SPORTS HALLS
One size fits (h)all : The new core space will allow for indoor netball, basketball, badminton, volleyball and cricket
substantially greater than the old model, offers potentially excellent value for money and can bring significant com- munity, educational, programming and, most importantly, sports development and participation increase benefits. However, if schools, local authorities
and other operators wishing to develop new or replace existing halls are to get the most out of their investment, consid- eration must be given to how they (plus clubs and NGBs themselves) look to inno- vate to seek to attract new participants and to make optimum use of the space they will have at their disposal. Development of 4+ halls will allow
(and should encourage) the smart club, league or operator of the future to take a market-led approach to promote posi- tive, proactive centre programming and use with potentially valuable participa- tion outcomes. Lessons can be learnt from the fact that five-a-side football was not invented by the FA but the mar- ket for it has expanded and developed in a sport that was already widely played in another format.
Turn up and play The larger core sports hall offers the imaginative venue manager ‘room for
The larger core sports hall offers the imaginative
facility manager ‘room for manoeuvre’. There is a real opportunity to innovate
manoeuvre’. There is real opportunity to innovate. For school-based users, it can provide options to deliver new format games as part of the curriculum and an after-school offer. For those program- ming for the community, the additional space, some innovative court line mark- ings and hall sub-division means that things can be done differently to break away from the static space filling habits that have led indoor football and more recently ‘wall-to-wall aerobics’ to domi- nate programming at the expense of other sports, because they generate, in relative terms, good levels of income and are relatively easy to sell. Successful examples of ‘turn up and play’ volleyball are already filling various
50 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital
venues, while new more flexible forms of netball – suited to a small-sided for- mat are being televised. Due to their adaptability these sports are becoming increasingly popular among those enter- ing or ‘coming back’ to sport, while 2v2 and 3v3 basketball has been played for decades – just rarely in regular partici- pation, structured drop-in and regular league based formats. What we haven’t yet seen is these
derivatives properly used to drive up par- ticipation numbers (and venue income). However, these correctly-sized facilities better meet the needs of mainstream sport and can accommodate safe and ex- citing turn-up-and-play innovations. These have the potential to bring peo-
ple into these sports (or keep them in) for longer, while ensuring the operator gets an appropriate return on investment. This, in turn, validates the investment in the extra space and the early stage effort needed to do things differently. ● Developing the Right Sports Hall is avail- able from the Sport England website:
www.sportengland.org
David McHendry is a principal consultant at Knight, Kavanagh and Page. Email:
david.mchendry@
kkp.co.uk
Issue 1 2012 © cybertrek 2012
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