Stirling University Pole Fitness joined Brig this semester to tell us all a bit more about the sports club, the history behind it, training times and competitions, and also how to join!
Former president and treasurer of Pole Fitness, Khaliun Batbayar, has been doing pole fitness for over five years since starting in 2019.
Batbayar explains the history of pole fitness and how the club has grown as a sport these past few years: “The first thing we always tell everyone before joining is that they have to know where pole comes from, and they have to recognise that it mainly comes from dancers and sex workers of colour, who have created all of the basic moves that we do today. It is now more recognised as a form of fitness and it has taken on a life of its own. But, as much as the sport aspect is a great part of it, we have to respect its history, where it comes from, and give sex workers the recognition they deserve.
“The club is great. For our sport, the moves require skin contact with the pole to get the grip, so we wear very little clothing. Because of this, our members gain a lot of body-confidence, and confidence in a space where they can be themselves and where they can learn to trust their body in a very accepting environment. As a club we provide that.”
“In pole, you also gain a lot of strength because you are lifting your own body weight. It’s very close to callisthenics and wall climbing for example, but the only apparatus you use is the metal pole. You are also learning routines to dance around the pole, so it’s a fun way to stay in shape.
Pole Fitness at the University
Pole fitness became official members of the Stirling Sports Union in May of 2022, although they still had to fight for this spot. As pole fitness requires a large amount of time to practise and needs to be taught person-to-person, the club feels as though they don’t receive enough allocated gym-time to practise their sport. Regardless of the amount of people interested in joining, the lack of time is an obstacle for club growth.
“I think the sports centre doesn’t put a lot of time into non-BUCS sports,” Batbayar continues.
“In that way, even in our first year when we were becoming a sports club, there were issues where they said we didn’t fit their image, and even now we are still fighting for that spot in the sports centre. We need several hours so that everyone can be taught and everyone gets that attention they need, so I think we could definitely grow bigger as a club if given the time and some added help from the sports union for equipment storage and things like that.
“Now as a sports club, a lot more people can find us compared to when we were a society, which has been great. Now we finally also have a place to practise, which we didn’t have before as we used to have to use the local pole studio which was more expensive for our members,” said Batbayar.
How can members compete?
Pole fitness competitions allow people of all levels to compete. When competing as a university, each club has two members competing per category, starting with beginners. So you can compete individually, but also as a whole university group, combining the individual scores into one, where the highest-scoring group wins.
Batbayar says: “I would say we are very successful in our competitions. We don’t go to the English competitions yet as it is expensive to compete and travel, but we do go to the North England Nationals. Every year we place. It’s not always as a university, as we don’t have a big competition group yet, but people individually always place and it’s always great to even just go and support.”
Most recently at Varsity, the club placed third in the beginners category, third in semi-pro, and also won third place in doubles at the Pleasance Theatre in Edinburgh!
The highlight of pole fitness?
Batbayar says the highlight for anyone who does pole is just getting onto the pole: “It can just be that one really safe space at uni where you can wear as much or as little as you want, you can look however you want, and you can feel the music, partake in fitness, and feel your body. The university is always cramped and there is so much going on that it can make you anxious to be constantly surrounded by this environment, but then you go into this zone where it’s calm, peaceful, and accepting.
“I think you just have to show up once and you will see how welcoming, warm, and fun it is. It’s just that first step of showing up. Once you join pole, you don’t just join the club: there is a big community of other students and it also gives you this opportunity to meet a really cool and really accepting community of people Scotland-wide.”
Training times
Pole fitness trains once a week on Thursdays, with three sessions coached by a professional. They also train two other times, on Tuesdays and Saturday mornings which are free-trainings and uncoached, but supervised. Pole fitness is mixed, so everyone can join the class at their own skill-level. There is also no gender requirement in the club, so anyone, no matter the level of experience, is welcome to join.
“Every week is a new trick. You learn a new skill every time you go, and I think that’s the best bit, is that you always leave accomplishing something,” says Batbayar.
If you want to join the club or contact the members for more information, you can find their contact information on their Instagram: @stiruni_polefitness. You can alternatively also find committee members’ emails on the Sports Union Website under ‘Pole Fitness’.
Featured image credits: University of Stirling Pole Fitness Club
Aspiring Journalist
Fourth-year Journalism Student and Sports Editor of BRIG Newspaper at Stirling University
