9 Reasons To Walk Today

The majority of us spend a large part of our day at work, leading largely sedentary lifestyles. One of the simplest and most effective ways to get some additional exercise in is to walk. Recent evidence suggesting that regular brisk walks could be as good for us, or possibly better than jogging.

Although 30 minutes of walking daily is the recommended ideal, you don't need to fit it in all at once.  If you find yourself struggling to set aside 30 minutes a day, you can split the walk into 3 ten minute stints, or a couple of 15-minute journeys.

Here are nine reasons to start walking today:

1. Walking Helps Manage Weight

Walking may seem leisurely but research has shown that it can be effective in reducing and controlling weight especially when combined with a healthy diet. Researchers at the University of Quebec found that women who walked more weighed less and had a smaller percentage of body fat.

2. Strengthens Bones and Joints

Walking is easier on your joints than high-impact activities such as running or aerobics but it is still a form of weight bearing. Weight bearing exercises have long been known to strengthen bones reducing your risk of developing osteoporosis as well as osteoarthritis. Walking just 30 minutes a day a few times a week is enough to increase bone density ~2% compared to non-exercisers.

3. It Lowers Your Risk of Heart Disease

Walking can improve circulation, ward of heart disease, strengthen the heart, reduce cholesterol and lower blood pressure. In fact researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that walking was as good as running when it came to your heart health. 

4. It's Good for your Brain

Walking has extensive cognitive benefits, improving memory, academic performance cognitive control and boosting creativity. It also improves circulation and cerebral blood flood which may help slow mental decline as you age. Studies from the University of Pittsburg have shown that seniors who walk at least 6 miles (9.6km) a week have reduced brain shrinkage. The 2014 World Alzheimer's Report also listed regular exercise is one of the best ways to combat the onset and advancement of the disease.

5. Decrease Your Cancer Risk

Walking may reduce your risk of developing some cancers. Women who walk at least seven hours a week are 14% less likely to develop breast cancer according to research while men treated for prostrate cancer who walk briskly at least three hours a week reduce their chances of recurrence.

6. Prevent or Control Diabetes

Walking can help lower your blood sugar levels, helping to control and prevent diabetes. Several studies have found that as little as fifteen minutes of walking after a meal will improve digestion and even out blood sugar levels. Additionally, even small amounts of weight loss can reduce risk factors, and delay or prevent the onset of the disease. 

7. It Can Make You Happier

A study performed by California State University found that the more steps people took throughout the day, the better their moods were due to the production of endorphins. It has also been cited as a way to reduce stress levels.

8. Walking Leads to Longer Life

A number of different researchers have found that walking can increase your longevity. The Honolulu heart study found walking just 2 miles (3.2km) a day can cut the risk of death in half, while another study found that those who partake in regular exercise in their fifties and sixties are 3.5% less likely to to die over the next eight years than their non-walking counterparts. If they already have underlying health conditions that figure increases to 4.5%.

9. It Can Reduce Your Risk of Stroke

Researchers have found that women who walk at a brisk pace for exercise have a much lower chance of having a stroke than those who didn't after a large long term study. The study theorised that the reduced risk of stroke was due to walking's ability to decrease blood pressure, which is a strong risk factor for stroke.

Following the completion of the 10,000 steps challenge, Monash Sport will be implementing a weekly walking group for all staff members at the Caulfield and Clayton campuses.

Clayton
Date: Every Tuesday from the December 1, 2015
Time: 1:00 - 1:45pm (approx.)
Where: Meet at the Lemon Scented Lawn

Caulfield
Date: Every Wednesday starting December 2, 2015
Time: 12 - 12:45pm (approx.)
Where: Meet at the Sound Shell

Walk Your Way to Better Health

Despite being a fairly underrated form of exercise, walking is a great way to improve or maintain your overall health. It's low impact, doesn't require equipment or any particular athletic skill, it's cost effective and can be done at any time of day or night by the majority of people regardless of your fitness level.

Walking is particularly good for those who are worried about the risks associated with some of the more vigorous forms of exercise.

Research has shown that just 150 minutes of brisk walking a week can add 3.4 years to your lifespan as well as offering a range of health benefits by increasing cardiovascular fitness, bone strength, decreasing excess body fat, and increasing musculature and endurance levels.

