Sport Wales ( Welsh: ''Chwaraeon Cymru'') is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales. Working alongside partners such as governing bodies of sport and local authorities, they aim to encourage sporting ambitions in the young, and promote championship standards nationally. They are the main adviser on sporting matters to the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

and are responsible for distributing National Lottery funds to both elite and grassroots sport in Wales.

National centres

Sport Wales National Centre

The

Sport Wales National Centre The Sport Wales National Centre ( cy, Canolfan Genedlaethol Chwaraeon Cymru) is a sports facility in Cardiff, Wales, set up to assist the development of elite athletes in Wales. The Centre, owned and operated by Sport Wales, was established b ...

, located in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, was established in 1972 to provide facilities to help develop Welsh sport. It is the national sports centre for Wales and is part of a network of facilities enabling Wales to compete in international sport. The centre has indoor sports halls, next to

Glamorgan CCC Glamorgan County Cricket Club ( cy, Criced Morgannwg) is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Glamorgan ( cy, Morgannwg). Founded in 1888, ...

's SWALEC Stadium in Sophia Gardens. Sports activities in the Main Hall include

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

trampoline A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame using many coiled springs. Not all trampolines have springs, as the Springfree Trampoline uses glass-reinforced plastic rods. People bounce o ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In ...

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preser ...

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...

, dance and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

. The site also contains squash courts and

weight training Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength, size of skeletal muscles and maintenance of strength.Keogh, Justin W, and Paul W Winwood. “Report for: The Epidemiology of Injuries Across the Weight-Trai ...

rooms. Outdoors, the Institute has an international standard permeable artificial pitch, which is one of the home international venues for Welsh hockey. The pitch is also used for

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

and

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 ...

. Their outdoor

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

courts are also used for

and five-a-side football. Some of the country's national teams train at the Sport Wales National Centre, including the Wales National Rugby Team (on the Institute's full-size, floodlit rugby pitch), Wales National Badminton Team, the

Wales national netball team The Wales national netball team represents Wales in international netball competition. The Welsh Netball Association ( cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-Rwyd Cymru), the governing body for netball in Wales, is responsible for Welsh squad selection, internatio ...

and the Wales National Gymnastic Team. Owned and operated by Sport Wales, the Institute supports national governing bodies of sport and acts as a training base to elite athletes. Several of the country's multi-sport agencies have their headquarters at the Sport Wales National Centre. Including the Welsh Sports Association the National Governing Bodies Coaches, the Federation of Disability Sport Wales and Sport Wales. Governing bodies of sports in Wales with their headquarters at the Sport Wales National Centre include

Basketball Wales Basketball Wales ( cy, Pêl-fasged Cymru) (founded in 1952 as the Basketball Association of Wales) is the sole controller and the national governing body of all aspects of the game of basketball in Wales. It is responsible for the management of t ...

, Welsh Judo Association,

Welsh Gymnastics Welsh Gymnastics (WG) (founded 1902 as the Welsh Amateur Gymnastics Association) is the national governing body for gymnastics in Wales. It has overall responsibility for the administration of all eight gymnastics disciplines in Wales – ...

, Welsh Hockey and Squash Wales.

Plas Menai

Plas Menai Plas Menai is the National Outdoor Centre for Wales. It is situated on the mainland side of the Menai Strait, and is approximately 3 miles East of Caernarfon, North Wales. History Opened in 1978 the facility was initially called "Plas y Deri" (P ...

, owned and run by Sport Wales, is the National Watersports Centre for Wales (). A purpose-built watersports centre on the Menai Strait,

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, an ...

, overlooking

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

, it was opened in 1986. Watersports courses are run at the centre, including

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other act ...

, cruising ( yachting), dinghy sailing,

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits faci ...

, powerboating and

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

. The centre is also the headquarters of the Welsh Yachting Association () (WYA), the governing body for the sports of powerboating, sailing and windsurfing in Wales. The Welsh Yachting Association is jointly funded by Sport Wales and the Royal Yachting Association (RYA). Sailing clubs in Wales are members of the RYA and, as individuals must join the RYA to race, the WYA has no personal members. Its purpose is "... to feed the RYA GBR performance pathway, and ultimately Team GBR 2012 and beyond". Wales contributed 10 -15% to the Great Britain Olympic Sailing Squads in 2008.

Other Facilities

Key national and regional facilities include the Welsh Rugby Union Centre of Excellence at the Vale Resort, the Wales National Football Development Centre and Wales National Velodrome in Newport and the National Whitewater Centre in Bala and regional centres abound across a number of sports. National Lottery funding has been invested into these facilities. The 2012 Olympic Games was the most successful for any Welsh contingent in 100 years. More than 25% of the Great Britain Paralympic team's gold medals in 2008 came from Welsh sportsmen and women, who made up around 16% of the team. With help from the National Lottery, Sport Wales has invested in the Wales National Velodrome, Wales National Pool, and other national and regional centres across a number of sports such as athletics, swimming and golf, as well as a National Centre of Excellence for rugby which opened in 2009.

References

External links

Sport Wales website

Plas Menai website
{{Authority control Physical education in the United Kingdom Sports organisations of the United Kingdom Welsh Government sponsored bodies 1972 establishments in Wales Sports organizations established in 1972