Sport for All
The University has extensive sports facilities, classified as 5* by the Times Good University Guide. The facilities are located in various parts of the campus and are well used by the local community as well as University staff and students. The Sports Centre’s facilities on central campus include a swimming pool, sauna, fitness suite, two sports halls, squash courts, high performance weights room, multi-sports activity room, and climbing centre. All these facilities are used extensively by the general public with a number accessible through schemes that currently have in excess of 900 members.
Facilities
The Bear Rock Climbing Centre in the Sports Centre is the Midlands premier climbing facility, with 40 leading and top rope lines ranging from easy angled slabs to a 13.5m high, 5m overhanging competition wall, in addition to a dedicated bouldering room. It is open to the public on a ‘pay and play’ basis and is frequently used by local schools and climbing clubs taking advantage of an range of teaching classes, as well as being a venue for children’s climbing parties. The Running Bear Fitness Suite is also popular with the general public, offering an extensive range of cardiovascular equipment along with resistance machines and free weights. It is fully air-conditioned with four large plasma screens providing entertainment. Additionally, the swimming pool is extensively used by Coventry Swimming Club.
The University has many outdoor sports fields, located on the Westwood campus and the Cryfield land. The former site offers three floodlit, synthetic sports pitches ideal for football, hockey and rugby training. In addition, there is an athletics arena, providing a world-class running track, which is home to the nationally respected Coventry Godiva Harriers Athletics Club. The Westwood outdoor sports’ facilities, along with a third sports hall on the site, are regularly used by local football clubs including Festival; Coventry Cathedral; Zion; Chapelfield Colts; Coundon Court Boys and Girls; Peugeot; Berkswell; and Coventry City Ladies. In addition, the Westwood pitches provide a home venue for the Coventry and North Warwickshire, and Berkswell and Balsall Common Hockey Clubs.
The £2.5 million indoor Tennis Centre, also located on the Westwood campus, opened in 2008 and was funded by the University, the Lawn Tennis Association, Sport England, and an anonymous benefactor. It has four top grade cushioned acrylic tennis courts, four newly floodlit outdoor synthetic clay courts, a fully staffed reception area and changing rooms. The Tennis Centre has an extensive coaching structure, including a junior performance programme which caters for young people and nationally-ranked players, and is now the venue for many regional and national tennis events. Again this facility is open to the public as a ‘pay and play’ centre; the only one of its kind in Coventry and Warwickshire.
Sporting Events
The sports facilities are of such a standard and popularity that the University has had the opportunity to host some prestigious local, national and international sporting events. In 2005, the University hosted the International Children’s Games in collaboration with Coventry City Council. Some 1,500 children, aged 12-15, representing 50 different nations, were accommodated on the campus, which was transformed into a Global Sports Village. This was the first time the Children’s Games had been held in the UK.
In 2007 the UK Schools Games took place on the University campus, bringing together the most talented young sports people from across the UK, to compete in an environment designed to replicate major events such as the Olympic Games and the Paralympics.
In 2009 the University hosted the 32nd British Transplant Games, organised by the charity Transplant Sport UK. The Games, which are organised annually, raise awareness of organ donation and the life-changing opportunities it offers to those who undergo a transplant. Over 600 athletes, all of whom had received a transplant, and their families, were welcomed to the Games Village on the University campus.
The sports facilities have also played host to numerous Football Association boys, girls and women’s training camps and matches; the Nike Football Cup (Junior Equivalent of the FA Cup); matches of Coventry City and Aston Villa Juniors; various RFU (Rugby Football Union) events including the British Universities Trials and the Lacrosse Junior Internationals.
The University will also play a vital role in the 2012 Olympic Games when Coventry hosts some of the Games football matches at the City of Coventry Stadium. Football teams from all over the world will be practising on the campus pitches and using University support facilities.
