevitable result with weekly training sessions and numerous comps and socials! Although this makes for close friendships, we are always incredibly welcoming towards freshers and students of any year alike who would like to join our friendly and diverse group and try out lifesaving – everyone is always so keen to explain what we do and teach you what’s going on that you’ll be inundated with friendly faces to offer advice and guidance if needed!
So what do our training sessions actually entail? Lifesaving is divided into what we like to call Speeds (kind of like swimming but a LOT more interesting) and SERCs (basically first aid skills and then we put them into action as a team in a competition-style emergency scenario)! Read more about the exciting things we get up to here, including diving under obstacles and towing manikins in torpedo buoys as a relay team, car fires, cave-ins and chemical lab malfunctions.
Welcome Week (Week 0)
During Welcome Week we've got plenty of exciting events for you to come and find out about our club and what we do. Feel free to come to as few or as many things as you like!
- Monday 29th Sept - Meet the Exec Picnic! Come to The Oculus Field between 13:00-16:00 and meet our lovely Lifesaving Exec at our Lifesaving Picnic! As well as some food, we will have a range of exciting activities such as some CPR practice and some throw ropes - can you save a life, and can you throw faster than our Exec?
- Tuesday 30th Sept - Sports Fair! Join us at the Sports Hub Hall between 10:00-18:00 to ask us any questions you have about lifesaving!
- Tuesday 30th Sept - Meet the Exec @ T Bar! Come to Terrace Bar in the SU between 16:00-18:30 to grab a drink and have a chat with our exec!
- Wednesday 1st Oct - First Aid Skills Drop In! Come along to R1.04 in Ramphal between 17:00-19:00 for an interactive hands-on drop in session to learn some potentially lifesaving skills! We'll go over things such as how to deal with bleeds, broken bones, a friend passing out, and even CPR. You'll also have the opportunity to meet and chat to our friendly exec and find out all about the club!
- Thursday 2nd Oct - Lifesaving In Action: First Aid Crash Course & Scenarios! Come along to R1.13 in Ramphal for 12:30 for an action-packed First Aid Crash Course. We will cover essential life-saving skills such as CPR, wound care, chocking response, and how to handle emergencies until professional help arrives. Plus, discover the world of SERCs and how we compete in teams of 4 faced with an unexpected emergency scenario under time pressure.
- Friday 3rd Oct - Sports Day (Pool Taster Session). Come along to our biggest free taster session in the pool at 14:30! You don't need any special equipment, just meet us on poolside in your swimming costume. Any swimming ability is absolutely fine (and of course no prior lifesaving experience is expected!).
- Friday 3rd Oct - Quiz Night! Come to R3.41 on the top floor of the Ramphal for a 18:30 start. The quiz will follow your typical pub quiz style plus a few questions on lifesaving and first aid. Prizes will be up for grabs for the winning teams!!!
N.B.: You don't need to be booked on with the Welcome Week timetable to come along to these.
You can fill in this 2025-26 Interest Form here to receive emails so you stay updated with our events and taster sessions! During Welcome Week we've got plenty of exciting events for you to come and find out about our club and what we do. Feel free to come to as few or as many things as you like!
Free Taster Sessions (Weeks 1&2)
The first two weeks of training are all taster sessions so you won't need to buy a membership to come along and have a go! We have plenty of sessions both in and out of the pool - feel free to come along to any one session or all seven! Times and locations are listed below:
Meet us on poolside for the Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday taster sessions - you won't need any special equipment, just wear a swimming costume and goggles!
The only thing you will need to do to come to our taster sessions is to book onto them through Warwick Sport:
- Go to the Warwick GladstoneGo website
- Make sure you're logged in with your university email
- Search for 'lifesaving'
- Select and book onto the sessions you wish to attend!
N.B.: You don't need to book on to the Friday session.
Please note that we have a finite number of places available so please only book onto a session if you're actually going to turn up to prevent others from missing out! Booking can be done up to 7 days in advance and cancelled anytime. Message us on Instagram if you need any help with booking!
Can I still join after Tasters finish?
Of course! We would love to share our love of lifesaving with anyone. From Week 3 onwards, we have four sessions per week, but we understand how busy university life is so attendance to all sessions is definitely not compulsory! Feel free to join us whenever you can make it for any session (or half session!). Our training times and locations are the same as for tasters and are listed below:
Click here for more details of what we get up to in each session!
You need to get our membership plus the On-campus Pass and SU Federation Fee but this is one up-front payment which lasts for the whole year - an amazing deal for 8 hours of training each week in all three terms! If you've already bought the On-campus Pass and Federation Fee for another club, then you don't need to buy these again, and you'll just need to get our £6 membership! See the bottom of this page for more details.
But what about getting my qualifications?
We run courses throughout the year which look great on your CV, including the Emergency First Aid at Work Qualification and the National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ) - the prerequisite to a part-time campus (or elsewhere) job as a lifeguard. We will be running an NPLQ course if we receive interest, this will be open to everyone but spaces will be prioritised to our club members, who will also receive a hefty discount! If you are interested in the NPLQ, please express your interest here to receive more information.
You can also visit our website for more info and to find sign-up links to receive updates about our courses.
And what about socials?
Even though all of our sessions are super fun and enjoyable, we also do a lot of fun things away from training! Warwick Lifesaving is one of the best clubs on campus for socials as we have one of the most jam-packed calendars all throughout all three terms, with events both sober and not, catering to all of our members! Some things that we have coming up in Term 2 include:
- Movie and foodie nights
- Escape rooms and bowling
- Trampoline park trips
- Clubnights and pub golfs
- Circling (a Warwick tradition!)
- ...and much more!
You don't have to come to everything but it's always the more the merrier! Check out the full Term 2 calendar on our website here.
And competitions?
We have six league comps this year, forming the majority of our competition calendar! These competitions are exclusively for university student teams, making them great fun.
This 2024-25 academic year will see competitions in:
- University of Nottingham (16th Nov)
- Our home competition in Warwick! (30th Nov)
- University of Birmingham (14th Dec)
- University of Bristol (8th Feb)
- University of Southampton (22nd Feb)
- Loughborough University (10th May)
To find out more click here
"Do I have to pay for competitons?"
Our University competition costs are heavily subsidised to ensure they're affordable to everyone. Typically the fees you will have to pay yourself is a small contribution to petrol, entry costs, food and a few pounds towards the social and accommodation if you choose to stay overnight. This is literally a few quid - about £15/20 altogether for travel, a meal, accom, social and the competition itself!
I'm keen, what can I do right now?
We are really looking forward to meeting you, see you soon!
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"Lifesaving Sport is a competitive and dynamic international sport, with a variety of fun and challenging activities that take place in and out of the water at swimming pools and the beach. It is also an important vehicle to engage young people in lifesaving and support drowning prevention.” - RLSS 2025
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