Orientation Week for semester one of 2023 has proved a rousing success, with tens of thousands of students enjoying the festivities across all four campuses. 

A pop-up playground, plenty of free food, sport galore and Team Monash’s famous ‘Blue Person’ were among the aspects providing plenty of joy to first-year students and the many others who turned out across the week. 

More than 30 sporting clubs were on show alongside Team Monash and Monash Sport across the Clayton, Caulfield, Peninsula and Parkville campuses, and experienced thousands of new sign-ups. 

O-Week serves as a great way for students to learn about what Uni life has to offer. From representing Monash in Varsity sport, signing up for a gym membership, accessing swim lessons or registering to be a part of a club, there is something for everyone.

Monash University’s sporting clubs play a key part in helping students meet people, make connections and learn or improve their skills. This year O-Week was once again a wonderful opportunity for clubs to be introduced to new members and vice-versa, while also creating an amazing community feel for clubs to kick-start their years. 

Sporting clubs from all campuses had a fabulous week and loved seeing student snack on campus and keen to get involved. We caught up with many of them at the end of the week and here is what they had to say:

Blair Goble - Snowsports 

“We just want to bring as many new people into clubs as possible… We get a lot of social interactions which are really good for meeting people, which is why O-Week is so good because it’s one of the big events that new members of Monash come to. 

“It’s a great way for people to find the club that’s right for them.”

Gavin Qian- President of the Monash University Dodgeball Association 

“O-Week is very important because we can get a lot of engagement from new members, bring fresh blood into our club. Especially as a grassroots dodgeball organisation, it is really important for us. 

“We’re trying to grow the sport as much as possible and university is a great way to try and get new people into the sport and enjoying the community as a whole. 

“Hopefully it’ll be a big year for the club. We’re trying to get as many people into the sport as possible now that dodgeball is trying to make itself a really big sport on the international stage. 

“We’re just trying to grow ourselves, hopefully eventually make it to the Olympics or some other big event, maybe make it to UniSport Nationals as well.” 

Tills Gunther – Monash Boardriders

“O-Week is super important because we love getting new recruits. Monash Boardriders is a very social club so it’s starting the year off on a very social footing and telling the first years what it’s all about. 

“The week is going so well, the energy is very high, we’ve been getting lots of sign ups and lots of interest and people that are pumped to start board riding.” 

Sky Blackshaw - Monash Blues AFL

“The great thing about the club is we have a very regular turnover of new players coming down and we want to get new players fresh out of junior footy, so O-Week is super important to attract that crowd to our club.”

Victoria Stok – Waterpolo 

“It’s really good that we’re getting new members each year, it’s really good to see lots of fresh faces in the club and O-Week is where we get most of our new members from. 

“It’s really important that we can be visible to students as well and students know what options there are for them and it’s such a good way to build community. 

“This is our best O-Week in years and it’s so cool to see campus coming back to life again. We’ve had more signups in the last two days than we did for all of last year, so this O-Week has just been fantastic!” 

Tessa Faulks – Underwater Hockey 

“We’re getting a lot of interest more from people who have never heard of the sport but we’re also doing beginner snorkelling sessions, so getting a lot of interest in that. 

“It’s nice to see fresh faces and get a few names down.”

What a wonderful way to kick start the semester. Watch our wrap-up video of O-Week here and check out our Facebook page here for photos from the week.

For more info on the Programs we offer, head to our website.