I understand many of the UK unis participate in BUCS (British Universities and College Sports) vs the regular varsity level sports that are here in the US. How does recruitment to those club sports happen at each university that participates in BUCS? Is there a tryout period or walk on or are they actually recruited like they are in the states?
No recruiting. Nothing like the US.
So then do they just post tryouts? How does it work?
They’re like club sports here in the US.
Oxbridge may recruit (grad student) athletes for rowing. That’s about it.
You join the club, they will usually have trial sessions during freshers, and go to practice and they sort you in to teams. Many teams will have a first team, second team, and so on depending on how many join. It is much less formal than here. Coaches are often other students. There’s usually a modest fee to participate and you may be responsible for purchasing your own kit. (aka equipment)
And although there are some elite participants (particularly at Loughborough), the general level of skill is much lower than in the US, because you get admitted to college for academics not sports. When I was in college a guy I knew who hadn’t been good enough to be recruited for tennis at Princeton found it easy to get a blue.
@twoin18 my daughter was what would be a mediocre high school swimmer in California and would have had decent times in Scottish competition, but was unispired by the practices in a a tiny indoor high school pool at inconvenient times.
And worth noting that the frequency of practices is generally far lower than in any US high school or club sport. 2-3 practices per week would be seen as a significant if not excessive commitment (although as noted above Oxbridge does take rowing seriously and in most cases they practice 6 days a week).
Sport is very important in UK universities but more from a participation standpoint than spectating. Most universities will field several representative sides upto say 5- 6 in major sports and at least one in minor sports. In the major sports you can anticipate the first and second team having a full time coach and beyond that it will be student run. No universities specifically recruit for sport but there are a few universities which are strong across the board, Edinburgh, Durham, Loughborough, Birmingham and Oxbridge are a few that spring to mind. As for standards there are a few sports which can compare with US div 1 schools, men and womens crew, mens soccer, womens field hockey, while men’s rugby is probably stronger, and there are always the odd olympian that might be a student in swimming, fencing or track etc. The beauty of UK college sports is there is always a standard and commitment to suit your taste and it is an instant set of friends when stepping on campus. The only thing I would be wary of is student sport in London, given the value of real estate expect an hour and 30 min tube ride to some god forsaken mosh pit on the outskirts when it is raining sideways which would test the resolve of any budding Lionel Messi.