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.