Sport
Sport is a very important part of Tamworth culture, and over 50 different sports and recreational pursuits are participated in by the community. Many major annual and one-off sporting events are held in the city because of the wide range of facilities and venues available. There are over 180 sporting clubs in the Tamworth region and the region has several strong competitions, including basketball, cricket, football (soccer), hockey, netball, rugby league, rugby union and Aussie rules football. As a result, the city has produced many sportspeople, including test cricketers, olympic shooters and hockey players, and many players in the National Rugby League. The Northern Inland Academy of Sport is one important institution in the city that has helped talented sportspeople to establish themselves "on and off the field". It was established in 1992 and has a wide range of community support.
Facilities
Located within the city are an athletic track, Australian football grounds, badminton courts, baseball diamonds, indoor basketball courts, indoor and outdoor cricket pitches, croquet turf, cycling (velodrome and bmx track), two 18-hole golf courses, a gymnastic centre, water bases hockey fields, the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre used for equine sports, eleven bowling turfs, a kart-racing track, a speedway track and a motocross track, netball courts: twelve asphalt courts, 30 grass courts and an indoor synthetic court, an inline hockey court, rugby league and union fields (nine senior fields and seven junior fields). Shooting sports have a 3 x 25 m standard pistol range, 1 x 10m air pistol range, 1 x 100m free and action pistol range; 1 x 50m service pistol range and 1 x 100m rifle range. Soccer fields include six senior fields, 8 junior fields and an indoor standard court. Two international standard softball diamonds and ten competition standard diamonds are available. Squash courts, two olympic swimming pools and one
