This month’s annual Technical Meeting is one of the sports construction industry’s most popular events of the year to network and learn about the latest developments.
Organised by the Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA), the one-day conference provides seminars and workshops on the most important technical topics of the day. Taking place on 8 December at Loughborough University, the event is open to everyone working in the physical activity sector. This year’s edition offers a number of expert speakers and a hugely topical keynote on women’s sport. Hannah Buckley, The Football Association’s (FA) senior facilities and project manager for the Women's Professional Game, will present a session titled “Women’s Euros, Women’s Super League and the challenges and opportunities developing women’s football”. Hannah will offer insight into the FA’s plans to build on the success of this year’s Women’s Euros – which the Lionesses won on home soil – and to further grow women’s football. The tournament broke a number of records, with an unprecedented 365m people around the globe tuning into watch games on the TV or online. At the stadiums, the tournament attracted an average match attendance of 18,544 across games. In addition, at grassroots level, more than 416,000 opportunities to take part in football have so far been created in England across schools, clubs and the community. As Hannah will explore during the presentation, the challenge now is to engage women and girls in grassroots legacy football activities across the host cities.
The theme of inclusive sport will also be covered in a session which looks into facility design. Chaired by Charlotte Malyon, facilities development manager at England Netball, the seminar “Designing better facilities to attract wider demographic engagement” will feature Chris Donkin, strategic lead of facilities & urban spaces at London Sport, and Imogen Clark from Make Space for Girls. It will look at how thoughtful and inclusive facility design plays a crucial part in any plans to grow physical activity participation among people who would benefit from it the most – such as those with impairments or disabilities and those from BAME backgrounds. Another key topic for the sector, sustainability, is explored in a session titled “Sustainable AGP solutions: alternatives, innovations and a Football Foundation research project”. Delegates will hear about the latest developments in synthetic sports pitches, including the ongoing research and development work regarding alternative infill materials to replace rubber crumb. High-profile speakers in the session include Colin Corline, SAPCA project manager; Alastair Cox, technical director of ESTC; and Dr Kathryn Severn, product director at Greenfields. Another highlight of the day is provided by the National Governing Bodies Forum, which this year will look into how different sports are working together to achieve a common goal – to get the nation more physically active. The governing bodies of sport represented in the panel include England Netball, England Athletics, the Lawn Tennis Association and England Hockey.
“The high level of speakers at this year’s Technical Meeting is testament to the importance that industry places on the event. It is a place for professionals from across the sports and physical activity sector to hear the latest developments in a wide range of areas. It is also an invaluable opportunity for professionals to network with delegates from key organisations,” says Colin Corline, SAPCA project manager.
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