Para Swimming World Championships on campus!

The Para Swimming World Championships are being held in Manchester this year! It will be the 11th edition of the event and the third time it is held in Great Britain following Glasgow 2015 and London 2019. Over 600 Para swimmers from around 70 nations are set to compete in the last World Championships before the Paralympic Games in Paris, France next year.

The competition will be held at the Manchester Aquatics Centre (MAC) from 31 July – 6 August 2023. The MAC is conveniently located on main campus, just off Oxford Road. 

Armitage Sports Centre

The Armitage Sports Centre is home to many of the University of Manchester sport clubs and community teams, being the perfect place to train on our wide range of high quality spaces, including our new full size floodlit 3G pitches. Alongside this, we have a split level fitness suite which holds an extensive list of excellent equipment that you can use with purchase of a membership.

Sugden Sports Centre

The Sugden Centre provides gym, fitness classes, sports hall, pitches and a packed programme of activities for the  University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the local community. Conveniently located in the city centre, there is a great choice of inclusive membership options on offer and pitches, courts and multi activity rooms are also available to hire for clubs, sports and events. 

Manchester Thunder ParaNetball

Superleague team Manchester Thunder have recently launched their unique inclusive netball opportunity in partnership with Nichols plc. They are building on the programme started by Dominoes Netball club and are running monthly sessions for deaf and disabled participants aged 9 – 25 years old.

Location: Wright Robinson College
Dates: First Saturday of each month – next session July 1st
Price: FREE

Lancashire Cricket – Super 1s

Super 1s is a Lord’s Taverners programme designed to give cricketing opportunities, both coaching and competitive, to young disabled people (12-25 year olds) via community based sessions. The programme aims to increase levels of confidence, communication, leadership and independence for disabled young people. 

Lancashire Cricket Foundation currently have six community hubs delivering weekly cricketing opportunities:

Manchester Powerchair football

Manchester United PFC/Sale United
Training Venue: Moss Side Millenium Powerhouse, M14 4SL
Club Contact: Sandra Fitzpatrick
Club email: sandf517@icloud.com

Manchester City Stars
Club training venue: Hollinwood Academy, Oldham, OL8 3PT
Club contact: Paul Kelly
Club email: paul.kelly2@cityfootball.com 

Stockport Boccia Club

Stockport Boccia Club is run for people who have a physical disability to enable them to take part in a sport on an equal level.  Boccia is a cross between bowls and the french games of Boules. It is played from a seated position so is therefore ideally suited for people in wheelchairs.

The game can be either a team game, doubles game or a singles game. The balls used are soft and just slightly bigger than a tennis ball. The balls must be played onto the court either by throwing, rolling or by means of a chute. 

Location: Avondale Recreation Centre (SK3 0UP)
Dates: Sundays 11am-1pm
Price: £3 per session plus £30 annual membership fee

Sitting Volleyball – Manchester Marvels

Manchester Marvels was established in 2012 and is currently the biggest volleyball club in the UK. As well as weekly training, the club hopes to offer some sitting volleyball competitions.

Location: Dean Trust Ardwick School (M13 0LF)
Days: Sundays 10:30am-12pm
Price: £3 pay as you go (or included in Club membership fee)

Stockport Sharks Swimming Club

Stockport Sharks Swimming Club provides the opportunity for people of all ages, with physical and/or sensory disabilities to enjoy a quiet, fully supervised, informal swim with friends and family. 

They have use of a pool hoist, shower chairs, changing stretcher and mobile hoist.

• There are accessible changing rooms with showering facilities.
• There is disabled parking and level access to the building and pool.
• All sessions are fully supervised by trained lifeguards.

Location: Life Leisure, Jacksons Lane, Hazel Grove, Stockport, SK7 5JW
Dates: Wednesdays 7:30-8:30pm

West Coast Wheelchair Rugby Club

West Coast Wheelchair Rugby club were formed in 2008 and are the North West’s largest wheelchair rugby club. They currently have three teams: West Coast “Crash”, “Heat” and “Burn”. They are a club for all levels of abilities, ages and disabilities, everyone is welcome. 

Training is every Saturday 11:30am- 3pm and locations vary from:

• Leigh Leisure centre, Leigh Sports Village, Leigh, WN7 4JY
• Leyland Leisure centre, Lancastergate, Leyland, PR25 2EX
• Southport Spinal Unit, Town Lane, Southport, PR8 6PN

To contact the club, email westcoastwrc@gmail.com. 

Climbing

Rockover

Rockover is a climbing/bouldering gym in Manchester, and is actually where the UK Olympic team’s official training wall is! They offer bouldering and rope climbing. They offer a para-climbing club – every Tuesday evening at 7pm

Accessibility information: They have a ramp, but someone must go inside/call them to get it. There is bouldering and auto-belay and manual-belay climbing step free. The large majority of the bouldering is up a small flight of stairs.

Parthian Climbing Centre

Parthian climbing centre is another climbing/bouldering gym in Manchester. Offering rope climbing, bouldering and auto belay climbing.

Accessibility information: The entrance is step free, but usually you need to go up some stairs to pay & check in, if someone can go up for you, they can open a fire door to let you in. There is a very small & steep little ramp/lip to get in, that we found manual wheelchair users needed support getting over. There is auto-belay and hand-belay as well as clips climbing ste-free, but the bouldering is up a medium flight of stairs.

MCR Climbing Depot, Trafford

The climbing depot in Trafford is for bouldering/climbing, it is located in a business park which is approximately 5-10 minutes away from a bus stop. They offer bouldering.

Accessibility information: It has step free access to the cafe/changing rooms/toilets, however, to actually climb you need to step onto the crash mats. There is a disabled bathroom with a bench and shower inside. Depot do not allow wheelchair users to have their wheelchairs on the climbing mats, even if they are removed once you begin climbing. They do allow the use of walking sticks on the mats.

Strictly Wheels

Strictly Wheels is a ballroom & latin para-dance club and team. They mainly cater to wheelchair users, but anyone can join. They offer just for fun sessions, and competitive sessions.

They run every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month, 7pm-8.30pm in Trinity Sports Centre (near campus). 

Graystone Action x Tomas Woods – WCMX Sessions

On the first of every month Tomas Woods comes to Graystone to run a WMX session. They have a WMX wheelchair you can use, if you’re anxious about using your own, it can fit anyone from 12-16”, has state of the art suspension and Spinergy wheels made with Kevlar (it’s a very high spec chair).

To make an enquiry about these sessions email: info@graystoneactionsports.co.uk