Spiceball Leisure Centre in Banbury

In early 2021, Sport & Play carried out the supply and installation of their new iteration of rebound boards – known as SportsWall – for the Spiceball Leisure Centre in Banbury, Oxfordshire. A multi-million-pound centre under the care of non-for-profit Legacy Leisure, the site hosts a wide range of facilities. Of these includes an 8-court sports hall, where their older rebound boards needed replacing. By working with the existing infrastructure for the older boards, Sport & Play were able to install the new SportsWall partitions efficiently and in a cost-effective manner. This coupled with the advantages of the newer lightweight yet robust SportsWall partitions, which are far easier to set-up and take down, allows the Spiceball Centre to now offer a wide range of activities to a variety of customers by dividing up the hall as they wish to.

Our Work:

After being contacted by Legacy Leisure, the team at Spiceball Leisure Centre explained to Sport & Play the issues they were having with their older rebound boards. With the older design of the boards having been standard for the last 30 years, they were extremely heavy; between 75kg and 95kg each. This was causing the Spiceball Centre team serious manhandling and health & safety issues when setting up and dismantling the boards. The old boards were also rattling and moving around when in use, and hence were unsuitable for the sports hall and the activities offered by the Spiceball Centre.

After hearing these concerns, Sport & Play were able to recommend their new design of rebound boards, named SportsWall. The new technology, materials and knowledge utilised today – when compared to 30 years ago – means the boards are designed to be significantly lighter than their older counterparts. Weighing in at just 12 -15kg, depending on the option chosen, this means they are considerably easier to set out, put away and store. Additionally, the end frames of SportsWall boards are attached to the posts supporting the boards, not the board itself, making them much more manoeuvrable. The total weight, when these end frames are attached, is still only 25kg. Sport & Play also provide bespoke made trolleys included with the installation of SportsWall boards, which can be used to easily transport and store the boards and posts together.

The Result:

Following on from the above discussions, Legacy Leisure decided to go ahead with the installation of the SportsWall boards as had been recommended. The project was able to be to be completed within one evening, as the hall was being used for local elections during the daytime, with the Sport & Play team working efficiently and professionally to get the job done on during such a narrow timeframe. In addition to this, Sport & Play were also able to work with the existing bushing sockets installed in the hall at the request of Legacy Leisure. This was done by commissioning specifically tailored posts for the boards. This quick turnaround, specialised installation and improved design of the rebound boards helped keep the project cost and time effective. The new boards have enabled the Spiceball Leisure Centre to host a variety of sporting activities in their main hall, whilst being much easier and safer to set up than before. This is something which has delighted Operations Manager Chris Pearson.