The Western Sydney Wanderers W-League team will call Kingswood home this season after Western Sydney University (WSU) secured a deal with the club to become its official training base.
The Wanderers W-League team will now be based out of WSU’s Kingswood Campus, and will utilise the local university’s training fields, gym, classrooms and accommodation facilities.
Speaking at Tuesday’s W-League launch, Dean of the School of Social Science and Psychology and Professor in Human Geography and Urban Studies, Kevin Dunn, said he was excited about the partnership.
“I was very supportive of Western Sydney University becoming an official corporate partner with the Wanderers – it suits us down to the ground,” he said.
“Training four mornings a week, these elite sportswomen and support staff will make use of our ovals, classrooms, gym and synthetic courts.”
Prof Dunn said the partnership will also be beneficial to certain WSU students, who will have access to an elite sporting team.
“The establishment of the W-League training base at Kingswood Campus creates a number of opportunities for sports students to access an elite team for data purposes and training,” he said.
One Wanderers player who can’t wait to get stuck into the new facilities is defender Ellie Carpenter.
The 16-year-old star made headlines earlier this year after she became Australia’s youngest athlete at the Rio Olympics.
“I think this partnership with Western Sydney University is a great opportunity for us to train at a professional facility,” Carpenter told the Weekender.
“We have the pitch, gym, change rooms, study classrooms, so it’s a really good environment for us to be in.”
The university will also be home, literally, to Western Sydney’s four foreign players, who will live on campus when they arrive in the coming weeks.
“It’s great for our overseas players as it gives them a home at the university and they are also close to the training facilities,” Carpenter said.
“We have training four mornings per week – I’m up at 4.20am to get here. But it’ll be good for the girls who are living here.”
Western Sydney’s W-League team will open their 2016/17 campaign against Perth Glory on November 6 before a battle against Sydney FC on November 13.
Nathan Taylor is the Weekender’s Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.
