Published: Wednesday, 27th January, 2010 10:25am

Sports hub nears completion

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The former Zones centre is being transformed by Alloa Athletic.

ALLOA Athletic Football Club's transformation of the former Zones leisure centre from an unused eyesore into a multi-purpose community sports hub is near completion.

The primary focus for the club itself will be the football academy side of the development - but the facility will be inclusive to all sports.

A new judo Dojo centre, built to be the best independent centre in the country, will be a major focus of the facility, while fans of other sports including basketball, five-a-side football and badminton can also look forward to the doors opening.

Alloa Athletic's vice chairman Mike Mulraney told the Advertiser, "We want everyone to have the chance to use the centre, and if all the bits come together it would be impossible to quantify just how much it would mean for the area."

He added, "The new dojo centre is 75 per cent ready and it is hoped that will be opened in early March by Commonwealth judo gold medalist, Josh Gavin. We want it become the best independent judo centre in Scotland."

Phased opening

The opening of the cutting edge martial arts arena will herald the start of a phased reopening of the sports hub to the public.

As well as benefiting sports enthusiasts, the physiotherapy clinic and sports rehab clinic - at the advanced stages of being developed - will be a resource for anyone with physiotherapy issues.

It is a remarkable turnaround for a building that had been starved of investment for two years.

In that time, internal and external vandalism scarred the former leisure centre - leaving it in a dire state.

But after the Wasps took over, the fortunes of the facility were quickly improved and now the football club is on the brink of opening the facility in the next five to six weeks.

The Wasps are currently waiting on two new G3 five-a-side pitches, which should be installed by the end of February, and the football facilities are already proving popular before they even open.

Demand

Mike added, "There has already been significant demand from members of the public, and we should be taking bookings in the next few weeks for short-term lets for the five-a-side."

Badminton players could be set for some good news too as the club say that they are looking at the possibility of establishing a club for the sport. They are in talks with a Commonwealth gold medallist about taking this forward - but the club stressed that this is in the embryonic stages.

The Wasps are also looking at possibly opening up a community football club, which would have close links to Alloa Athletic, and are currently investigating how that can be done.

For young players - both male and female - playing at Recreation Park, the revamped centre will provide a great place to train and play when the weather is bad.

And the senior players at Alloa are also going to become more involved with the training and coaching of the youngsters.

In the longer term, the club are looking at the possibility of opening some form of supporters club, as well as connecting the stadium and centre.