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Access to facilities

Access to infrastructure is an essential element for the successful practice of sports. It refers to the accessibility of the facilities needed for sports training.
The complexity of this part is that local authorities and the state own the vast majority of sports facilities. As a result, sports organizations have less flexibility in using and accessing sports facilities for female athletes.

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MENTORS

Indeed, the percentage of organizations with specific provisions regarding access to facilities for women athletes (construction of facilities, financing, the arbitration for the occupation of facilities) is disparate across countries. Therefore, this section will focus on the feedback from athletes and sports institutions consulted to measure the reality.

Despite the concern of clubs providing free and fair access to athletes, there are many limitations, mainly related to the public ownership of the facilities. The main ones concern precise timetables imposed by the town hall or facility management bodies, sharing with other organizations or schools.
Regarding sharing facilities, some sports organizations try to ensure equal opportunities between male and female athletes.
Another aspect that seems essential is the distance athletes travel between their training location and their home. The longer this distance, the less time they devote to their practice and personal and professional lives, the more fatigue they experience.

DIRECTIVE & RECOMMANDATIONS

As for technical and medical support, non-sporting institutions have no regulations.

SPORTS & FEDERATIONS

Sports institutions sometimes provide a mandatory disposition for the facilities’ accesses. However, these regulations remain at the margin for highly developed sports.

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NATIONS & GOOD IMPLEMENTATIONS

The Spanish Supreme Council of Sports has implemented different provisions to improve sporting conditions and access to facilities for elite athletes. They invested 16 million euros in 2022 to improve the infrastructure of the pitches and stadiums of first-division women’s football teams.
The facilities of the High-Performance Centres, which are labeled by the Spanish SupremeCouncil of Sports and are used for elite athletes training all over Spain, are accessible to both men and women on an equal basis. However, access is not guaranteed to be unlimited.