Regional sport races ahead in sunny southeast
Waterford Centre in the swim with €5.2m grant
If you want your athletes to compete at the highest level, they’ll need a level playing pitch to compete on, right from the off. Waterford’s young population of sporty achievers got just that when the new Regional Sports Centre opened in May 2008. Handily enough, it’s also home to Waterford United FC, who must’ve felt like they scored a hat trick, got to keep the match ball AND a new stand when they were granted €1.25 million in funding themselves.
We’re thinking that the area’s reputation for turning out not just top tier international footballers, but runners and all sorts of athletes, has risen another couple of places up the table of possibilities. Just take a look at the centre’s facilities. You don’t have to think far back into the past to remember what it was like to have barely any facilities at all, never mind having a 25-metre swimming pool, a multi-purpose sports hall, tennis courts, outdoor pitch and an ultra-modern fitness centre all in one complex.
And because it’s designed to be accessible to all, not just the elite end of the athletic gene pool, who knows how many budding new stars it will help to shine.
