“For me, sport has always been a way of bringing people together and really helped me when I moved to London 2 years ago. Whilst I had some friends, I still felt lonely and wanted to give my all to this big adventure I had started.
One day, I simply googled ‘outside sports in London’ as I love the outdoors and wanted to get to know more people. I was sceptical on what the results would be, but I was so surprised. I saw a sports company called ‘Go Mammoth’ who do a range of sports with the added social fun. I saw they did Rounders all over London and signed up to join. The games are played after work, giving people more chances to play sports. I chose Regents Park and was really nervous on the first evening. I arrived at where they told us to meet and there were around 40 people watching a game of rounders. Go Mammoth told us the name of the team I was part of so I asked people there what team they were on/if they knew where I could find my teammates.
After I found my teammates, we were all in the same boat as we all didn’t know anyone. We started playing against another team who also didn’t know anyone before that evening. There were around 8 teams in the league and we played a different team each week. After the first game, all of the teams went to the pub and we got to know each other. I became really good friends with people from my team and even though Rounders is only a Summer sport, I meet with some teammates throughout the year. I signed up as an individual again and met more people the following Summer.
When the season finished, I went back on the Go Mammoth website and decided to give Dodgeball a go. I felt the same as I did when joining Rounders, but the team was so welcoming. Dodgeball happens all year round and I have now made really good friends from it.
Each time I find out somebody is moving to London, I tell them about Go Mammoth. It has really helped me make London home, built my confidence and I have made friends for life.
Exercise really does bring people together.”
