Students, staff, schools, organisations and other members of the community use sporting facilities on a casual basis. Facilities available include Tennis, Squash, Badminton, Basketball, Netball and Volleyball courts, as well as an Athletics track and synthetic Hockey pitch.
2022 saw an impressive return for casual venue hire in a year free of COVID-19 lockdowns. Casual venue hire numbers have increased by 27% compared to 2019. This is surprising given the overall decrease in participation across the board at MU Sport. This may be due to factors such as students and staff still not full-time on campus, and potential hesitancies to participate in activities with shared spaces/equipment with the risk of getting COVID-19.
Given the above expected barriers to casual venue hire, the significant increase indicates that we are seeing what is being supported by other organisations and activity groups that people are eager for social, casual and informal ways to not only engage in physical activity, but also to connect with others.
