Roundhay School

Roundhay School is an Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ school located in Roundhay, Leeds.
Notts Sport were approached to project manage the installation of a new full size sand
dressed hockey facility, overseeing planning, design, building and maintenance.
The project was developed from 2014 through to 2016 in partnership with Leeds Council,
and it has allowed the school to introduce hockey into the curriculum for the first time.
In the first four months since completion of the new pitch, the school has seen over 50 girls playing hockey, a tremendous start illustrating how a synthetic turf facility has the ability to improve participation and engage a wide range of pupils.

Rachelle Le-Bourdin, PE teacher at the school was able to tailor the pitch to the school’s
needs:
“Working with Notts Sport was brilliant right from the beginning: they came up straight
away, met with us and asked about our vision and what we needed from the pitch, so it
was always about what we wanted and needed, and not ever about what they were trying to sell.”
“From the brilliant initial meeting the relationship grew, and they’ve actually helped with the wider planning of an expansion at the school. They’ve been absolutely brilliant from start to finish: coming and checking that everything’s been installed properly, and helping with our opening ceremony.”

The sand dressed hockey pitch is the first of its kind in the area, meaning that it will benefit the wider community:
“We’ve gone from having about 15 at hockey practice to having over 50 at every session –
and that’s only the girls. We are hoping to get junior clubs in the community involved which means our pupils can have a bit of a school/club link going on, and sports such as hockey, football, handball can grow within the community for juniors and adults alike.”

We welcomed England and GB Hockey player, Suzy Petty, to open the pitch in May:

“Coming from Leeds originally, having a pitch at Roundhay is unbelievable – I’ve been playing against them since I was 11. They have never had a hockey pitch before, and I think for a school like this that is so big and has such a big impact on the community. To have a hockey pitch is just unbelievable and hopefully the kids will just love it!”

Cricket at La Manga Club

Cricket Ireland has joined forces with Cricket Scotland and La Manga Club in a ten-year deal to create a European Cricket Performance Centre in La Manga: the first of its kind in Europe.
Notts Sport were welcomed on board to facilitate the state of the art Performance Centre in Spain, designing six new first-class grass pitches, and two artificial wickets on two existing grounds; plus 18 grass and five artificial net lanes with 25 yard run ups. In addition, specialist grass fielding, catching and wicket-keeping areas are also being created.

Scott Hawkins, Head Groundsman at La Manga Club, worked with Notts Sport throughout, and has also been able to play on the new ‘D’ System surface, as a club player:

“It plays very similarly to natural turf. It’s a good resemblance of what you would play on a natural turf pitch environment: you do get pace and bounce and a lot more consistency. It’s easy to go from the natural turf to the artificial.”

“The practice facility is a good training aid because you do get confidence from knowing
it’s going to be consistent, and also the knowledge that it’s going to resemble what you go
and play on in a match environment. Everyone that’s been here to train on this – whether it’s been club or international cricketers have benefited from playing on this surface, and have been enjoying how good the quality is. They’re making individual improvements as well as team benefits at the same time.”

Since completion in early 2017, David Moore, La Manga Cricket Club President has seen
much activity within the new facility: “Club players and our juniors had first use of the nets in March 2017, all of whom were very impressed. The batsmen were happy with the bounce and being able to attack the ball.”
“We have had a very full programme of cricket in April, with our Classic T20, Last Man
Standing European Open, UK Schools Tournament and Madrid Cricket Club T20. The
artificial pitches played extremely well with all competing teams complimenting the new
facilities. We as the home club are extremely impressed with the new facilities, and can now watch professional and international players training on a regular basis.”

Under the terms of the partnership, Cricket Ireland and Cricket Scotland will have exclusive booking options for using the centre as a warm weather training and playing base for its men’s and women’s national and provincial senior and youth teams.