We had the pleasure of a sneak preview of the new National Indoor Arena at the National Sports Campus yesterday and it was enough to take your breath away.
At a total cost of a little under €25 million this has been no small investment but in terms of its long term value for the overall development of sport it will be money very well spent.
In common with all the facilities coming on stream across the motorway from Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, the new Arena is state of the art. The FZ Forza Irish Badminton Open was selected a year ago as the first test event and while things were a little hairy towards the end with a delay from last Thursday to this Monday before officials could begin setting up, you would never have known.
Fully retractable seating created stands for busloads of local school children to get a first sight of a sports facility that some of them may one day get to represent their country in.
We caught up with Badminton star from Rio Scott Evans as we looked down on the six games being played beneath us.
“Honestly, at this level of competition there is no better facility anywhere in Europe,” he said. “It’s brilliant to be able to bring the Irish Open to a venue that will have people from across Europe doing a double take.”
“The more we can get to train and play here, in an environment that matches what we face playing at European and World level, the better that will be for us and for those who are coming up behind in the sport.”
The Collegiate nature of what the Campus is capable of delivering was highlighted by a steady stream of officials from other sports walking across from Sport HQ to check out what the Arena that has sprung from the ground over the past year looks like in full event mode.
We bumped into Rachel Coventry of Special Olympics on the stairs and she was heading up to see what will be possible for the National Games taking place in Dublin next year.
“It’s great to have such a facility available to us and having all the equipment on site and available to a variety of sports will help with the quality of staging we can put on and the cost of providing it.”
Read More about the National Sports Campus on Sport for Business
The Badminton continues today and tomorrow keeping Badminton Ireland’s Craig McCourtney on his toes but his own sense of excitement was palpable and having the tournament streamed live on the Badminton Europe website means that international eyes are watching too.
“Shipping over our mats by lorry was an extra but essential element of staging the Open here this year for the first time but when you look down and hear good reviews from the players it was all worthwhile,” he told us on a walking tour taking notes for things to improve upon at each session.
The official opening will not take place until January but as a glimpse of the future this was an energising pointer to what the future will hold for sports like badminton, athletics, gymnastics and more in the years to come.
