Clubs expecting a boost in participation following Commonwealth Games

The 11 days of action will see the top sportsmen and women from the 72 countries and territories of the Commonwealth such as Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, India, New Zealand, Saint Helena and Tuvalu compete in 20 different sports and para-sports.

These range from the grace of artistic gymnastics to the power and strength of weightlifting to the endurance tests of triathlon and road cycling to the brute strength and technique of wrestling and judo and the popular core sports of athletics and swimming.

With tickets available for events and all sports being streamed on the BBC website and I-Player, the Games will provide plenty of opportunities for people to settle down and watch the best in action across the Games.

The Games also carries aims to bring people together and improve health and wellbeing, and one product of this will be a willingness for people watching the sports to want to give them a try.

The 2012 Olympics in London helped to contribute to a record boost in the number of people playing sport, with Sport England figures showing that the number of adults playing sport at least once a week had increased by 750,000.

Birmingham 2022 will hope to follow in the footsteps of the Olympics and increase participation in sport across the region through inspiring people to take up new sports.

Boxing will be a featured sport at the Games, with the action taking place at the NEC and 16 gold medals being up for grabs across men's and women's competitions.

Among the clubs which could see an increase in membership is Priory Park Boxing Club in Dudley, a club which has built a reputation for training successful male and female fighters.

Club chairman Paul Gough said a lot of people had watched boxing before, but whatever their view was about the sport, it changed for them when they entered the gym and saw what the club offered.

He said: "What we do is use boxing as a tool to engage kids and get them to think differently and realise that even though it's an individual sport, you are still working as a team and becoming part of what we see as a family.

"What we've found over the years is that it's been really rewarding to help get kids fit and healthy and being involved in our club has helped a lot with people's mental health, especially ones who have dealt with ADHD and autism, as well as a range of other issues.

"We run a special school pupil referral unit and one of the most important parts of the curriculum is sport and getting youngsters involved in health and fitness."

Mr Gough said that the Olympics had seen the levels of women boxing take off dramatically, with a lot of young girls inspired by the likes of Nicola Adams, and said he hope the Commonwealth Games would open up the sport to all young people.

He said: "Our doors will always be open to people wanting to try the sport for the first time, even those who think they can't, such as a lad who has autism and couldn't even talk, but who we go up and shouting directions.

"We have another lad who is the only boxer in the world with cystic fibrosis and we tend not to categorise adults and kids and run all-inclusive boot camps.

"It all comes down to being able to come here and work hard and we don't turn anyone away and we try to work around things, so we're very ready to welcome people to the club after the Games."

Another sport that could see a rise in participation is wrestling, which will feature two days of competition at the Coventry Arena and 12 gold medals awarded from six competitions each for men and women.

A sport that requires great discipline and skill has a base in the region at Wolverhampton Wrestling Club, based at the Guru Nanak Satsang Gurdwara in Wolverhampton.

The club, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary year, has produced mixed-martial arts world champions and national wrestling champions and head coach Ranjit Singh said the club had been working closely with the Commonwealth Games to increase awareness of the sport.

He said: "We've done lots of roadshows with the Commonwealth Games association to show kids what it's all about and there has been a lot of interest as it's a fun sport and natural for children.

"The sport itself is very demanding and is a tough one, but it's really important to build a child from a grassroots level and, for children, it's a brilliant sport to take up for balance, coordination and lots of different skills."

Mr Singh said the club was starting a performance pathway for youngsters to take up training and work towards qualification for future Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games and said a number of his younger trainees were already on the right pathway.

He said that the Games would be a massive boost for the sport due to people seeing the athletes in action and said the work the club was doing was getting the interest.

He said: "We've been putting on lots of roadshows and getting a lot of interest and I think the Commonwealth Games will really help with this by giving the sport a lot of exposure from watching on TV or going to the event."

People looking for a place to take up one of the Commonwealth Games sports can do so by looking here:

Aquatics

Bilston Swimming Club

Darlaston Swimming Club

Dudley Water Sports

Gig Mill Swim School

Oldbury Swimming and Triathlon Club

Stourbridge Swimming Club

Walsall Synchronised Swimming Club

Warley WASPS Swimming Club

Athletics

Dudley Kingswinford (DK) Running Club

Tipton Harriers

Warley WASPS Triathlon & Running Club

Wolverhampton and Bilston

Badminton 

Leasowes Badminton Club

Tiki Badminton Village

3x3 basketball 

Slam! Basketball

Walsall 99ers Basketball Club

West Brom Basketball Club

Beach volleyball 

Black Country Volleyball Club

Stourbridge Volleyball Club

Walsall Warriors Volleyball Club

Wombourne Volleyball Club

Boxing 

Lions Boxing Club, Brierley Hill

Priory Park Boxing Club

William Perry Amateur Boxing Club

Windmill Amateur Boxing Club

Wodensborough Amateur Boxing Club

Wolverhampton Boxing Club

T20 Cricket 

Bloxwich Cricket Club

Bronze Cricket Club

Himley Cricket Club

Lye Cricket Club

Springhill Cricket Club

Old Wulfrunians Tettenhall Cricket Club

Wolverhampton Cricket Club

Wednesbury Cricket Club

Cycling

Halesowen Cycling Club

Wolverhampton Racing Cycling Club

Gymnastics

Dudley Gymnastics Club

Walsall Gymnastics Club

Wolverhampton Gymnastics Club

Hockey

Aldridge and Walsall Hockey Club

Bloxwich Hockey Club

Finchfield Hockey Club

Wolverhampton and Tettenhall Hockey Club

Wednesbury Hockey Club

West Bromwich Hockey Club

Judo 

Dudley Judo Club

Tekio Gemu Judo club

Wolverhampton Judo Club

Lawn bowls 

Black Country Bowls Club

Hawkins Sports and Social Club

Penn Bowls Club

Woodfield Social and Sports Club

Netball

Bramford Park Netball Club

Dudley Netball League

Grasshoppers Netball Club

Kodiak Stars Netball Club

Midrange Netball Club

Re-Union Netball

Stourbridge Jets Netball Club

West Bromwich Netball Club

Rugby sevens 

Bloxwich Rugby Club

Dudley Kingswinford Rugby Club

Old Halesonians RFC

Stourbridge Rugby Football Club

Stourport Rugby Club

Walsall Rugby Club

Warley RFC

Wednesbury RUFC

Squash

Staffordshire Squash Rackets Association

Wolverhampton Lawn Tennis & Squash Club

Table tennis

Cheslyn Hay Table Tennis Club

Dudley Table Tennis Club

Woodfield Table Tennis Club

Triathlon

Oldbury Swimming and Triathlon Club

Warley WASPS Triathlon & Running Club

Weightlifting and Para powerlifting 

Oldbury Academy Olympic Weightlifting Club

Wrestling

Jet Singh Trust MMA Centre

Wolverhampton Wrestling Club