£1m astro turf pitch to transform sports in Wales

Welsh sport will soon witness a transformation of coaching and training facilities – thanks to a £1m joint venture with Sport@NEWI and the Sports Council for Wales.

The first international-standard, water-based, astro turf pitch in North Wales, located at North East Wales Institute of Higher Education’s (NEWI) Plas Coch campus, was officially opened on Saturday (30thJune) with an international Wales v England men’s hockey game playing for the inaugural NEWI Cup.

The NEWI cup celebrates hockey matches being held at an international standard in North Wales and it is hoped this will be the first of many to come.

Professor Michael Scott, Principal of NEWI says: “NEWI is delighted to be leading the way for sport in North Wales by providing a superb platform to compete at international level. Specifically these fantastic facilities will make a huge difference to Wales’ ability to create and sustain a premiership quality hockey squad. To be able to sustain the growth of hockey in Wales, the game requires higher standards of technical ability and fitness than ever before. We are proud that, with the opening of this pitch, North Wales now has the coaching and training facilities to meet these needs.”

Lesley Griffiths, AM for Wrexham, congratulated the NEWI Cup winners: “This is a real coup for Wrexham and North Wales as a whole. I know just how much this will mean for both NEWI and Wrexham and to have such top-class facilities in our town is a boost for our reputation in the international sporting community. It is also a real boost for fans of the sport.
These fantastic facilities, which offer a world class training ground for field sports, could also have a role to play providing training facilities in the 2012 Olympics."

Eleanor Burnham, AM for North Wales, who also attended the opening ceremony, presented Zak Jones from the Welsh hockey team with a special award to mark this being his 100th cap for Wales.

The premier, water-based artificial pitch and two hundred seated covered spectators’ stand is strategically located adjacent to NEWI’s Sport & Exercise Sciences and Human Performance Laboratory. This facility will provide international teams with sport science support and offer match analysis.

NEWI‘s North Wales Regional Hockey Stadium will also be hosting its first international Hockey Celtic Cup on Saturday 21 – Monday 23 July, where teams from across Wales, Scotland,  France and Ireland will be competing for the prestigious championship title.