Regular exercise, even a low impact exercise such as walking can also lead to better performance at work. Researchers have found clear relationships between walking and overall mood and energy levels. The more walking you do throughout the day, the greater your overall mood and energy. Exercise can also increase cognitive function, making it easier to solve tough problems.

Walking can also help regulate your blood sugar levels, preventing the dips in energy after meals leading to three thirty-itis which can leave you feeling sluggish and struggling to concentrate.

Following the completion of the 10,000 steps challenge, Monash Sport will be implementing a weekly walking group for Monash University staff members at the Caulfield and Clayton campuses.

This program will be launched at the 10,000 steps celebration held at Monash Sport. Registrations for the event can be found here.

Mystery Shopper Success

As a part of an ongoing commitment to providing high quality service, between April and June, Monash University engaged independent customer service consulting agency CSBA to assess the service levels throughout the University, by mystery shopping a number of University departments, including Monash Sport.

Acting as "Mystery Shoppers", CSBA assessors made 226 general enquiry calls to multiple departments throughout the University. A total 70 of these calls were made to Monash Sport across the Caulfield, Clayton and Peninsula campuses, including the aquatics, health and fitness and venues service desks.

Monash University scored well above the GO8 University sector average in their overall telephone service scores, both in "getting through" and the quality of the services delivered.

Monash Sport received the Universities top Service Delivery score of 95% and in particular were highly accoladed for offering consistent greetings to customers, the warmth, attentiveness and interest of the staff, staff skill in resolving customer enquiries as well as their sound communication skills.

Customer service levels are a continuing focus of Monash Sport, last year approximately 60 staff members undertook a comprehensive customer service training program in a range of online and in person service enhancement workshops. We are proud to see that our service level reflects the emphasis and effort Monash Sport place on customer service. 

Staff are presently about to embark on another series of training modules in communicating effectively with customers from various backgrounds and cultures to create positive experiences for students who may experience language and cultural barriers.

Twilight on the Green

Held on Monday 12 of October, Twilight on the Green was the official launch by the President and Vice Chancellor Margaret Gardner AO, of the recently developed Caulfield Green and Sound Shell.

After many months of construction and development, this architecturally designed part of the campus has been brought alive with colour and activity.

Around 1000 students, alumni and staff came together to attend the event, despite the chilly evening, which offered a range of spring festivities as well as live music. 

Participants got to challenge themselves in sporting competitions, enjoy some tasty treats from an assortment of food and drink stalls and trucks, get a new look from our face painters all whilst being entertained by musicians and roving performers.

Live music was on offer from Kilter, E^ST, Tara Dowler and Monash's own Papa G and the Starcats as well as tunes from DJ Mona Gene. 

The event was a success with students and staff excited about the newly developed space and the potential future events and activities to be held at Caulfield Campus.

Water Wise Program creates a Splash!

At the beginning of the year the Water Wise program was launched as a fully funded learn to swim program available to all current Monash University students.

The initiative was designed to increase the Water Safety and swimming ability of Monash students. Last year alone 266 people drowned within Australia. The age group most at risk was 25-34 year olds. Monash recognised that whilst many students may have been brought up learning how to swim, some may have come from remote areas without access to swimming facilities or programs.

The water wise program is designed to teach any current student who would like to participate, how to swim at a beginner level. We believe that by increasing the number of students who know how to swim, we can help reduce the incidence of drowning.

Fully funded by the Student Services and Amenities Fee, since it’s launch date in January more than 1500 students have signed up to this valuable program, with numbers growing every week.

Over $9000 raised at MS 24 Hour Mega Swim

Team Minky raised over $3,800 and swam 87 kms

The 24 Hour Mega Swim, Stride and Spin was held over the weekend at Monash Sport, with over $9,000 raised for people affected by Multiple Sclerosis.

From 10am on Saturday morning to the following Sunday, five teams contributed to raising money for Multiple Sclerosis Australia. There were many tired faces when 10am Sunday arrived, as many participants elected to sleep at the pool over night. However all 52 participants were proud of their achievements while raising money for an excellent cause.

The money raised will go towards financially helping people unable to achieve their goals and dreams due to Multiple Sclerosis, in what MS Australia call Go for Gold scholarships.

Spokesperson for MS Australia Shara Gillahan was thrilled with the efforts shown from all the teams.

