ENGLAND HOCKEY STAR PUTS NOTTS SPORT DESIGNED PITCH THROUGH ITS PACES AT LOCAL COLLEGE

England & Great Britain hockey star Sam Ward took time out from his preparations for the 2021 Olympics to host a special training session for school pupils – on an artificial turf pitch designed by leading synthetic surfacing supplier Notts Sport.

The recently completed refurbished pitch at Lutterworth College was officially opened by Sam in October this year, giving the students some much-needed excitement and fun in this strange year.

The school recently upgraded their multi-sport pitch to a synthetic hockey pitch designed by Notts Sport to meet International Hockey Federation (FIH) National category field standard.

Sam delighted pupils with a special training session and game and was enthused to see pupils benefiting from such a fantastic facility, which he believes will help develop the sport in the local area. He said “It was amazing to go back to the Midlands to open the pitch at Lutterworth College. It is a fantastic school in which a high class facility like that can really bring the community together getting more people more active. The playing surface supplied by Notts Sport is incredible and hopefully will be used to create some stars of the future.”

Within just eight weeks, the school’s original Notts Sport multi-sport pitch – which had seen 15 years of intensive use – was given a state-of-the-art make-over, creating a top-notch facility for students and community users to enjoy.

Notts Sport channel partner Cleveland Land Services were contractors for the install, lifting and removing the existing carpet and shockpad, cleaning the macadam base before installing a brand new shockpad and sand dressed synthetic grass.

The £251k refurbishment project was carried out during lockdown and the summer holidays, meaning there was minimal disruption to the school.

Laura Kendrick, School Business Leader at Lutterworth College said, “Working with England Hockey’s Official Facility Partners Notts Sport, our old pitch was stripped and then resurfaced with a new shock pad and premium sand dressed surface compliant for multi-sport activities benefiting the whole sports curriculum and the wider community. Notts Sport made the process so easy, taking away the stress and giving us the confidence that we’d get just what we were looking for. A huge success all round!”

Sam Ward’s visit ended with a Q&A with the pupils where they learnt what it is like to be a professional athlete, the amount of training is involved to be one, his inspiration and the details of Sam’s worst injury he had received, the Olympic Qualifiers in 2019, when he was hit with a hockey ball and received 8 fractures to his face and lost his sight in his left eye.