UKSI Sheffield gym revamped to create a more accessible space

A large strength and conditioning gym that serves Sheffield-based Paralympic and Olympic athletes has been refurbished to create a better performance space and make it more accessible for all athletes.

Situated at the UK Sports Institute’s base in Sheffield, the gym is primarily used by athletes and support staff from British Para Table Tennis, Para Badminton GB and GB Boxing, but other Paralympic and Olympic athletes based around Yorkshire who utilise UKSI performance services can also access the space.

The refurbishment was completed in partnership with Sheffield City Trust, with support being provided through UK Sport’s Elite Training Centre fund.

The project was overseen by Strength and Conditioning (S&C) Technical Lead for the North, Mark Campbell, who was passionate about improving the space.

“It’s really important to make our spaces as accessible as possible because it gives everybody the opportunity to train the way they need to in order to optimise their performance through S&C, whether they are Paralympic athletes or able-bodied.

“It was really important to open up the space to make it better for our S&C coaches to interact with those athletes because that’s going to make a big difference.”

An S&C expert with 20 years of experience working with elite athletes, 17 spent at the UKSI, Campbell went on to explain some of the specific changes that have been made to the gym.

“We’ve got a lot of equipment in here, but a lot of the equipment that we used to have was raised in different areas, so it meant that for our wheelchair athletes and for some of our other Para athletes that aren’t as ambulant, it was a bit of a tricky space. It didn’t make it easy to train optimally in the space.

“We previously had two separate rooms, so we knocked down the dividing wall to open it up into one complete space, which just means we, the S&C coaches, can deliver much more effectively.”

Elaborating on those benefits, Campbell added: “The fact that an S&C coach has got eyes on athletes all the time rather than being in separate spaces is really, really important. It means they are able to have more interactions with athletes while they are performing their S&C sessions, facilitating better performance of the sessions. It means an S&C coach can see an athlete doing something maybe not the way they’d like them to do it and correct that as quickly as possible.”

Campbell said the feedback from athletes has been overwhelmingly positive so far, and that the benefits are being felt by Para, able-bodied athletes and coaches alike.

“The athletes feel it’s a much easier space to move around and it’s also helping our coaches. We’ve got great S&C coaches, they know exactly what they want to do with their athletes, but now having this space optimised allows them to do that.”