{"id":10075,"date":"2025-08-21T19:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T18:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/sport\/new-pitches-and-gym\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T12:15:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:15:59","slug":"new-pitches-and-gym","status":"publish","type":"sport","link":"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/sport\/new-pitches-and-gym\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW PITCHES AND GYM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In November 2024, the new gym facility at UCD Smurfit\u2019s Blackrock Campus was opened, expanding the number of student-accessible gyms to five. The new gym was purpose-built to meet the needs of the School\u2019s 1,400 students, 250 of whom are residents on the Campus, thus eliminating the lengthy commute to the Belfield Campus for the purpose of accessing fitness facilities. In May, a range of cutting-edge artificial playing pitches were opened, marking the completion of Phase 1 of the University\u2019s Student Sports and Amenities Precinct Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new facilities include a UEFA-standard 11-a-side 4G soccer pitch, a half-sized water-based hockey training pitch, a skills wall, and six 5-a-side artificial pitches designed to support both high-level competitions and casual recreational use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The project will now move onto Phase 2, with the construction of a new large indoor sports hall designed to host five basketball courts, an international-grade tennis centre, and a new performing arts building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/New-Pitches.jpg\" alt=\"The official opening of the new pitches.\" class=\"wp-image-10629\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/New-Pitches.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/New-Pitches-300x130.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/New-Pitches-1024x444.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/New-Pitches-768x333.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The official opening of the new pitches.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In November 2024, the new gym facility at UCD Smurfit\u2019s Blackrock Campus was opened, expanding the number of student-accessible gyms to five. The new gym was purpose-built to meet the needs of the School\u2019s 1,400 students, 250 of whom are residents on the Campus, thus eliminating the lengthy commute to the Belfield Campus for the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10630,"template":"","sport_categories":[231],"class_list":["post-10075","sport","type-sport","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","sport_categories-231"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NEW PITCHES AND GYM - 2025 Sport Shorts - UCD Connections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/sport\/new-pitches-and-gym\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NEW PITCHES AND GYM - 2025 Sport Shorts - UCD Connections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In November 2024, the new gym facility at UCD Smurfit\u2019s Blackrock Campus was opened, expanding the number of student-accessible gyms to five. 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