Sport Wales is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales. Working alongside partners such as gioverning bodies of sport and local authorities, they aim to achieve shared aspirations of getting every child hooked on sport for life and Wales being a nation of champions.

They are the main adviser on sporting matters to the Welsh Assembly Government

Welsh Assembly Government

The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. It is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales, the legislature which represents the interests of the people of Wales and makes laws for Wales...

 and are responsible for distributing National Lottery

National Lottery (United Kingdom)

The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...

 funds to both elite and grassroots sport in Wales.

Sport Wales National Centre

The Sport Wales National Centre was established in 1972 to provide facilities to help develop Welsh sport. It is the national sports centre for Wales and is part of a network of facilities aiming to ensure Wales is able to compete on the international stage.

The Centre has indoor sports halls, next to Glamorgan CCC's SWALEC Stadium in Sophia Gardens. Sports activities in the Main Hall include gymnastics

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

, trampoline

Trampoline

A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched over a steel frame using many coiled springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes....

, badminton

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

, netball

Netball

Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...

, basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, archery

Archery

Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

, martial arts

Martial arts

Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

, fencing

Fencing

Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...

, dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

 and boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

. The site also contains squash courts

Squash (sport)

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

 and weight training

Weight training

Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles. It uses the weight force of gravity to oppose the force generated by muscle through concentric or eccentric contraction...

 rooms. Outdoors, the Institute has an international standard permeable artificial pitch, which is one of the home international venues for Welsh hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

. The pitch is also used for lacrosse

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

 and football. Their outdoor tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 courts are also used for netball

Netball

Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...

 and five-a-side football

Five-a-side football

thumb|240px|alt=Men playing football on artificial grass pitch.|Five-a-side game on astroturf pitch.Five-a-side football is a variation of association football in which each team fields five players , rather than the usual eleven on each team. Other differences from football include a smaller...

.

Some of the country's national teams train at the Sport Wales National Centre, including the Wales National Rugby Team

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

 (on the Institute's full-size, floodlit rugby pitch), Wales National Badminton Team

Welsh Badminton Cymru

Welsh Badminton Cymru is the national governing body for badminton in Wales. Formed in 1928 as The Welsh Badminton Union, in 1934 it was one of the founder members of the Badminton World Federation. WBC became a member of the European Badminton Union in 1968...

, the Wales National Netball Team

Wales national netball team

The Wales national netball team represents Wales in international netball competition.The Welsh Netball Association , the governing body for netball in Wales, is responsible for Welsh squad selection, international matches and for the training and development of players.Wales' current IFNA world...

 and the Wales National Gymnastic Team

Welsh Gymnastics

Welsh Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in Wales. It has overall responsibility for the administration of all eight gymnastics disciplines in Wales – women's artistic, men's artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, general gymnastics, sports acrobatics, sports aerobics,...

. Owned and operated by Sport Wales, the Institute supports national governing bodies of sport

Governing bodies of sports in Wales

The governing bodies of sports in Wales perform an organisational, regulatory or sanctioning function at a national level in Wales, some tracing their history to the 19th Century. Many cooperate with similar bodies from other countries to agree rule changes for their sport. Most implement decisions...

 and acts as a training base to elite athletes.

Several of the country's multi-sport agencies have their headquarters at the Sport Wales National Centre. Including the Welsh Sports Association

Welsh Sports Association

The Welsh Sports Association is an independent, umbrella body, supporting and representing the national and international interests of all the national governing bodies of sport and physical recreation in Wales. It has a membership of over 60 NGBs...

 the National Governing Bodies Coaches, the Federation of Disability Sport Wales

Federation of Disability Sport Wales

The Federation of Disability Sport Wales is the national pan-disability governing body of sports organisations that provides local sporting and physical activity opportunities to disabled people in Wales....

 and Sport Wales.