"So for the 2015 Monash 24 Hour Mega Swim, Spin and Cycle, you guys have been able to raise over $8,700 and still counting. That's an amazing effort and will help so many recipients of Go for Gold scholarships," she said.   

"The MS 24 Hour Mega Swim is to help raise funds to support people with MS to achieve their dream by granting them Go for Gold scholarships. Which is a financial scholarship to help them achieve their dreams, whether it be in education or employment, anything like that. Just to make it a little bit easier for them to achieve their dreams."

Shara herself was diagnosed with MS five years ago, and after being supported by MS Australia she has joined the organisation to give something back.

"I was diagnosed with MS in 2010, and I was fortunate enough to be a recipient of a Go for Gold scholarship in 2012. And through that it allowed me to achieve my dream of traveling over to Ireland and UK and the US to learn millinery from some of the world's best milliners," she said.

Click here for the highlights video featuring Go Pro footage.

The Mega Spin and Mega Stride were two new additions to the Mega Swim event this year, to give flexibility for those wanting to contribute out of the pool. The Mega Stride consisted of walking or running on a treadmill, while the Mega Spin gave participants the task of riding on a spin bike for 24 hours.

Mega Swim team Team Minky took out the overall winning team award, raising $3,840 and swimming 87.6km. Sally Fyfield won the award for highest fundraising for an individual, raising $1,485.

Georgia Abott took out the youth award and Mega Spin team the Knight Riders won the award for best dressed team.

Monash Sport has held five Mega Swim events over the years, with over $100,000 being raised in total.

Donations for the Monash 24 Hour Mega Swim, Mega Spin and Mega Stride will close a month after the event finishes. Follow this link to donate.

Mega Spin team 'Knight Riders' won the best dressed team award.

Footy Colours Day 2015

Each year, the Fight Cancer Foundation asks Australians to don their favourite football teams colours, unite and help support the fight against cancer.

For the second year in a row, Monash Sport held their all inclusive Footy Colours Day events across all three campuses to support the Fight Cancer Foundation.

At Clayton, staff and students ventured out to Monash Sport in spite of the week 8 overload to sample some tasty fares from food trucks, listen to tunes from our DJ, test their accuracy at hand balling or kicking a footy, and check out how high they could jump in the vertical jump test.

Ever the fan favourite, participants also spent some time bouncing off each other, the walls, and even off the ground in friendly games of bubble soccer.

Events were also held at the Caulfield campus on the new Campus Green and Peninsula campus in the Student Lounge involving football themed activities such as handball targeting, vertical jump competitions and goal kicking, while MONSU provided participants with a free BBQ lunch in support of the event.

A number of students and staff came out to celebrate the events, enjoying the food on offer and the chance to pit their skills against one another.

The Clayton campus event also offered the perfect opportunity to announce the winners of our inaugural Footy Tipping Competition. Nearly 1000 people registered in the competition from diverse areas of the university, the final draw however came down to six participants, who sat equally tied for first place. The winner was ultimately determined by the margin score.

First place went to Professor Chrishan Samuel from the Pharmacology faculty and was accepted by Dr Barbara Kemp-Harper on his behalf as he was overseas at the time. Professor Chrishan not only became the winner of the first place prize - a 50 inch Full HD Smart LCD TV, but also came first in their faculty's private competition, consisting of around 20 people.

Second place went to Saul Block - a Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Commerce student, currently completing his penultimate year. Saul won a one-year Fitness and Aquatics membership at Monash Sport.

Third prize was won by biochemical Post-Doctoral researcher, Dr Laurent Lermusiaux, who got to take home a Playstation 4 plus a couple of games.

Fourth place went to first year Psychology student Deandra de Krester, who as unable to attend and collect her Fitbit Charge HR as she was in a tutorial during the presentations.

Fifth place and winner of a Fitbit Flex went to Monash Blues football player Taylor Cameron.

A special mention should be made for Professor Edwina Cornish - Provost and Senior Vice-President of Monash University, who was the last to hold an equal tie for first place in points, however missed out on a prize by margin.

Well done to all of our Footy Tipping participants, and thanks to all who got involved in our Footy Colours Day celebrations.

