“I am going to spend all of my leisure time balling so hard until my femora break”. Student Ambassador Adrian Han Lim Oah is clearly a basketball maniac! Luckily, he has managed to find the best sports facility in town, and even better, it is right beside his university! Things are definitely working out…
As a foreign student studying in Ireland, there are many things that I find absolutely amusing about this land. The weather here is gorgeous, and it is perfect for sports basically all year long, which is an absolutely good news for sports lovers.
Before I get into the meat of this blog, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Adrian, I came from a little country in South East Asia known for its wide selection of delicacies – Malaysia, and I am currently a Year 2 undergraduate studying Computing with Software Development at Munster Technological University Kerry, or MTU for short.
On the orientation day, when we were told about a sports facility near campus which is the best in town, my friends and I were overexcited to check it out as soon as possible. The Kerry Sports Academy (KSA) is located just beside the MTU campus, and it is a universally accessible sports facility which has state-of-the-art facilities including:
- International sized indoor sports hall
- Hydrotherapy suite
- Gym area including a high-performance gym and exercise physiology laboratory
- Aerobic and dance studios
- Massage suite
- Teaching spaces (lecture theatre and classrooms)
- Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and Video Conferencing (VC) equipped
- Specialist treatment and activity specific rooms
- Dry outdoor and wet changing areas
- Student recreation area
While all of these are great, as a fellow basketball maniac, the only thing I cared about is the gigantic indoor sports hall, which houses 3 full-sized basketball courts, THREE COURTS! As soon as stepped into the hall, I thought to myself: “Alright, this is it. I am going to spend all of my leisure time balling so hard until my femora break”. 
The KSA is a busy place, during the weekdays, MTU lecturers will have classes in any room of the building, so normally the sports hall will be occupied. However, during the lunch break, the sports hall will definitely be vacant, and that is the time students get to utilise the facility. Additionally, the front counter of KSA will even lend out various sports equipment for MTU students, which is brilliant for casual students who just want to get some exercise during the lunch break.
Every day, my friends and I would head straight to KSA after having lunch at the cafeteria in the main campus, then proceed to ball out in one of the three courts until we are completely exhausted, or when it was time for the next lecture.
The fact that we have the liberty to go in and use the facility at any time when it is vacant, opened up a brand-new lifestyle for me, and I am so grateful that I chose to study at MTU.
Occasionally, the KSA also organises activities with the aim of encouraging MTU students to engage in
exercises and raise funds for charity. On the last 8th of December, KSA partnered with the charity GOAL to organise the GOAL MILE, which gathered the MTU students to run a mile, gather around with chocolates, and ultimately to raise funds for the designated charity. Needless to say, I took part in the event and enjoyed it very much.
If you are a sports enthusiast, and you are looking for an institute to further your studies, I would sincerely recommend Munster Technological University Kerry, for its top-class sports facility – The Kerry Sports Academy.
Adrian Han Lim Oah is doing a Bachelor of Science in Computing with Software Development at Munster Technological University.