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‘Year of Sport’ kicks off in Style at Surrey Sports Park

10 January 2012

surreysportspark

Last weekend saw a multitude of different sports taking place at Surrey Sports Park, from a regional netball tournament to a group fitness class launch, highlighting the beginning of a phenomenal ‘Year of Sport’ for 2012.

British Water Polo Championships
The British Water Polo Men’s Championship returned to Surrey Sports Park for their two day event involving some of the UK’s top male players in our pool. Well supported teams from up and down the country competed, with Bristol Central taking the title on Sunday afternoon.

League Chairman Dave Andrews was delighted with the success of the weekend: “The staff here at Surrey Sports Park are fantastic and the venue is perfect. It is ideal for the competition that we run and it allows us to operate a very smooth and efficient tournament for our players.”

Cathedral City Lighter Fast Net Grand Prix
The much anticipated Cathedral City Lighter Fast Net Grand Prix Surrey Conference took place in front of around 850 netball fanatics on Sunday afternoon. Celtic Dragons, Hertfordshire Mavericks, Team Bath and our very own Surrey Storm took to the court in the first tournament of its kind in the UK, using the new Fast Net rules of the sport. Surrey Storm reigned victorious for the Surrey Conference and will now face Northern Thunder, Yorkshire Jets and Sunday’s runners-up Celtic Dragons in the Finals Night at Surrey Sports Park this Friday.

Andy Crook, General Manager of the Fiat Netball Superleague, said: “Fast Net is one of the most exciting changes to occur to Netball as a sport in its history. Following on from the superb victory of the England teams at the World Netball Series in Liverpool, there was no better time to host a top flight domestic version of the game.

The first instalment of the Cathedral City Lighter Fast Net Grand Prix was an overwhelming success both on and off the court. Both the Manchester and Surrey Conferences were a complete sell out and Surrey Sports Park proved the ideal venue to host such a high profile event.

With capacity of near 850 spectators and an extremely slick operations team in place, the event went smoothly for players and fans alike. The facilities for top level sport are second to none and the comfort and fan experience can’t be matched by many venues of its size across the UK. All these factors helped the event sell out in a little over 2 weeks, and we are expecting a sell out for the Finals Night of the competition also to be held at Surrey Sports Park.”

Les Mills Launch and Dance Course Tasters
The weekend also saw the launch of a number of group fitness classes from Les Mills take place, with a few firm favourites in the mix as ever. A second batch of dance course tasters were also on offer for members and non-members alike, offering people a chance to try out one of our popular courses before they commit to a long-term programme. Both events were well attended, with many showing an interest in continuing their interest in fitness and dance classes!

England Women's Lacrosse and England Women’s Rugby Union
Friends of Surrey Sports Park England Lacrosse and England Women’s Rugby Union enjoyed a weekend of training camps at Surrey Sports Park, both as a part of their regular programme of visits.

The Women’s Rugby side are looking forward to their RBS 6 Nations campaign which begins in February, and were joined by their U20’s counterparts in their training camp. England Lacrosse is looking to continue their relationship with Surrey Sports Park, with one of their aims being to bring the sport to Team Surrey for social and competitive sport.

Alex Harle from England Lacrosse said: "“England Lacrosse are delighted to be training at Surrey Sports Park and working closely together to build the sport at the elite, university and school levels.  We looked at Surrey Sports Park after having heard about its successful hosting of the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup.  It has been a fantastic boost to the team to be using such world class facilities and mixing with other national sports.  We want as many people as possible to see what a great game lacrosse is and Surrey Sports Park is the perfect partner to help us achieve that.”

Paul Blanchard, Chief Executive of Surrey Sports Park, commented on the weekend’s events: “We take absolute pride in every guest that visits Surrey Sports Park, no matter what their purpose, interests or reasons are for being here. The fact that we are able to host a national and regional tournament on the same day, along with numerous classes and camps proves that we are a world-class venue with the staff and facilities to match."