Monash Sport MS 24 Hour Mega Swim, Spin & Stride

The MS 24 Hour Mega Swim is back on the Monash Sport calendar for 2015, and this year we are making the event bigger and better! We are including a 24 Hour Mega Spin, a spin bike event, and a 24 Hour Mega Stride, a walk/run event around the oval.

Entries are now open for this year’s event, and we are encouraging all Monash Sport staff to enter, or participate in a team!!

You can now register online. All three events will be held on 26 - 27 September at the Doug Ellis Swimming Pool & Monash Sport Clayton.

Please ensure if you are registering a team, please place SWIM, SPIN or STRIDE in the team name to indicate the event you wish to participate in.

The event is a fantastic team building exercise or off-season training opportunity. Prizes are awarded to teams who achieve the highest points through fundraising, swim time and distance.

To be part of this event, gather a team of up to 15 and divide the 24 hours up between you. All participants can swim/spin/stride as many times as they want providing there is a swimmer/rider/strider participating at any one time.

Register online today!

We Need Your Help! Help us fundraise $20,000 for people with multiple sclerosis.

The average age of diagnosis of MS is only 30 years of age. The disease strikes young Australians in the prime of their lives. We help people with multiple sclerosis to achieve as full and healthy a lifestyle as possible through the provision of services, programs and research.

The MS 24 Hour Mega Swim has been held annually in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney for the past 10 years. To date the event has raised over $1,000,000! All profits raised from the event go towards helping people living with multiple sclerosis to achieve their dreams. This year our goal is even higher and we need your help to reach it!

For more information please visit the MS Australia Mega Swim website or call the Mega Swim, Spin and Stride events team leader, Lisa Beasley on 9905 8424.

Platinum Pool Award for Doug Ellis Pool

Monash University's Doug Ellis Pool has been rated one of the best pools in Victoria, achieving Platinum Pool accreditation from Life Saving Victoria for outstanding levels of safety at an aquatic facility.

In a similar fashion to the accreditation of a lifesaver, pools undergo a thorough assessment of their skills and performance and must maintain a consistently high standard to meet the criteria for Platinum Pool accreditation.

The award recognises facilities which have met the highest safety requirements in the aquatic industry and gives a 5 star rating.

Not only has the Doug Ellis Pool received platinum accreditation but it was also shortlisted for the Aquatics and Recreation Victoria (ARV) Facilities Management Award for 2015. The award recognises the significant improvements Monash has made in refurbishing the pool as well as the innovative programming on offer such as the Water Wise free learn to swim classes.

Facility Refurbishments

Monash Sport is currently finalising the last of our expected refurbishment works.

After the numerous and extensive works taking place at the pool over the last year the long awaiting re-tiling of the Variable Pool floor signals the end of the works required and has been progressing incredibly well.

Meanwhile the Recreation Hall has also been closed off for much needed repair to the floor.

Whilst the works were expected to be completed in time for the start of semester 2 social sport, unforeseen issues with the concrete slab below the flooring have forced an extension of three weeks to the works.

Once completed however both the new Recreation Hall floor and the Variable Pool floor have a life expectancy of at least another ten years signalling the works required for an extensive period of time.

Both projects are progressing well and are on track for completion at the end of August.

Monash Sport's ARV Awards Win!

We are proud to announce that Monash Sport has won the Health Club of the Year Award at the 2015 Aquatics & Recreation Victoria Awards.

Aquatics & Recreation Victoria (ARV) is the peak body for aquatic and recreation in the state. Every year the ARV awards acknowledges people and organisations that have achieved outstanding results through their awards night.

This year Monash Sport applied and was shortlisted for both the Health Club of the year Award and the Facility Management Award for the Doug Ellis Pool.

The Health Club of the Year award recognises innovative and effective management practices to achieve excellence in health club operations. It focuses on programming, human resources, customer service, risk management, community involvement and partnerships.

The application for this award required Monash Sport to submit a written application outlining what sets us apart from the other health clubs within the industry. It allowed a maximum of 2200 words and required referencing to customer survey results, programming initiatives, member usage and features such as accessibility and enhancements to the centre. It also required a video submission (links below).

Monash Sport won the Health Club of the Year award in large part to their overall commitment to providing excellent services and features to their members.

Despite not being the overall winner of the Facility Management award, the Doug Ellis Pool being shortlisted was a testament to the commitment of the Pool staff to continually improve operations and development of the facility, leading to better community outcomes.

