Stirling University’s Basketball Club are having to move to the PEAK as delayed renovations in the sports centre affect their training schedule.
This comes as members of the club went to use one of the sports halls at the beginning of the semester, only to find that the basketball hoops were no longer there.
Basketball Club President, Brodie Jones said: “At the start of the semester we had all our training sorted and thought it was good and ready to go.
“However, we and the Sports Union were not told about the renovations happening, so we complained to the sports centre.”
The hoops have now been returned to the hall; however, they were initially re-installed incorrectly. Jones said: “They then apologised and put the hoops that they had taken out back in.
“However, they were not put in properly somehow, one was about a foot too low, and both were too far into the court.
“The sports centre has now consulted us on which hoops they should put in, which should have happened in the beginning as it is clear they don’t know what they are doing with basketball.”
Renovations were scheduled to take place in the sports centre over the summer, but delays have pushed this back to reading week. As a result, the club are trying to move their training and matches to the PEAK. Jones said: “The start of the year has been super stressful because of this.
“I am now told that the hoops are being put up in reading week and thus we must go to the PEAK.”
Sports Union President Murray Bushell said: “Due to some well-known issues around the world at the current moment, the Sports Centre has seen some delays in the works taking place in the sports halls.
“One of the clubs affected by this is the Basketball Club.
“The works were originally scheduled for the summer months to reduce the disruption to Sports Union activity.
“However, due to the delays, the decision was made for the works to take place over reading week to ensure clubs will have access to the best equipment as soon as possible.
“The Sports Centre operation team are apologetic of the delays but ultimately, they have the club’s best intentions in mind when making decisions.”
While delays to renovations can be expected, there seems to have been a lack of communication from the sports centre to the club. Jones said: “This all could have been avoided had we been given ample notice instead of this being sprung on both us and the union.”
In response, a spokesperson for the University of Stirling said: “The refurbishment of sports hall one has been delayed due to circumstances outside of the University’s control, in particular the delivery of new equipment which has been hampered by global supply chain issues.
“The University has managed the unanticipated disruption as effectively as possible and has communicated updates at each step of the process.
“Through our partnership with Active Stirling, all affected clubs have been given the opportunity to temporarily relocate their training sessions while rescheduled works are completed in the coming months.”
Bushell added: “The operations team have been proactive to minimise the impact of these disruptions on the clubs and we are very appreciative that they have reached out to the PEAK, to ensure we can book alternative training times for the clubs.”
Featured Image Credit: Luke Howard
