Bolton boost for Bulls and Amir

What do Britain’s Olympic boxing silver medallist Amir Khan and the Bolton Bulls wheelchair basketball team, have in common?

They have both made use of the first class sports facilities which were opened at   Smithills School in 2001for the school and the local community.

The school is situated in one the most deprived wards in the country and Sport England saw a real need to give the community the best facilities possible.

So they invested £2.4m of Lottery funding in developing the Smithills Community Sports Centre which has an eight badminton court (two netball court) sports hall, fitness suite, meeting room, café, three outdoor netball courts and a cricket wicket.

Smithills Sports Centre factfile

• Local netball, football, cricket, basketball, badminton and martial arts clubs use the facility
• Over 43,500 people visit the centre each year helping Sport England towards its target of increasing participation by 1% a year up to 2020
• 4 new jobs have been created as a result of this facility
• There are 23 coaches operating there
• The Bolton Metro netball league operate from the centre
• Bolton Connexions provide free fitness sessions in the gym for 11-15 year olds during the school holidays
• 1,500 have been inducted into the fitness suite
• All England Netball hold talent camps at the centre