K-Park Training Academy is a

training ground A training ground is an area where professional association football teams prepare for matches, with activities primarily concentrating on skills and fitness. They also sometimes form part of a club's youth system, as clubs consider it important t ...

in the

St Leonards St Leonards may refer to: Places Australia *St Leonards, New South Wales **St Leonards railway station *St Leonards, Tasmania, suburb of Launceston *St Leonards, Victoria Canada *St. Leonard's, Newfoundland and Labrador New Zealand * St L ...

area of

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

. It is located within the site of

Calderglen Country Park Calderglen Country Park is a country park in the town of East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is situated along the eastern edge of the town and is its principal greenspace and recreation area. Description The park opened officially ...

. It is the home ground of

Lowland Football League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the ...

team

History

K-Park was opened in May 2011 by the East Kilbride Community Trust (EKCT), who had previously drawn up plans that would give the large town a top-quality,

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

-standard sports facility. Former Rangers and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

footballer

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist, (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland i ...

, who is from East Kilbride, officially opened the first phase of the new facility on 25 September 2011. K-Park is used as the home ground for the newly formed football club East Kilbride F.C., who were founded in 2010, one year before the facility's official opening. They will play their first league matches at the venue before relocating to a proposed site near Langlands Golf Course. The local rugby team

East Kilbride RFC East Kilbride RFC are a rugby union side who are based in East Kilbride. History Established in 1968, their home games are played at Torrance House. The team currently compete in the and play all their home games at the Magnificent Torrance H ...

also train at the facility. K-Park was the home of

Celtic Women Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

from March 2015 until July 2021.Celtic reveal home ground for B team & Women's matches this season
The Herald, 22 July 2021

Structure and facilities

It is mainly Third Generation synthetic

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

pitches that are at the facility, used by local clubs and clubs from the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

. The parks are also easily convertible for

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

training. The pitches at K-Park (of which there is one 11-a-side pitch and two 7-a-sides) are unusual, in that they consist of a mixture of

quartz sand Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

and rubber granules. This is to reduce the likelihood of an injury sustained or lower the impact of a fall, as well as allowing better ball control for the players that use the facility.

References

External links

Website of the K-Park Training Academy
{{Football venues in Scotland Buildings and structures in East Kilbride K-Park Lowland Football League venues Sports venues in South Lanarkshire Sports venues completed in 2011 Celtic F.C. Women East Kilbride F.C. 2011 establishments in Scotland Scottish Women's Premier League venues