As the new University Sports Director, Keith Morris is charged with overseeing one of the biggest changes in sport at York in recent years. With the opening of the new sports centre on Heslington East in July 2012 alongside the refurbishment of the existing sports centre, facilities at York finally have what Morris calls “a massive wow factor.” Featuring a full-size 3G Astroturf pitch and three further five-a-side pitches, specialist treatment rooms, a 100-station computerised fitness suite, and a 25 metre swimming pool, the new centre will cost £9 million.
In July next year, before the London Olympics 2012, the new facilities will be used by the likes of Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Guatamala, while Russia’s gymnastics federation have approached York with a view to joining them.
Morris’s main focus, apart from the upcoming sports centre, will be on participation in college sport, aided by the abolition of the joining fee. He describes college sport in York as “impressively large”, and wants to “throw the net as wide as possible.”
Having worked previously at Hull and Leeds Met univerities, Morris has seen both ends of the spectrum of sport at university; in the BUCS tables Hull are ranked 80th, while Leeds Met are third. He describes York, though, as a “great place,” and a project that he finds exciting. In the space of four years, Leeds Met, under Morris’s guidance, moved up 20 places in the BUCS tables. With York currently placing at 48th, a similar rise in the rankings wouldn’t go amiss here, even if the real push is for increased participation.
In last year’s YUSU election campaign, YorkSport President Sam Asfahani pledged to provide referee courses and Morris has similar ambitions. “We want students to get qualified as coaches and referees, if we can work through the colleges and YUSU, I think it could be a huge positive.
“They could get potential jobs at the new Sports Centre when it comes along, and it’s also positive as it can go back into the clubs.” It was something that Morris admits was key to his time at both of his previous universities.
The prospective plans for the new sports centre also include a 500-seat pavillion overlooking an athletics track, and a world-class cycling track, which Morris describes as giving the university with “a unique selling point.” Morris, a keen cyclist himself, last year completed a 300-mile charity cycle ride to support the Danny Porter foundation, named after his friend and Sheffield Hallam Sports Services Manager who survived a rare strain of cancer. Even that is topped by the previous year’s charity cycle ride from Edinburgh to London, raising £1,800 in support of a friend of his young nephew, a victim of leukemia, and sporting charity Right to Play.
Although Morris denies that he was “headhunted” by the University, his success at both Hull and Leeds Met at all levels is something he will be looking to replicate at York.
The plans also contain a 100-station training suite; dance and exercise studios, and a cafe and club facilities. Outdoor facilities include a full-size 3G football pitch that can accommodate five, six, and seven-a-side matches as well as allocated changing facilities. They also include a 25-metre 8-lane competition swimming pool, and a 20-metre 4-lane training pool, which also houses a changing village for the use of casual swimmers.
The proposed two swimming pools will help to ensure availability during open lane swimming and will provide opportunities for other water activities such as aquafit classes, water polo and octopush, along with disabled and school groups. University Swimming and Waterpolo President Cesca Baguley told Vision that “having the new pool will hugely benefit all water sports at York. At the moment, people who do aquatic sports are turning away from York, as we don’t have our own pool…In having a new pool we’ll attract a huge number of students looking to continue to compete, or those just looking to do aquatic sports on a casual basis. We’ll be able to have access to much more pool time, something that is a hugely difficult at the moment, thus really improving our rankings in BUCS for both swimming and water polo. People will have much more flexibility in when they can train, and will be able to go for a swim at any point in the day…It will also benefit sports that don’t usually use a pool – swimming is great for rehabilitation of sports injures and can be used to improve fitness for all sports teams in York.”
Cesca also commented: “As a President, it is such an exciting time for the club. Being able to have access to a load more training hours for both swimming and waterpolo will see our teams being able to compete with the big sporting universities, and will attract more talented athletes to the University. It’s just a massive shame that this is my last year so I won’t be able to actually swim in it!”
The build is taking place in partnership with the City of York Council, a relationship that has proved fundamental to the build. Financially, the University has contributed £5m plus additional infrastructure costs for roads, utilities and services to the build, while the City of York Council has donated £3m. Sport England has provided a further £1m for the project.
The plans to improve the University’s sporting facilities don’t stop at Heslington East. After the installation and success of the new JLD pitch (usually referred to as the Astro) and the tennis courts on the Heslington West campus, the University is currently investigating improving and expanding the existing facilities. While the entrance was remodelled recently, a further face-lift is on the cards to improve both the interior spaces and exterior appearance.
Additional renovations include making the temporary sports tent that currently houses activities such as netball, indoor hockey and basketball, into a permanent structure. There are plans to introduce a heavy weights studio, and further discussions with third parties and other sports clubs may enable the development of a state-of-the-art water-based hockey pitch to be sited next to the existing tent.
The planned 3G pitches are the latest development in artificial, synthetic surfaces. They are virtually indistinguishable from natural turf and are considered to be a safe and reliable alternative to traditional pitches. 3G pitches be used in any weather, without the surface suffering from the usual wear-and-tear of a grass pitch. Another advantage of installing the innovative surface is that it lowers maintenance costs as well as improving regularity of games; winter games cancelled due to frozen pitches will be a thing of the past.
York Sport President Sam Asfahani told Vision: “The new Sports Village will revolutionize sport at York and is a much needed investment into sport. We are currently now talking about more practical details of the Village and I hope to ensure that sports clubs get what they want and need out of it.”
The intention is to enable elite athletes and teams to play in top-class facilities and compete at college, university and national level, while at the same time promoting fitness and casual sports for individuals and teams.