Burnley Football Club players were thrilled to witness the creation of outstanding new sports facilities at Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form.

Burnley Football club players Michael Duff and Alex Cisak, met with College Principal Amanda Melton and some of the College’s Football Academy players to tour the site where the College is building an outstanding, state-of-the-art sports facility including a high-tech, artificial sports pitch.

The College has appointed Blakedown Sport & Play to design and construct the artificial sports pitch. Blakedown have completed a number of prestigious projects including a full size 3G training pitch for Leeds Rhinos. They are also the principal contractors for all of the Goals soccer centres in the country and last installed a pitch for Motherwell Football Club.

Blakedown Sport & PLay have selected the firm Edel to provide the ‘carpet’ for the new 3G surface. Edel are a Dutch company, accredited by FIFA and UEFA, who specialize in supplying artificial sports surfaces worldwide to sports and educational establishments including Wimbledon, the University of Edinburgh and Eton College.

After securing additional funding from the Government, the College is currently installing a full sized sports pitch for football and rugby use and a multi-use games area (MUGA) which can be used for a variety of sports such as tennis, basketball and netball.

As part of a wider strategy for Sport, the College is adding to its already impressive sports facilities, which includes a 6 court sports hall with sprung floor and a modern gym which is due to undergo significant expansion.  Works will also see the creation of new and impressive changing facilities.

These outstanding new facilities come at an exciting time for the College, which is launching three new vocational sport options for September 2014. These pathways are aimed at increasing a student’s career prospects by focusing them on a particular area of study within the industry. One pathway will be aimed at those wishing to prepare for careers in general sports development and community sport, the second will guide those who wish to work as teachers, physiotherapists and dieticians, whilst the third pathway is aimed at young people interested in becoming an elite coach.