View our video applications below:

• Health Club Award - http://youtu.be/q-7jLnbOMXI
• Facility Management Award - http://youtu.be/N6FIlJq29SA 

Friday Night Freeze an Icy Success

Wayne Brundell, Senior Manager at Facilities and Services Division after he flew down the Freeze MND Ice Slide at Monash Sport's Friday Night Freeze. Photo by Matthew Bass.

The Monash community have come together to raise over $12,000 for the Cure MND Foundation at Monash Sport's Friday Night Freeze, part of Monash University's Winter Festival.

In an evening which drew approximately 4,000 staff, students and families, the Friday Night Freeze included snow activities such as tobogganing and snow-dodge ball, as well as a Monash Blues Amateur football match and Melbourne Victory player zone.

The focal point of the evening was raising money for the Cure MND Foundation. Participants could register themselves to ride down an ice slide into a pool of freezing cold water, earning donations in the weeks beforehand. This follows the 'Big Freeze at the 'G' in Round 10 of the AFL Premiership Season, which saw 11 football personalities ride down an ice slide in front of a packed house at the MCG before the Collingwood vs Melbourne match.  A majority of donations for the Friday Night Freeze were received online, and over $300 was collected from donation tins on the night.

Director of Monash Sport, Brett Lavale, was amazed by the success of the Friday Night Freeze in only its first year. Last year Monash Sport ran an event called Friday Night Live, however made changes to coincide with Monash University's first ever Winter Festival.

"It was a fantastic, successful event, both from a participation perspective and also from a quality of experience for the students and the staff and the community members who attended the event. So we estimated that we got about 4,000 people, or 4,000 sets of feet, attend the event," Mr Lavale said.

"So the campus community division decided it was going to do a major winter festival which ended up being called winterfest. And so Monash Sport was keen to co-locate its Friday Night Live event, which was started last year, with that festival and to enhance it and certainly expand it, which proved really successful."

See video highlights from Friday Night Freeze here.

Unlike the televised ice slide a few weeks ago, anyone could register for the Friday Night Freeze Ice Slide and raise money, which resulted in a mix of Monash Sport staff members, Monash Blues players and senior Monash staff members.

"So a number of senior University staff went down the ice slide, commencing with Martin Doulton, Director of Team MONASH. He was the first down the slide, and he was followed by Vladimir Prpich, Executive Director of Campus Community Division, and Vlad's wife Trisha Prpich, who is the Director of Monash Residential Services. Bradley Williamson, the Executive Director of Facilities and Services Division. And Wayne Brundell, who is one of the Senior Managers over at Facilities and Services Division," Mr Lavale said.

"And then we had a number of Monash Sport staff, Tania Hetherington, Caroline Lawrence, Melanie Elston and Maria Barres, who went down the slide. Also a number of Monash Blues Football Club players and past players went down the slide which was really pleasing."

Fresh off their Premiership and Championship wins, Melbourne Victory players Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Kosta Barbarouses and Rashid Mahazi were signing autographs and taking photos with fans beside a Victory shootout zone. Being Melbourne born and bred, 23 year-old Mahazi knows Monash well.

"To be honest I grew up around the corner from here, so I've been here quite a bit. And I think when we weren't training at Gosch's Paddock there was a period we trained here," he said.

Positioned adjacent to the Freeze MND Ice Slide, the Melbourne Victory players had the perfect view of the ice slide throughout the night.

"We were pretty amazed, it's quite a good cause. That's a really good thing they were doing down there," Mahazi said.

"And as well we're just enjoying being here, signing some things for the kids, meeting the families, it's a good night."

Cure MND is a charity close to the Monash Blues Amateur Football Club. Mick Rodger was a popular person around the club well beyond his playing days, and was working to fight MND right up until his passing due to the disease. The Monash Blues supported Mick all the way, and his legacy proves to be very strong today, as Senior Coach Paul Groves, and players Sam Baring, Andrew McGregor and Maddison Hardiman took the plunge down the ice slide at halftime. Much to the enjoyment of their fellow team mates watching on.

