Community groups to get more than 16,000 pieces of Commonwealth Games equipment

More than 16,000 pieces of equipment used by athletes at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham will be given away to local community groups.

It includes balls used during the hockey competition, where England claimed gold in the women’s event, and in the hugely popular 3×3 basketball competitions.

Bikes, boxing gloves, cricket gear, martial arts mats and weights used at the Games, which came to an end last Monday, will also be part of the offer.

The aim of the initiative, which has been set up in partnership between the Birmingham 2022 organising committee, grassroots funding body Sport England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is to create a lasting impact from the event by supporting people in the area to stay active.

Applications will be accepted from Monday until September 19, and will be welcomed from community-based projects across Birmingham, the Black Country, Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire, Hereford and Worcestershire, Shropshire, and Staffordshire.

To ensure the process is as inclusive as possible, guidance for the application process is available in 15 languages and video applications are accepted too.

A full catalogue of the available equipment will be posted on the Sport England website.

Other high-performance equipment, such as the flooring used for the netball and 3×3 basketball competitions, is being given to the respective national sports governing bodies for them to repurpose for community benefit.

You could take a piece of Commonwealth Games history home with you, and inspire your community to fall in love with a new sport- Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston

Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said: “It’s fantastic to think the equipment used to set personal bests