Sport

Our reputation for sport is one of the fastest growing in the country! We have strong links with both Derby County Football Club and Derbyshire County Cricket Club. A string of Olympians have worn the orange and blue of Team Derby and many of our teams play at our £10.8 million sports centre.

We are currently at our highest ever position in BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) having moved up 57 places since we launched Team Derby in 2009. Our football club play at our long time partners Derby County's Training Ground while our Cricket team use the 3aaa County Ground for their training needs.

Our Performance Track Cycling team use the Derby Arena Velodrome while our other performance teams (Basketball, Men’s and Women’s Volleyball, Men’s and Women’s Badminton) are based in our sports centre at the Derby Campus in Kedleston Road. In order to futher our ambitions to become a Top 40 Sporting institution we created another level of Development Sport. These five teams have ambitions for becoming Performance Team standard and we are committed to helping them achieve this goal.

Olympians Donna Kellogg, Gail Emms, Rajiv Ouspeh, Marcus Ellis, Lauren Smith and Jack Burnell have all worn Team Derby colours and represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games. Our sports scholarship and bursaries scheme offers scholarships up to £6,000 and student athlete performance packages underpinned by a Performance Sports team led by 2016 Olympic Gold Medal winning Coach Craig Keegan.

University of Derby Open Day September 2015
Interior views of the Sports Centre, University of Derby before it was finished
Human Performance Unit at Careers in Sport event at the Sports Centre
Sprint Track at Human Performance Unit for Careers in Sport event at the Sports Centre
Womens Netball 2nd Team, playing in the Sports Centre at the University of Derby.
Social sport squash
Climbing wall at Careers in Sport event at the Sports Centre
Men's Rugby team playing on the bottom 4G pitch by the Sports Centre

Study, Play and Compete

We offer a wide range of sports courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level across our Derby and Buxton campuses, covering disciplines including sports science, coaching, exercise, development and management.

Our Union of Students is the focal point for the delivery of sport at the University and provide students with the chance to join teams and compete against other universities. Together with Team Derby, we offer a wealth of sport, health and fitness opportunities for everyone looking to get active or try something new, whatever their level of fitness or ability.

We enter 48 teams across 16 sports in the national BUCS programme, providing our students with the opportunity to represent Derby against other universities in a competitive environment.

Scholarships and Bursaries

Team Derby provides scholarships and bursaries to talented student athletes and those with coaching aspirations, enabling them to achieve both their sporting and academic potential.

A performance sport programme has also been established to support our leading sports teams – Men’s Basketball, Badminton, Cycling and Volleyball, our Performance Sports are provided with specialist coaching, strength and conditioning, and physiotherapy support.

Team Derby in action in the National Badminton League

Performance sport

We run a sector-leading performance programme for Badminton, Basketball, Volleyball and Cycling to attract and retain student athletes.

Find out about our performance programmeFind out about our performance programme

Health and Fitness at Derby

Our health, wellbeing and sports activities are available to all University of Derby students and staff members throughout the year and provide a range of opportunities to be active in a friendly, social environment.

Team Derby's 6-a-side Football Leagues returns in February for another term of action. Our friendly, weekly league competition in mixed-gender 6-a-side Football runs between October and April every year. Register now for the spring term 2019 competition. 

  • When: Fridays 3pm to 6pm
  • Where: University of Derby Sports Centre 3G Astroturf Pitch
  • Cost: £120 per team/per term

Format

  1. Our leagues are 6 a-side
  2. Teams require a minimum of 6 players (max of 10 players) per team with a named Captain, and an original team name
  3. Competition structure is either one league of 9-12 teams or two leagues of 5-8 teams
  4. The league will run over a 10-week block
  5. Term 1 (autumn leagues) start at the beginning of October and Term 2 (spring leagues) in February 
  6. Matches are 40 minutes long (2 x 18 minutes with a 4-minute interval)
  7. Kick-off times: 3pm, 3.45pm, 4.30pm and 5.15pm

How to get involved 

  1. Get together your team of 6-10 players, nominate a team captain and choose your team name
  2. Register and pay your team entry fee via the Online Shop to secure your place
  3. The deadline for team registrations for the spring league is Sunday 3 February (allocations are on a first come, first served basis) 

If you'd like more information, come and talk to us at the Sports Centre or email K.Nelson@derby.ac.uk.

From January 2019, we are offering students and staff two supported running programmes which aim to help and encourage individuals start – or progress – their running journeys to achieve a 5k or 10k distance.

Couch to 5k

A proven walk-to-run programme designed to get anyone off the couch and running in nine weeks.

  • When – Mondays 12.15pm
  • Start date – 28 January
  • Where – University of Derby Sports Centre
  • Cost - £20

5k to 10k

A nine-week progression programme to help joggers and runners wishing to advance from 5k to 10k distance.

  • When - Mondays 1pm
  • Start date – 28 January
  • Where - University of Derby Sports Centre
  • Cost - £20

Both programmes are led by a qualified Leadership in Running Fitness instructor.

To book your place, please register/pay via the University's online shop.

Even if you aren’t at all active, or interested in sport, we can help you reach your goals. We offer free 1-2-1 consultations to help with diet and eating well to movement support and unpressured fun activity. Email movemore@derby.ac.uk or fill out our survey to start your journey.

Services and Expertise

We offer a wide range of education, research and consultancy services for the sports industry, utilising our academic expertise and student body to grow and develop sport both regionally and nationally.

Contact:

Union Sports Clubs and BUCS enquiries

Highlights from Varsity 2018

Highlights from Varsity 2018