Hala widowiskowo-sportowa w Tychach

The floor is polished wood, marked out for basketball, futsal and volleyball, though the lines change depending on the day. The acoustics are sharp; a ball hits the floor and the sound carries to the back row. A basketball match between Team American – Athletes in Action and the Polish U-20 national team opened the hall in 2008, and the sound of that crowd is likely the one the concrete remembers most.

The rooms around the pitch are utilitarian. Eight changing rooms, a gym, a sauna, a biological recovery room — the sort of facilities that suggest a team spends time here, not just shows up for a game. GKS Tychy use the hall for basketball and futsal, while TKS Nascon Kopex Tychy brings their volleyball here, and the city manages the whole thing through the Municipal Sports and Recreation Centre.

It is not a football ground. The Stadion Miejski stands at ul. Edukacji 7, a mile or two away, with its grass and its 15,150 seats. This hall is smaller, quieter, closer to the people who play. You park in one of the 230 spaces beside the building, walk past the concrete pillars, and climb the stairs. The roof curves over you and the game begins.