Accessibility
We have a strong tradition of sporting achievement.
Our vision is to be the leading university for sport in Ireland. We encourage a healthy and balanced lifestyle among students and staff through involvement in sport and also enable those who have the ability and desire to be successful at the highest possible levels.
Our Sports Academy brings together all stakeholders in sport at the University of Ulster. This includes all aspects of our sports provision from services to facilities, sports development and outreach, and teaching and research in sport and related studies.
As a student you will have a superb opportunity to participate in a wide variety of both individual and team sports for fun or at a more competitive level. We offer access to high quality facilities on our Coleraine, Jordanstown and Magee campuses at very affordable student rates – a range of membership options (including family packages) are available beginning at an annual subscription of just £10 for an individual student (2009 prices). You can also take part in sports without joining up: simply pay as you go for the facilities you require. There are also all kinds of short courses you can sign up for, from pilates to salsa dancing.
The University of Ulster is the first in the UK or Republic of Ireland to offer a scheme of reduced entry requirements to athletes in recognition of high performance in their sport. The scheme proposes that for applicants who can provide evidence of sporting excellence, whilst demonstrating future potential and commitment to their sport within the University, a reduced entry offer in terms of academic requirements may be made for the courses for which they have applied.
Our Sports Scholarship Scheme is one of the most successful schemes in the UK and Ireland. Since its inception the scheme has received hundreds of applications across a number of sports including: Basketball, Soccer, Cricket, Gaelic Football, Hockey, Camogie and Athletics.
This scheme is designed to help scholar athletes realise their full potential and to balance the demands of their academic work with the requirements of top-level sport. Guests of honour at presentation ceremonies have included Sir Stephen Redgrave CBE, MBE, five-times gold medallist at consecutive Olympics.
A programme supported by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and the Golfing Union of Ireland (Ulster Branch) offers bursaries worth £1500 to students. The University of Ulster is one of only eleven universities across the United Kingdom and the Island of Ireland to share in the £250, 000 fund, allocated by the R&A. The programme currently makes awards to the University's most outstanding student golfers each year. Six Bursars have achieved full international status. The bursary programme includes high level competition, professional coaching, strength and conditioning, muscular skeletal screening and a wide range of additional performance enhancing services.
The Department of Sport and Recreation offers superb facilities with a friendly atmosphere, a wide range of activities and a warm welcome to all. The sporting facilities are available to students, staff and the local communities 7 days a week.
At present there are no on-campus facilities at our Belfast campus but students and staff can become members of the sports facilities at the Jordanstown campus.
The sports facilities at Jordanstown comprise a Technogym Wellness System suite with kinesis wall, indoor sports halls, acclimatisation chamber, strength and conditioning suite, gymnasium, squash courts, floodlit sand based synthetic grass hockey pitch, outdoor tennis courts and grass pitches to facilitate soccer, rugby and gaelic games.
These facilities are further enhanced with the new £20 million world-class sports facilities which were formally opened by Lord Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG,) in 2008. These facilities comprise the following:
• 60m x 40m third generation rubber crumbed synthetic grass indoor hall
• Health Suite – Jacuzzi, Sauna, Plunge Pool, Steam Room
• 500 square metre Strength and Conditioning Suite which includes a mezzanine training area
• Indoor 60m Sprint Track with 23.5m run off area
• Outdoor 100m sprint Track with 25m run off area
• Indoor throws area to facilitate shot, discus, Hammer and Javelin
• Indoor throws wall
• Indoor Jumps Area to facilitate High Jump, Pole Vault, Triple and Long Jump
• Physiotherapy Room
• Sports Science Room
• Athlete Lounge Area
The Coleraine campus boasts two sports halls, squash courts, a solarium, a steam room, a strength and conditioning suite, and a fitness studio with the latest cardiovascular equipment from the Technogym Wellness System. In addition to the five different types of aerobic training available, the facilities also contain the latest fixed weight training machines and a range of free weight equipment.
The Coleraine campus also offers outdoor facilities including grass tennis courts, football pitches, pitches for Gaelic sports, a synthetic hockey pitch, rugby pitches, a cricket pitch, a pavilion and a multi-sports area.
The Magee sports facilities offer students, staff and the community a fantastic choice of courses, classes, children’s clubs and sports courses through the following indoor and outdoor facilities such as a sports hall, studio, pavilion, grass pitch, synthetic pitch and a rugby scrum machine.
You don’t have to be a sporting superstar to enjoy our sports facilities. We encourage sport at all levels, whether for fun or for serious sporting achievement. Our Sports Union has over 70 sports clubs ranging from camogie, golf and mountaineering, to fencing, gliding and surf. Individual and team achievement is recognised and celebrated each year at our Colours Awards ceremony.