Other attractions on the night included a snowboard demo from the Monash Uni Boardriders, bubble soccer, DJ, fire twirlers, foodtrucks, fireworks and a football match under lights between the Monash Blues and De La Salle Old Collegians Under 19 sides. Having fireworks pre-game pumped up both teams, however the Monash Blues ran over the top of De La to win by 71 points.

See video highlights from Friday Night Freeze here.

The toboggan run.

Snow-Dodgeball

Monash Games 2015

Monash Games for 2015 certainly lived up to the expectations of previous years. High quality competition was evident in what was a great display of numerous sports over three days.

The competition brought together past participants as well as brand new teams made up of friendship groups and workplaces. There was even a team of avid basketball players, the High Flyers, who, unable to form a team from their peers but eager to play, took to Facebook to form a team, meeting for the first time on the day of the game.

The games raised nearly $500 for Ronald McDonald House (RMH) Clayton, a "home away from home" for families travelling from regional or rural Victoria and interstate for their sick and seriously ill children to receive treatment at Monash Children's Hospital. They have provided over 9000 families with a home close to their sick child over the past 21 years.

Volunteers are a pivotal element to Monash Games running smoothly and over the three day event of tournaments, a total of 17 volunteers helped out in scoring, results recording and general assistance. 


Overall 52 teams competed in the Monash Games for 2015, featuring over 400 staff and students. 

Monash Sport looks forward to another successful year of Monash Games in 2016.

Celebrating Diversity with One World Festival

Running from the 14 - 16 April on Clayton Campus, One World Festival was a celebration of the many cultural backgrounds of students at Monash.

Situated on the Lemon Scented Lawns and the Northern Plaza, One World Festival offered a variety of food, entertainment, social sports and volunteering opportunities.

Throughout the festival, Monash Sport offered students the opportunity to take active, fun breaks between classes or assignments to participate in games of Bubble Soccer.

Located directly opposite the various food stalls, the short five minute games offered numerous students the opportunity to participate between getting a bite to eat, or discussing overseas study, volunteering or internship opportunities, and drew together large crowds of both participants and watchers.

Wednesday 15 April saw MOVE (the Monash Overseas and Exchange) club students competing in their own version of "Battle of the Nations". Students from a range of cultural backgrounds were able to participate in the friendly games whilst having a laugh at themselves and others as the Bubble encasing proved a different kind of challenge (in regaining their footing).

Despite the rain putting a dampener on the Bubble Soccer activities on Thursday 16 April, the festival saw an excellent turn out of both students and staff, broadening their cultural horizons and celebrating the multiculturalism of students.

Monash Sport is excited to continue helping out with this event and offer fun, social sporting activities that encourage diverse participation throughout the year as it travels through the other campuses in Semester 2.

Getting back to their feet like a pro

Students could cool down after the game with homemade lemonade

Our SWAP program just keeps on growing

Monash Sport has seen a huge jump in the numbers of SWAP programs being undertaken by staff at Monash. The amount of programs has had a drastic jump with a fantastic 53 programs running so far compared to the 17 at this point last year.

SWAP (Staff Wellbeing and Activity Program) is run with Wellbeing at Monash and gives staff the opportunity to get active in a variety of group actives throughout the work day such as Pilates, boxing classes, Zumba and more.

With new statistics indicating that sedentary workers have increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues and deep vein thrombosis, and even cancer there's never been a better time to get involved.

Just 30 minutes daily of moderate intensity exercise is needed to combat the effects of a sedentary lifestyle, whilst also having the added benefits of reducing stress.

SWAP gives all staff the opportunity to reduce the amount of time spent inactive throughout the day through fun and affordable programs.

More information on SWAP can be found here.

Staff enjoying a boxing class

Monash Global Walk/Run

On Tuesday 31 March more than 600 staff and students took advantage of the fabulous weather to participate in the Monash Global Walk/Run.

Monash hosted the event, and students and staff were able to walk or run their way across all Monash campuses and sites in support of the work of Andrology Australia in funding men's health programs and education initiatives.

The event, presented by Wellbeing at Monash, together with Team Monash and Monash Sport provided a great opportunity for staff and students to come together and participate in a step toward better health.

Participants at Clayton warmed up to music on the Menzies lawn with Caroline Lawrence of Monash Sport. Martin Doulton, the walk guide for this years event then led participants through the campus, showcasing the Rainforest Walk and the residential lake.

