 2008 Sporting venues in Notts have been chosen to feature in the London 2012 Olympic games training camp guide, it was revealed today. The facilities will be promoted to athletes around the world in the London Olympic Committee brochure which will go online during the Beijing Olympics this year. But the announcement is just the beginning for these nine Nottingham venues. Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell warned "Make no mistake, there are no guarantees just by making it into the guide.
"There will be fierce competition to host foreign teams, and now it is for every nation and region, every venue to sell itself internationally."
The Notts venues are among 26 in the East Midlands which have made it into the guide and awards of up to £25,000 will be offered to teams to train in the UK. Tim Garfield, regional director of Sport England East Midlands, said "We have worked hard to create a backbone of high-quality sports facilities across the region in preparation for the London 2012 Games."
The venues were chosen on the ability to offer training facilities, their experience of hosting elite teams, comfortable but affordable accommodation, appropriate catering, good transport, hospital links and good sports science facilities.
Ashfield School, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, is competing to be an athletics training camp. The comprehensive has an all-weather six-lane running track which was opened in March last year by double Olympic champion Sebastian Coe. The school also has four gymnasiums, tennis courts, extensive sports fields and a swimming pool.
It has hosted football teams like Newcastle and West Ham when they have visited Nottingham Forest. Mansfield Town FC also train at the school.
East Midlands Gymnastics Centre, Rushcliffe Leisure Centre, is competing to be a gymnastic training camp. The centre is a fully-equipped artistic gym which is already up to Olympic standard. It has staged a junior competition between Great Britain and South Africa and about 15 members are of international standard. Two of its boys are expected to represent the nation at the games in 2012.
Highfields Sports Club, University Boulevard, Nottingham, is competing to be a hockey training camp. The club reopened in 2002 after a £1.95m revamp. In 2004 it hosted an international tournament involving men's teams from Great Britain, Pakistan and Australia.
This site was developed in association with Sport England to provide a range of sporting facilities including hockey - with an international-standard water-based hockey pitch - football and lacrosse and a clubhouse with comprehensive changing and catering facilities. It is the home of Beeston, Players and Nottingham Highfields hockey clubs and Nottingham Lacrosse.
Holme Pierrepont National Water Sports Centre, Nottingham, is competing to be a canoe slalom and flatwater canoeing training camp. The centre is set in a 270-acre country park and supports elite British athletes in their training for the Olympics and other national and international events. It hosts national rowing regattas, Great Britain slalom team selection events, international sprint canoeing regattas, national triathlons and European freestyle championships. The centre boasts a 2,000m regatta lake and a 700m slalom course.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is competing to be a football training camp. The City Ground is the sixth largest football stadium outside the Premiership, with a capacity of 30,602, behind Sheffield United, Leicester, Leeds, Southampton, Coventry and Sheffield Wednesday. The City Ground hosted the Women's FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Charlton last May - the first time the final was played outside London.  Nottingham Tennis Centre, University Park, Nottingham, is competing to be a tennis training camp. It is one of the largest tennis centres in the country and is home to tournaments including the Nottingham Open. The centre has 11 acrylic courts, eight indoor courts, four floodlit courts, three temporary indoor courts and nine grass ones.  Nottingham Trent University, Clifton campus, is competing to be a training camp for badminton and basketball. Clifton has a £1m sports hall with a specially-sprung wooden floor. It has eight badminton courts and two basketball courts. The university also has a sports injury clinic and sports science support. Its fitness suites have an strength and conditioning equipment. At its Brackenhurst campus, near Southwell, the University has a range of equestrian facilities. Jesse Boots Nottingham Wildcats Arena, Greenwood Road, Nottingham, is competing to be a basketball training camp. The arena has four courts following the £770,000 extension to the Nottingham Wildcats Arena last month, opened in partnership with England Basketball, the national governing body for the sport. It has hosted national and international games and is home to the Nottingham Wildcats.
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, Trent Bridge, is competing to be an archery training camp. Work has begun on the £8.2m redevelopment project to expand the capacity of Trent Bridge and build more top-class facilities for players and spectators and is expected to be completed this year. Although the ground is famous for cricket, Trent Bridge librarian Peter Wynne-Thomas said it had been used for archery before. He said "We have a letter which shows that the Robin Hood archery group used Trent Bridge in the 1890s." | 
