New Sports Facilities Get the Thumbs Up

©Abbey Grammar School, Newry

The new Abbey CBS gym has given me and many other students the motivation to get fit and maintain that fitness. The school now currently offers two large playing fields, a synthetic grass playing fields, a large sports hall, a gymnasium, a fitness suite and a large free-weights room.

All of these facilities have helped maximise training, increased motivation and confidence to allow users to feel that exercising is not just work, but enjoyable. The fields allow for most outdoor sports to be played, the main one being gaelic football due to the large goals and stop nets installed.

The synthetic grass playing field is more soccer friendly, allowing students to play more than one sport. The sports hall can be used for a variety of sports but the main is basketball, as the hall is the correct size and has two large nets at either end. There is also a scoreboard for this exact purpose.

The fitness suite has an obvious use. There are plenty of cardiovascular machines such as treadmills, bikes, rowing machines and air walkers. The suite also uses machine weights to allow users to increase strength and endurance for certain muscles. This gives the user a great starting base before using more complex exercises that incorporate free weights. This is where the ‘free-weights’ room comes into play.

It has several Olympic weight racks with assorted weights ranging from 0.25kg to 25kg plates. The school has also provided a multi-functional trainer called the Cybex Bravo. This machine uses exercises which are used in sports or real life situations.

The main help, however, comes from the advice and training of the department’s teachers. They help users learn how to use the machines correctly and give advice on how to increase fitness and performance. They also created a WOD (work out of the day) system that allows students to workout together at the same time to increase confidence and fitness. The workouts use a variety of strength and endurance exercises to allow maximum increased fitness across all levels.

In comparison to the old school’s facilities, the new school has encouraged many more users, including several teachers from the school to take advantage of the new facilities. I hope that many more students from lower years will utilizse the facilities provided as they help with more than just fitness and overall health but promote confidence and teamwork to help each other and themselves.

Jude Sands

© Abbey Grammar School