New NUIG Sports Centre

citycentre

I dropped in for the tour and the spiel encouraging me to join earlier today. I was hugely impressed.

The Building itself is fantastic - bright, airy, inviting. The swimming pool area is very well appointed - 25m, 6 lane - a proper pool the same as Leisureland and the general changing facilities are very similar as well - individual cubicles for both changing and showers although there are communal Male and Female changing rooms also.

The main sports hall is very impressive - the largest in the west of Ireland and with 1300 spectator seats. It can be split into three smaller halls with roller screens and looks like it would be a great place for concerts and other events also. The curved roof profiles that you can see whilst driving on the bridge carry through to the interior and make the mani sports and pool halls a bit more interesting than the usual "shoebox" style that you normally get.

There are also squash courts, handball alleys etc. that we couldnt see as they are still being fitted out. The climbing wall will be a great addition and the main gym area is great as well although I'd say not much bigger than the old Crunch gym. Apparently it will have 80 pieces of equipment as well as all the usual free-weights etc. It's very bright and airy though with a huge amount of glazing overlooking the college grounds.

Overall its looks and feels like the kind of place that will be a pleasure to use and I'm very tempted to join up. The rate for student is €250 for the year but it's all payable upfront. A bit steep I think and quite a big cost for any student to pay at the start of term. There's absolutely no way of using the facilities, even the swimming pool, as a non member - even for students of the university -which I think is very wrong. That's the peril of getting a commercial operator (Kingfisher) in to run the place.

For non students its pretty steep also - €595 for a year's membership with €50 off if you pay it all in one go otherwise its €50 a month by direct debit. Apparently there's an upfront €100 joining fee as well but it's being waived if you join up this week - that's a pretty big saving. Still the place is in a different class to anything else that's here in Galway and finally the University has the sports facility that it deserves, finally comparable to what Limerick has had for years (Although the 50m pool would have been nice to get!)

The Swimming pool will be open for use next Monday, 25th Aug and the gym and other facilities will follow with everything operational by September 1st.

Hope this is helpful to anyone else who's interested!

snubbleste

Thread on it already
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055236662

citycentre

Ah I see - hope might be helpful for non students like myself though...

Wompa1

As if the students in Galway weren't pretentious enough...bah humbug!

JohnCleary

I take it you don't have to be an NUIG student to avail of the student offer?

JIZZLORD

hmm, pricey, is crunch in the old sports building still going, and when are they changing the use of the building?

JohnCleary

JIZZLORD wrote: »

hmm, pricey, is crunch in the old sports building still going, and when are they changing the use of the building?

Crunch closed it's doors for the last time last week sometime

oneofakind32

sorry john I think you do, as NUIG students have been paying for this crap for 3 years in now in the form of an increased student levey. Its almost one hundered euro dearer then the old student gym and from what I hear you can't use any aspect of it without paying €250 per year! BS!

JohnCleary

That sucks donkey balls. Students are students ie. BROKE

brianthebard

Im optimistic that kf will realise how dumb it is to charge students a lump sum.

Fionn MacCool

Just wondering how easy it is to share a membership e.g. split it between 3 mates and just take turns going. Especially handy if your mates go home on the weekend and leave you their card, but could you get caught...?

Climate Expert

What a bloody disgrace.

Paying money every year to the college and they can't even give us a free gym. Or at least a decent sports persons gym that is only open to students or staff. The place will be ran as a moneymaking operation just like the other ****hole was.

NUIM has a free gym (proper weights), free swimming pool and loads of courts and astroturf pitches and its half the size of NUIG. NUIG is a dump.

I've spent 4 years paying this student levy and I'm finished up with Galway in a month so I wonder will I get my money back.

Madame Razz

whats the discount for alumni who paid the levy whilst at the wonderful NUIG??

brianthebard

CE,the nuim pool is a hundred years old,theres one astroturf pitch and theres a decent but very small gym.I don't know how this thing was financed but i can tell you nuig is getting better facilities than nuim.

DRakE

@Climate Expert

lol NUIG is certainly no dump

leninbenjamin

and I won't get a chance to use it as I'll be off in Dublin.

I want my levy back :mad:

citycentre

As I said I think it's shocking that there isn't even the facility for students to "pay as you go" especially for the swimming pool. By rights all the facilities of the university should be free fof it's student especially when levies are baing paid etc. I went to college in Britain for a while and there there was just a tiny charge each time you used either the gym or the pool - something like 50p or something ridiculous.
To put into perspective though, Crunch Fitness at the UCD sports centre were charging something similar last year for students to use a gym with feck all in the way of decent equipment in a grotty, dingy building that's barely seen a lick of paint since it opened 30 odd years ago - plus it has no swimming pool of any description. At least the new facilities in NUIG are genuinely fantastic.

Oh and I'm pretty sure you have to be an NUIG student to get the €250 rate...

hada

BTH wrote: »

Oh and I'm pretty sure you have to be an NUIG student to get the €250 rate...

Or alumni who has paid the levy.

JohnCleary

I can understand that in a way, as NUIG students did contribute to the financials of the building, but there should be another student discount (maybe slightly more expensive than the NUIG student discount) available - that sucks Guess i'll just have to swim in the river while ye fancy feckers get a heated pool :pac:

Climate Expert

brianthebard wrote: »

CE,the nuim pool is a hundred years old,theres one astroturf pitch and theres a decent but very small gym.I don't know how this thing was financed but i can tell you nuig is getting better facilities than nuim.