Governing bodies of sports in Wales

Governing bodies of sports in Wales

The governing bodies of sports in Wales perform an organisational, regulatory or sanctioning function at a national level in Wales, some tracing their history to the 19th Century. Many cooperate with similar bodies from other countries to agree rule changes for their sport. Most implement decisions...

 with their headquarters at the Sport Wales National Centre include Basketball Wales

Basketball Wales

Basketball Wales is the sole controller and the national governing body of all aspects of the game of basketball in Wales...

, Welsh Judo Association

Welsh Judo Association

The Welsh Judo Association is the governing body for the sport of judo in Wales. The WJA has 80 affiliated clubs and over 2,400 members. It is responsible for managing the Welsh High Class Performance Squads, from which Craig Ewers, the National Coach, selects the Welsh national team to compete...

, Welsh Gymnastics

Welsh Gymnastics

Welsh Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in Wales. It has overall responsibility for the administration of all eight gymnastics disciplines in Wales – women's artistic, men's artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, general gymnastics, sports acrobatics, sports aerobics,...

, Welsh Hockey and Squash Wales

Squash Wales

Squash Wales is the national governing body of squash in Wales. It has 121 affiliated clubs and is a member of the World Squash Federation and the European Squash Federation...

.

Plas Menai

Plas Menai

Plas Menai

Plas Menai is the National Watersports Centre for Wales. It is situated on the mainland side of the Menai Strait, and is approximately 3 miles East of Caernarfon, North Wales.-History:...

 is the National Watersports Centre for Wales , a purpose-built watersports centre on the Menai Strait

Menai Strait

The Menai Strait is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales.The strait is bridged in two places - the main A5 road is carried over the strait by Thomas Telford's elegant iron suspension bridge, the first of its kind,...

, Gwynedd

Gwynedd

Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

, overlooking Anglesey

Anglesey

Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

. Watersports courses available at the Centre, which includes a residential complex, include canoeing

Canoeing

Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....

, cruising (yachting

Yachting

Yachting refers to recreational sailing or boating, the specific act of sailing or using other water vessels for sporting purposes.-Competitive sailing:...

), dinghy sailing

Dinghy sailing

Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls:* the sails* the foils ....

, kayaking

Kayaking

Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...

, powerboating

Powerboating

Power boating describes activities performed in a motorized boat. Generally, a power boat has a high power-to-weight ratio and a hull design that allows for easy planing, which allows for higher speed and improved handling. Also, the shape of the actual boat is usually very streamlined, which...

 and windsurfing

Windsurfing

Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually two to four metres long, powered by the orthogonal effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a...

.

The centre is also the headquarters of the Welsh Yachting Association  (WYA), the governing body for the sports of powerboating, sailing and windsurfing in Wales. The Welsh Yachting Association is jointly funded by Sport Wales and the Royal Yachting Association

Royal Yachting Association

The Royal Yachting Association is the national governing body for certain watersports in the United Kingdom. Activities it covers include:* Sailing* Windsurfing* Motor cruising* Sportsboats* Personal watercraft* Powerboat racing...

 (RYA). Sailing clubs in Wales are members of the RYA and, as individuals must join the RYA to race, the WYA has no personal members. Its purpose is "... to feed the RYA GBR performance pathway, and ultimately Team GBR 2012 and beyond". Wales contributed 10 -15% to the Great Britain Olympic Sailing Squads in 2008.

Plas Menai is owned and run by Sport Wales.

Other

Key national and regional facilities include the Welsh Rugby Union Centre of Excellence at the Vale Resort, the Wales National Velodrome in Newport

Newport

Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...

and the National Whitewater Centre in Bala and regional centres abound across a number of sports. National Lottery funding has been invested into these facilities.

• The 2008 Olympic Games was the most successful for any Welsh contingent in 100 years.
• More than 25% of the Great Britain Paralympic team's gold medal haul in Beijing came from Welsh sportsmen and women.
• Since the advent of the National Lottery, Sport Wales has invested in key landmark facilities – the Wales National Velodrome, Wales National Pool, national and regional centres across a number of sports such as athletics, swimming and golf. The latest piece of the jigsaw is a National Centre of Excellence for rugby.

External links

• http://www.sportwales.org.uk (official site)]
• http://www.plasmenai.co.uk
• http://www.