Sports centers at UC3M

Educating the body is as important as educating the mind and the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) always keeps this in mind. The main campuses are equipped with excellent sports facilities where, in addition to exercising one’s body in a fun and relaxing way, values and skills such as teamwork and camaraderie, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and even boosting one’s memory are fomented. This is because doing exercise regularly generates new neural pathways and improves cognitive function by increasing synaptic plasticity, the metabolism and cerebral blood flow.

Exercise is good for all parts of the body, including the mind. Therefore, either before or after a day of studies, it would be a good idea to use the football fields, the swimming pool, the paddle tennis, squash or tennis courts, the basketball court, the beach volleyball field, the fitness room, the cycling room, the functional training room or any of the specially equipped rooms for different physical activities (tai chi, yoga, Pilates, zumba, aerobics…), if you are on the university’s Getafe campus, where you can find the Centro Deportivo de la Universidad (University Sports Center), which is used on a regular basis by hundreds of students. There she can also find physical therapy services and a spacious spa, with a sauna and thermal treatments.

The sports center on the Leganés campus, the Alfredo Di Stefano sport center, is equipped with multipurpose courts (one outdoor and one indoor) for practicing a variety of sports such as basketball, badminton, indoor soccer, tennis y volleyball, in addition to a rock climbing center and boulder for climbing. In addition to the swimming pool, gymnasiums and fitness rooms, there are multipurpose rooms for different activities where the university community can begin or improve their skills in the practice of aikido, swimming and a variety of aquatic activities, cross fitness, indoor cycling, yoga, kick boxing, Pilates, zumba or they can get involved in the world of running with the “Carlos Corre” program.

The students on the Colmenarejo campus can use the municipal sports centers in Colmenarejo and Torrelodones as if they were residents of these towns, in addition to having a variety of advantages for using the pools and other sports facilities in the area that UC3M has signed agreements with, such as the Colegio Gredos de San Diego in el Escorial. In any case, all of the sports facilities and activities on the different campuses are open to all of the university’s students, regardless of which campus they study on.

However, all of these sports facilities would be worth nothing without the efforts made by the university itself to promote the values of healthy living and sports. Therefore, all of the centers offer sports courses taught by professionals and aimed at the students and other members of the university community. In addition, UC3M organizes and intercampus race between the Leganés and Getafe campuses every year. There are two different races: 10km running or 5km walking. This event involves the entire university community, including runners, organizers and volunteers, thus raising the students’ awareness of the importance of the practice of sports and promoting a healthy lifestyle. 

One aspect of university sports that is less well known is the UC3M Team. These are the teams that have been chosen to represent UC3M in university competitions. There are teams for men’s indoor soccer, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball, and men’s rugby. Rudy Fernández (a player on Spain’s national basketball team) was the patron of this project when it began two years ago. Any athlete from the university community is welcome to participate after undergoing the selection process.

Further information: www.uc3m.es/deporte