02 Jun Year 8 students receive guided tour of Kingspan Stadium
On Friday 19th May, we marked the end of a great year of sport for our year 8 sportsmen by taking them to Ulster’s Kingspan Stadium for a guided tour and iMovie workshop. The tour of the stadium involved an informative background to the history of past teams and also the development of the ground. The pupils were guided around the stands and were able to visit the training facilities of Ulster Rugby including the 3G pitch they share with Aquinas Grammar school and the Gym Facility which is believed to be one of the best in Europe.
After visiting the gym the tour guide discussed the GPS monitoring system used at Ulster Rugby to track every player’s individual performance and the positives this has on team performance, player safety and also recovery. The stadium tour ended with a look at the home and away changing rooms and finally being able to sit pitch side at one of Belfast’s great stadiums.
From the stadium tour the pupils then made their way to a lecture theatre where they were able to learn how to make a short iMovie of their experience at Kingspan stadium and also briefly learn how to analyse match Footage therefore acting as a coach at Ulster Rugby. Finally our pupils were able to pay a visit to the unique Nevin Spence museum, this special museum that is dedicated to the late Nevin Spence who sadly passed away with his brother and Father in a farming accident. The museum is not only dedicated to Nevin but to the history of rugby across the province of Ulster with memorabilia from our very own Carrickfergus Rugby Club sitting proudly within this fantastic museum. It was also in the museum where the pupils were allowed to play interactive games involving tackling and kicking and even try on past jerseys belonging to the club.
It was a fitting way to end a successful sporting year for the year 8 teams. The PE department would like to thank Ulster Rugby for their hospitality and all the boys for their enthusiasm this year!
Yours in Sport
Ulidia PE Dept.