Water and Words: A Swimming and Writing Workshop in Rural Victoria

There has been an increasing interest in how physical movement, like walking, can be used to think and write sociologically. However, what happens when swimming and writing are combined?

In this workshop hosted by the Wangaratta Masters Swim Club, up to twenty participants will get the opportunity to engage in a combined writing and swimming class to explore, through words, their love of the water, what inspires them to swim, and the meaning swimming has in their everyday and social lives.

The workshop will involve a brief planning and idea generation session followed by participation in a coached swimming program and topped off with a post-swim writeathon over morning tea. The writing workshop will be facilitated by Dr Alexandra Ridgway, an early career sociologist and autoethnographer and fellow Wangaratta Masters swimmer, with the swim session designed and coached by the Club's head coach, Robyn Brown.

The event will take place at the Wangaratta Sports and Aquatic Centre in Wangaratta, a rural town in North East Victoria.

It is a part of Social Sciences Week 2026 and kindly supported by The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) Social Sciences Week Funding.

Photo by Jay Wennington (Unsplash)