The event was appreciated at other sites also, with Caulfield campus seeing their highest participation to date with more than 60 people taking part.

After the walk/run, participants got to enjoy a health smart lunch in the games hall at Monash Sport and mingled with others, whilst donating a gold coin to Andrology Australia.

Paul Barton, Director of Business Support at Facilities and Services closed the Clayton event highlighting the importance of taking time to exercise at least five times a week.  He also encouraged staff to continue their journey toward a healthier lifestyle by taking advantage of the many wellbeing programs available at Monash.

AFL Tipping

In an effort to raise student engagement in the wide range of services and competitions Monash Sport offers, the AFL Tipping Competition was launched.

Offering free entry to students and staff of Monash, the competition allows them to hone their intuitive skills whilst provided them with the opportunity to win some great prizes (first place is a 50 inch Full HD Smart LCD TV, and second is a year long fitness and aquatics membership).

Monash Sports AFL Tipping competition even offers students the ability to create their own Private Competitions where they can rival family members and friends directly to see who has the best tips.

The competition has already brought together more than 950 participants, with more entering every day and will be running until the end of the AFL regular season in September.

If you'd like to get involved click here.

Farrer takes the gold at College Clash

College Clash is an annual event allowing students from Monash Residential and Non-residential Colleges to enjoy a BBQ together, listen to music and compete in a range of fun social sporting activities.

The event offered College students the chance to match against each other in alternative activities such as Tug of War, Bubble Soccer, Paper Plane crafting (and ability to land said plane in a bucket), bowling, and traditional activities such as basketball competitions, and regular soccer utilising the inflatable pitch.

Farrer took the lead this year followed by Peninsula, winning prizes and more importantly year-long boasting rights. for 2015.

Monash Games is coming up

From 22-24 July Monash students and staff will have the opportunity to compete in fun and friendly modified sports. All skills levels are able to compete with each sport competition being completed over one full day with pool matches in the morning and finals in the afternoon.

Students can compete in a variety of sports such as Basketball, Mixed Netball, Futsal, even Dodgeball.

There is also a staff challenge catering for the fact that staff often can't dedicate a full day to the competition. Sports offered will be Basketball, Volleyball, Futsal and Mixed Netball.

Monash Games supports Ronald McDonald House Monash, a "home away from home" for families who need to travel from regional or rural Victoria and interstate for their sick or seriously ill child to receive treatment at the Monash Children's Hospital. They have provided over 9000 families with a home close to their sick child over the past 21 years.

If you'd like to get involved, details for the games can be found here, with registrations opening closer to the date.

Water Wise Program Launched

At the beginning of this year the Water Wise program was launched as a fully funded learn to swim program available to all current Monash University students.

The initiative was designed to increase the Water Safety and swimming ability of Monash students. Last year alone 266 people drowned within Australia. The age group most at risk was 25-34 year olds. Monash recognised whilst many students may have been brought up learning how to swim, some may have come from remote areas without access to swimming facilities or programs.

The Water Wise program is designed to teach any current student who would like to participate, how to swim at a beginner level. We believe that by increasing the number of students who know how to swim, we can help reduce the incidence of drowning.


Funded by the Student Services and Amenities Fee, since it's launch date in January 450 students have signed up to this valuable program with numbers growing every week.

More information on this program can be found here.

Play On Festival a hit!

At the beginning of the Semester, Monash Sport ran the Play On! Festival, encouraging students to get active in Semester 1.

Running over four days, Play On! combined existing events such as College Clash and MRS social sport with a variety of fun, new, social and sporting activities including Bubble Soccer, Outdoor Cinema and Dodgeball.

The Festival offered musical entertainment provided by guest DJ's, access to cheap eats from various food trucks, free blend your own smoothies (using a Bike Blender) and a $50 gift card for the best selfie with a food truck. Play On! brought together over 1000 students from a diverse range of backgrounds, including 450 Residential students who participated in the annual College Clash and even some staff members.

The festival received a tremendous amount of positive feedback from students, with many citing Bubble Soccer as their favourite part, and indicating that Play On! was their main reason for coming into Uni that day.

With 92% of students indicating that they would attend a similar event in the future, Monash Sport considers this years Play On! Festival a success!

Students competing in Bubble Soccer

One of the tasty food trucks available

Blend your own smoothie - with a bike.