The University provides sporting facilities on and off-campus for students, staff, alumni and the general community.

1. Principles
2. Recommendations

Sports facilities include the Recreation and Fitness Centre, Watersports Complex, Boatshed, and the Aquatic Centre. There are also College facilities, which are available to all residential college students on a reciprocal basis. UWA Sports Park, which includes McGillivray Oval and the Tennis Centre, is five kilometres away and the International Martial Arts Centre is located at UWA Claremont.

UWA Sports coordinates a range of sporting competitions and activities including inter-faculty, inter-college and inter-university sport. It organises major local, national and international events such as the Indian Rim Asian University Games and the Australian University Games, and Recreate programs (40 per cent of participants are from the general community). For young people there is Uni Sport for Kids providing sport-based programs to primary school children during school holidays, and Campus Challenge, a live-in orientation camp introducing high school students to university activities including sport and culture.

The UWA Sports Council is the governing student body of sport at the University, responsible for overseeing 32 sports and recreation clubs covering 36 sports. Clubs have around 2500 members of which 40 per cent are students and staff, 30 per cent alumni and 30 per cent general community. Though most of the sporting clubs are based at UWA Sports Park, the University Cricket Club plays first grade cricket at James Oval, which is considered to be one of the finest cricket wickets in the State and the venue for occasional interstate and international matches.

Sport and recreation requirements

As staff and student numbers grow, particularly when the University becomes more of a residential university, there will be a need for more sports and recreation facilities on campus or close by. 

There are difficulties retaining and allocating high-value land for sport when there are competing teaching, research and other needs. For example, the tennis courts occupy half a hectare of prime campus land. Opportunities must be taken to share campus land footprints, such as having tennis courts on the tops of buildings, or for other organisations such as colleges and the Cities of Subiaco and Nedlands to share the provision of facilities.

The lack of satisfactory public transport between Crawley campus and UWA Sports Park is an issue for Crawley-based students. This is a significant factor in any consideration of re-locating sports and recreation facilities from Crawley to Sports Park.

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Principles

1. Develop sporting and recreation strategic relationships, collaboration and engagement with the community and other organisations to improve the student, staff and community experience reinforcing the University's positioning and reputation.
2. Ensure sports and recreation make a major contribution to the cultural life of the University and outside community.
3. Negotiate with other organisations in the Western Suburbs to avoid duplication and gain maximum utilisation of sporting facilities through shared access arrangements. Better promote the University’s contribution to sporting  activities.
4. Consider the development of facilities that reflect a more cross-disciplinary approach in sport, recreation, health and well-being, teaching, and research.

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Recommendations

• Ensure there are sufficient permanent green spaces and sports facilities at Crawley to meet the sports, recreation and fitness needs of an expanding University.
• Promote improved public transport between Crawley and UWA Sports Park, as well as other campus sites such as UWA Claremont, to ensure greater use of sporting infrastructure.
• Work with State Government to create the regional sports precinct at UWA Sports Park, combining Government and University interests and the sharing of resources.
• Prepare further studies for the development of a Sport Science and Health Institute within a Centre for Health and Sporting Excellence (CHASE) at UWA Sports Park, and for adoption as a priority area in UWA Strategic Research Initiatives and a future Commonwealth Government funding application.
• Ensure future developments consider sports and recreation requirements of students at Crawley, including those in residential accommodation, as well as staff and community needs.

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