Sport on Campus; Creating The Right Environment

University is a great place to get into sport either as a spectator or participant. Whether you rediscover your love for tennis, continue your football obsession or discover something entirely new to you, sports can make up a good portion of university life. However, sports at university is not simply going to the park and kicking a ball around. Sports at university is often underpinned by great facilities, not least among them fantastic sports halls. It’s the sports halls that stand out that have the best chance of attracting players and spectators alike. In this guide, we are going to breakdown what contributes to first-class sporting arena’s.

Clear Court Layouts

Often these facilities will host many different sports. This means they will need to outline several different courts at once. No one wants to play on a court where they can’t tell the 3-point line from the penalty box. It is annoying for spectators and can cause players to make frustrating mistakes during a game. If a sports hall is multi-purpose one of your main focusses should be ensuring everyone can clearly and easily tell which lines are for which court.

Spectator Seating

Seating is a fundamental part of creating a good experience for sports spectators. If you want students to show up to support your team, you’ll need to offer them somewhere to sit. Not any old chairs will do. It doesn’t matter how much seating room you allocate if they’re uncomfortable or don’t offer a great view. There are plenty of great sports hall seating options. Good bleacher seating will provide spectators with a great view and a comfortable place to sit.

Ultimately when it comes to fan support there is strength in numbers and good tiered seating allows you to maximise the numbers of fans that can show up to a game whilst providing them all with a great view of the match.

Sports Hall Lighting

Clear and balanced lighting is essential for a high-grade sports hall. If for nothing but avoiding missed shots being blamed on glare lighting cannot be overlooked. In addition to ensuring the sports hall is well lit, you also want to make the lighting well protected. Shuttlecocks and balls will be flying around so it is important your lighting doesn’t get in the way. Lighting should be high, close to the ceiling. Lights should also be well protected and able to sustain high impact because no matter how high to the ceiling they are, they’ll be hit eventually.

Parking And Accessibility

If you want your university to get behind their sports teams and show up to support them you need to make the games accessible. Accessibility comes in a few forms. Firstly, is there parking available? If your sports hall doesn’t offer adequate parking, you are creating an obstacle for people to use as an excuse for not attending. Accessibility can also refer to whether your sports hall accommodates people with limited mobility, for example by offering wheelchair access. Sports is about the people of the court as well as those on it. Your players have worked hard and would surely appreciate as much support as possible on game day. Therefore, considering accessibility when designing a sports hall, thus allowing more fans to attend, is one of the best ways to support your university’s sports teams.

Sport is an important part of many of our lives and our ability to enjoy them can be greatly influenced by the venue. Sports can be one of the biggest highlights of a university career which is why it important that the venues offer a high standard.

Categorised in: Blog

This post was written by Mike Lewis