Harlequins boosted by visit to their ‘amazing’ new training facilities
08 April 2010
Harlequins gave the thumbs up to Surrey’s newest sport and leisure facility, Surrey Sports Park, on a visit to the site which they will now be able to call home.
40 players from the Guinness Premiership rugby union club made the visit to Surrey Sports Park to work on their usual strength and conditioning training in the new health and fitness centre and have a tour of the new sports and training facilities they will be based out of from June this year.
England international and Harlequins winger, Ugo Monye could not hide his excitement over his team’s new training facilities. He said, "It’s amazing! It’s the first time I’ve been down here and I’ve just had a quick session and the facilities are top notch. The new facilities give us an adrenalin boost which is exactly what we need. It’s something to look forward to, and it’s definitely a massive step up from where we’ve come from and everything’s really exciting. We’re looking forward to working really hard here."
Harlequins and England Saxons prop Mark Lambert talked of the benefits the new multi-million pound facility can bring to the team. He said, "Everything here is on site, and the new facilities will give the boys a bit of a boost, it will be good for team morale and hopefully it will get the squad really firing when we get into pre-season, so it’s exciting times. It’s great to have everything here purpose built. These are the things that will make you a lot more professional and make it easier to get the best out yourself."
John Dams, Head Training and Conditioning Coach at Quins found his team’s first visit to Surrey Sports Park very impressive. He said. "It’s been a good opportunity for the guys to see where they’ll be training for the next year. We’ve got some great facilities here and they’ve loved it. To have a facility like this it give you a bit of a boost to come in and work. To come somewhere like this where it’s nice and bright with brand new facilities and a great environment, it can only help."
Dams continued to comment on how the move to Surrey Sports Park may attract more players to Harlequins, and described the facilities as a ‘great selling point.’
"In the past we haven’t really shown prospective players a lot of our training facilities as they’ve been of sub-standard quality. Now we are proud to bring them here. We can bring them to the gym, the pool and the area and it’s fantastic. It’s a great selling point for the club and it can be the difference between signing a player and not signing a player, so it’s great."
Winger, Monye agreed that his side’s new facilities are a massive draw if and when Quins look to strengthen their squad.
"If we invite any players, prospective players to come down, have a look at this, what we do, how we set up, automatically you get the professional vibe. To know you’ve got world class facilities all on site, why would you not want to sign for Harlequins?"
Surrey Sports Park Chief Executive, Jason Harborow said, "It’s a big day for us with Harlequins here for their first strength and conditioning session at Surrey Sports Park. They’re getting used to their new home and they are loving it. When any professional sports team arrives it is always an event in itself, but it's also a good test for us as well because we open to the public on Monday 19 April and to get these athletes round upfront to see how we accommodate them is also a good learning process for the crew."
Coach Dams ended the visit in high praise of the newly agreed partnership. "I think the boys are going to integrate really well, and I think it’s going to be a fantastic partnership," he said.
The newly announced agreement between Surrey Sports Park and Harlequins will give the Premiership club access to all of the new Sports Park’s facilities as well as use of two training pitches. The multi-million pound Surrey Sports Park, which is owned by the University is due to open on Monday 19 April 2010.
The Surrey Sports Park has already been registered as a suitable training venue for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 but as well as catering for elite athletes it will also provide the best and most up to date sport and facilities for anyone interested in sport and fitness everyone.
