SAF celebrates its 40th anniversary
This year the UAB's Servei d’Activitat Física (SAF) celebrates 40 years since it first opened, and will end the year's celebrations with its SAF Days and a special sports evening on 28 May. This special sports activities programme is open to the entire university community to commemorate the 40 years of a centre that is a benchmark in university sports services, with 10,000 members and 30,000 square metres on campus.
The celebration of its 40th anniversary will conclude with the SAF Days activity (26 - 28 May), which will allow the entire university community, members and non-members, to participate in the sports activity held on the last day, 28 May. The event will mark the end of a whole year commemorating 40 years since its founding, with round tables, sports competitions and exhibitions (such as El SAF als anys 80, an online photographic journey over the course of 40 years that shows the evolution of the facilities as well as its members).
Created in the 1985/86 academic year with the objective of fostering physical activity among members of the university community, the Physical Activity Service (Servei d'Activitat Física, SAF) began as a basic sports centre and a couple of outdoor courts in November 1985. Today it has become a leading centre in sports, health and well-being at university. In 1991, the indoor swimming pool was built and two years later the facilities were considerably expanded with an outdoor climbing wall, squash and tennis courts, artificial turf fields, a hall and the access bridge to the sports centre. From 2004 to the present, different spaces have been progressively added.
It currently has 30 thousand square metres of sports spaces: a sports centre for badminton, basketball and volleyball; several football fields with artificial turf; tennis, paddle and squash courts; swimming pools, climbing walls, fitness room, activity rooms, etc.
It includes 10,000 members, of whom 57% are women and 43% are men; 71% are UAB students and 63% are up to 25 years old. There are 606,000 entries to the facilities registered per year and it provides services to 20 companies and entities in the Vallès Occidental. It has a team of 65 professionals.
It offers 19 sports programmes that range from support for high-performance athletes (the Tutoresport programme, which was a pioneer in Spain) in which athletes such as Mireia Belmonte, Andrea Fuentes, Jennifer Pareja, Laura Ester, Pol Amat, Òscar Salguero and Núria Marquès have participated; to championships representing the University in inter-university competitions, including academically recognised activities, more than 130 hours of guided activities per week and the sports and health campus for children and young adolescents. In addition, the facilities are sustainable: 85% of the energy needed to function comes from non-fossil sources.
"We look to the future with optimism: sport is necessary, it is in fashion and unequivocally contributes to achieving active, healthy, socially involved and transformative communities", says SAF director Agustí Serra i Curtichs.
It is one of the most important sports services in Catalonia and a benchmark in Spain and Europe, with milestones such as the organisation of the ENAS (European Network of Academic Sports Services) conference in 2010, which inspired and promoted active and healthy university campuses, and the Healthy Campus accreditation awarded by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) in 2024.
Round table on physical activity and sports in the university of the future
As part of the celebration of its 40th anniversary, the round table "Physical activity and sport in the university of the future: challenges, opportunities and social impact" was held on Thursday 30 April at the UAB Rectorat building. The round table addressed issues such as the strategic role that physical activity and sport play within the university system today and what key changes are expected in the coming years. The participants also discussed the opportunity that the medical prescription for physical activity approved recently by the Catalan government represents for university services such as the SAF, and the incorporation of university sport into the upcoming Sports Law. And finally, emphasis was placed on recent studies that show that physical activity and sport improve students' academic performance.
Round table held on 30 April (YouTube)
Programme of the 40th anniversary of the UAB Servei d’Activitat Física