SPORTICIPATE: Get involved

The University of Manchester SPORTICIPATE Programme is a fantastic opportunity for any students or staff members at the University to engage in free activities on campus. The programme came about after Sport England had announced their new Active Universities Project to provide £10 million to universities with the aim of engaging more students in sport. SPORT Manchester was keen to seize the opportunity, having seen the success of the Sport England funded ‘Hall Sport’ project. The team pulled everything together to present a strong bid and in July 2014, received successful news that the University of Manchester would be included in Sport England’s fund list. Around £236,000 would be granted by Sport England along with £106,000 from the university to provide more opportunities for students to get active over a three year period, to which an additional programme, SPORTICIPATE, has come about.

What is the programme?

SPORTICIPATE is made up of a weekly timetable of free sports and activities, as well as one-off events, and welcomes all abilities to take part in any of the sessions and events.

The sports that are on the programme are: Badminton, Futsal, Gymfit (a Gymnastics inspired fitness session), Indoor Cricket, Korfball, Lacrosse, Swimming, Squash/Racketball, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Bhangra, Dodgeball, Bokwa and Belly Dance.

You just need to register for events on the weekly timetable or ‘one-off’ events, then turn up, and all of the equipment will be provided. The timetable will have additional sports included next semester, so keep your eyes peeled for changes. There will be four special events where students and staff can come as a team or individually,to compete against other teams in a more fun-orientated atmosphere.

The inaugural SPORTICIPATE event will be held at the Armitage Sports Centre on the 18th of October, where plenty of students will take part in various tournaments and activities. For the second event, Sporticipate will be hosting Christmas-themed events, taking place on Saturday the 29th of November and 6th of December, at the Trinity Sports Centre (located right behind the main library).

Sport England will fund the project for three years and two sabbatical interns will manage the programme each year, thus allowing for refreshed creative input every year. SPORT Manchester hope that the Sporticipate Programme will become synonymous with themselves and become well-known throughout the university as having created a strong infrastructure of coaches, venues, and sessions. The aim is for the university to see the benefit and value in running the programme and hopefully they will continue to support it after Sport England funding ceases in 2018.

Be sure to like the Sporticipate Facebook page for more information about the weekly timetable or events. If you have any queries about the programme, then send an email to [email protected], comment on Sporticipate’s Facebook page, or pop in to the SPORT Office for a chat.

Enjoy sporticipating!