The pool was redone a few years back and so what if its 100 years old. The gym is actually in two parts and has way more equipment than crunch.
There is one full size astroturf pitch and it is cut up into two pitches for 5 asides.
I've spent 4 years at both and Maynooth is miles ahead of NUIG in so many ways. Of all the colleges I've ever been to around the world NUIG is far and away the worst.

JohnCleary

Climate Expert wrote: »

The pool was redone a few years back and so what if its 100 years old. The gym is actually in two parts and has way more equipment than crunch.
There is one full size astroturf pitch and it is cut up into two pitches for 5 asides.
I've spent 4 years at both and Maynooth is miles ahead of NUIG in so many ways. Of all the colleges I've ever been to around the world NUIG is far and away the worst.

I've not got much experience of colleges around the world, but if you think NUIG is bad you should see some of the other uni's/IT's around the country :pac:

brianthebard

So what if its a hundred years old?That means that the students of today didnt invest in it.Its been there ages and its not a fair comparision to the new nuig fac.Likewise the gym is small even with the two parts combined,and the new nuig gym is going to have far more equipment by all accounts.Is there a univesity 5 a side tournament or why do feel an astroturf pitch is so important?Im sure its handy but i don't think its make or break stuff tbh.Are we throwing our degrees out there as well now?I spent 3 years at nuim and there was never any investment near nuig's in sports.

tristanc

Most American unis have huge gyms that are free to students (which doesn't seem to stop 'em from getting fat). However, it's mainly because a good amount of their money comes from alumni donations, and many of the alumni are more inspired to donate to sports team specific causes (which gyms can be shoe-horned in on) than say academic related causes (who really needs libraries anyway?). The biggest donation ever to the school I went to was for a new football stadium.

On a side note, do you think they'll honor the half a year I still have on my old climbing wall membership, or am I SOL?

chrussell

its very expensive for non students...are theere any other gyms / swimming pools around the city apart from leisureworld in salthill???

skelliser

tristanc wrote: »

However, it's mainly because a good amount of their money comes from alumni donations, and many of the alumni are more inspired to donate to sports team specific causes (which gyms can be shoe-horned in on) than say academic related causes (who really needs libraries anyway?)

not quite, must of there money comes from fees, to go to a good college in america your talking btw 15,000 to 20,000 dollars per year
in relation to the new sports centre, its a joke that you cant pay as you go, for instance in leisureland you can do that and also get one month stints, discounts etc.- they are actively seeking customers, sounds to me that the sports centre is to small to cope with both members and non-members so there just tryin to sign up loads, hit them with lump-sums and hope the majority dont go which usually happens

Climate Expert

What happened in Crunch is that they just signed up so many people that the gym became unuseable.
I used it in 2004 and I had to leave after a year. Students were basically subsidising a cheap gym for all the poor people of Galway and having to pay for the pleasure of a packed gym.

JIZZLORD

i think the fees are ridiculous, as far as i know the gym wasnt even paid for by the university. An american philanthropist, Chuck feeney made a deal with several irish colleges to build sports centres, on the condition that he paid half the cost and the students paid the other half over god knows how many years.
Crunch made a fortune on people signing up and not going, myself included, but they were kinda taking the piss as the few times i went it was packed.

Dave Joyce

Well if ye think thats bad, God help anyone here that was involved in any of the Sports clubs or did any of the pay as you go classes. I was the instructor for the Kung Fu/Thaiboxing club and I've been told that the clubs will be trying to get times from Kingfisher to run their respective classes which will be interesting to say the least. Anyone who signs up for the clubs then has no choice but to pay the membership fee in order to GET IN to the new gym EVEN if you only want to do those specific classes and not use the facilities!!!

Its worse if you did Body Pump, Combat or Attack pay as you go classes. They are no longer pay as you go, Kingfisher ONLY do Body Pump, I've been told the NUIG instructors won't work for Kingfisher, so that means no Combat or Attack. Don't think Joanne Doyle from Crunch will work for KF, so that also means no Spinning, Abs Blast or Aerobics which was VERY popular in the old hall. So that means far less available classes:(. Same will apply for Rachetball and Squash to the best of my knowledge.

Climate Expert

Dave Joyce wrote: »

Well if ye think thats bad, God help anyone here that was involved in any of the Sports clubs or did any of the pay as you go classes. I was the instructor for the Kung Fu/Thaiboxing club and I've been told that the clubs will be trying to get times from Kingfisher to run their respective classes which will be interesting to say the least. Anyone who signs up for the clubs then has no choice but to pay the membership fee in order to GET IN to the new gym EVEN if you only want to do those specific classes and not use the facilities!!!

Its worse if you did Body Pump, Combat or Attack pay as you go classes. They are no longer pay as you go, Kingfisher ONLY do Body Pump, I've been told the NUIG instructors won't work for Kingfisher, so that means no Combat or Attack. Don't think Joanne Doyle from Crunch will work for KF, so that also means no Spinning, Abs Blast or Aerobics which was VERY popular in the old hall. So that means far less available classes:(. Same will apply for Rachetball and Squash to the best of my knowledge.

There was a letter in the paper today from the College president about trying to discourage students drinking at rag week. How about ensuring an alternative to the bar?

Sporting activities for a student should be of minimal if not zero cost on campus given they 'registration' fee students pay a year.

Mrs OBumble

Climate Expert wrote: »

There was a letter in the paper today from the College president about trying to discourage students drinking at rag week. How about ensuring an alternative to the bar?

Studying could be regarded as quite a good alternative, if slightly unfashionable.

Mrs OBumble

chrussell wrote: »

its very expensive for non students...are theere any other gyms / swimming pools around the city apart from leisureworld in salthill???

Yes. There was a thread on this a few months ago. Try searching before we repeat ourselves.