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What is the sports hall in schools called in English? I've translated from my language and the translation is "sport venue", but the according to the picture on Wikipedia I suspect that it is not what I'm looking for.

I'm looking for the name of the sports hall in schools, such as in the following picture:

picture of a large hall in a school with children in a ring playing a game with a ball

Virtuous Legend
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    *Sports hall* is used in Britain, but not in the U.S., where that term would likely be confused with *[hall of fame](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_halls_and_walks_of_fame)*. – choster Feb 05 '17 at 22:29
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    As an American, I didn't think *hall of fame* as much as... I just had no idea what a hall of sport would be until I saw the picture. – Todd Wilcox Feb 06 '17 at 13:03
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    Note that if there are bleachers available, including the collapsible kind, then in many American schools this would be called the *field house.* – cobaltduck Feb 06 '17 at 15:12
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    Just a guess, if you're German and trying to think of "Sporthalle" in English, it's definitely "Gymnasium" ...Which can be confusing as when I was learning German it took me a while to remember that "Gymnasium" in *German* is an educational level, similar to "High School" in the US. ...It's a false cognate. – BruceWayne Feb 06 '17 at 21:15
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    @cobaltduck I've never heard that; we always just called it a gym[nasium]. If I heard "field house" I would probably think of the building by the football field with the team locker rooms, showers, etc. – Tin Wizard Feb 06 '17 at 23:37
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    @cobaltduck I _think_ I've heard them called "field house" somewhere in decades past; I didn't realize until now that that's what the term meant if so. I always knew the buildings as "gyms". – user2338816 Feb 07 '17 at 08:40

8 Answers8

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That would be an (indoor) "gym" or "gymnasium".

From Wikipedia:

A gym, short for gymnasium, is an open air or covered location for gymnastics, athletics, and gymnastic services. The word is derived from the ancient Greek gymnasium. They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centers, and as activity and learning spaces in educational institutions. "Gym" is also slang for "fitness center", which is often an indoor facility.

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    In fact the word is [derived from the ancient Greek "gumnásion"](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gymnasium#Etymology) (γυμνάσιον in the original). – TonyK Feb 05 '17 at 15:36
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    @TonyK I think they were referring to the ancient Greek concept of gymnasium (which later evolved into what we today consider under "gymnasium"), not the etymology of the word itself. I've included the link where one can recursively find that if one wishes to. –  Feb 05 '17 at 16:10
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    I agree, what is pictured would definitely be a gym. Though I'm skeptical of Wikipedia's suggestion an "open air" location would be called a gym; I've never heard "gym" applied to such a space. – Kevin Feb 05 '17 at 20:50
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    At the university or municipality level, in the U.S., *fieldhouse* is another possibility. – choster Feb 05 '17 at 22:30
  • @ToddWilcox I'm sorry -- for some reason, I thought the question was asking specifically about British English. It isn't, so I've deleted my comment and a similar one under the other answer. – David Richerby Feb 06 '17 at 13:41
  • @Kevin I have, but only when applied to certain U.S. prisons. – Pharap Feb 07 '17 at 01:35
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In British School, that would be more likely to be called a 'Sports Hall' than a 'Gym'. In Britain, one tends to think of a 'Gym' as a room with weights, and machines, rather than a large hall.

Σωκράτης
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    Yep. "I'm looking for the name of the sport's hall". Answer "sports hall". – Martin Smith Feb 05 '17 at 14:52
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    I disagree, my Secondary school definitely had a room referred to as "the gym"; this was next door to (and could be combined with via a movable partition) "the hall", which was used for assemblies and serving lunch. The gym featured climbing apparatus, but also markings for indoor sport. I believe we sometimes had PE (sports) lessons in "the hall" as an additional indoor venue. Later, we had a separate building known as the "sports centre", but I never recall calling any of these a "sports hall". – IMSoP Feb 05 '17 at 19:24
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    +1 At school we had both a sports hall and gym. The sports hall looked remarkably like the room pictured in the question, whereas the gym contained, as alluded to in this answer, weights and machines. – o.comp Feb 05 '17 at 19:51
  • @IMSoP well just Google "school sports hall" to find plenty of examples where it is called that. – Martin Smith Feb 05 '17 at 20:04
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    @MartinSmith I should have clarified, the part I disagree with is the phrase "that would more likely be called". I don't doubt that some or many people would call it a sports hall, just that it's not universally what it's called in British schools. And no, my school gym did not contain any weights and machines, it had a wooden flaw with court markings. You can Google "school gym" and get plenty of pictures too, even if you limit to UK sites. – IMSoP Feb 05 '17 at 20:50
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    @IMSoP sports hall is definitely clearer IMO. If you're looking for somewhere that you can play a sport like badminton you'd be much more confident that a sports hall can deliver than a gym. – Martin Smith Feb 05 '17 at 21:10
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    @MartinSmith Sure, if that's why you needed the translation. But if I was writing a story about somebody having an indoor P.E. lesson, then I would say the action took place in *the gym*, because that's what we always called it. I think the best answer would be "some would call it a gym, others would call it a sports hall; since gym also has another meaning, sports hall might be the safer meaning if you need to be understood". – IMSoP Feb 05 '17 at 21:17
  • Agreed, our school had a sports hall and a gym; the gym being full of weights and exercise machines. This extends also to University, where we had sports halls and gyms. – Muzer Feb 06 '17 at 09:50
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    At the schools I went to (in the north of England in the 1980s and 1990s, if that makes any difference), this room was definitely called the "gym" and never the "sports hall". I think you need some evidence for the claim that "sports hall" is "more likely". – David Richerby Feb 06 '17 at 10:47
  • Similar to @DavidRicherby but in Southern England, *gym* was widely used for the hall (there was a small "weights room" next to it). But while *sports hall* might be a (close) second choice of name for this venue, it could be a better option if you don't want to be ambiguous. – Chris H Feb 06 '17 at 11:44
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    FWIW, in the US the room pictured would be a "gym" or "gymnasium". The room with the weight-and-exercise machines would be the "weight room". "Sports hall" was not a term that was used. YMMV. – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Feb 06 '17 at 12:27
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    The question is tagged for both "british-english" and "american-english". – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Feb 06 '17 at 13:13
  • @BobJarvis I'm sorry -- I was under the mistaken impression that the question was specifically asking for British English. I've no idea why I thought that but it's clearly nonsense. Apologies for wasting your time; I've deleted the comment. (Actually, I guess my point was that this answer is specifically addressing British English. But I'm going to shut up, now.) – David Richerby Feb 06 '17 at 13:42
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    I blame whoever it is that insists that the mutually-somewhat-intelligible-but-in-all-actuality-quite-different languages spoken in Britain, Scotland, Wales, Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Ireland and South Africa "English". One word to accommodate all those regional variants, with their varied terminology, accents, and etc? I think *NOT*! So let's hear it for English, Scotsish, Welshylllym, Canuckian, 'murkin, Ausspeak, Kiwian, Irelish, and GoodHopian. Let us celebrate our differences, be divided by them, and hopefully have a pointless war or two. :-) – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Feb 06 '17 at 13:58
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    I'm from the UK - in primary school there was only one such room and it was called the sports hall. At secondary school we had a "main hall" where we sometime did sports and a "gym hall" that was adjacent to where the gymnastics equipment was kept. – Mr_Thyroid Feb 06 '17 at 17:49
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    I think it's safe to say that the usage of "Sports hall" varies dramatically depending on the part of Britain one is from, and possibly even by schools in the same are. When I was in secondary school, it was referred to as the gym. I can't remember what the term was in primary school, but it was the same room used for assemblies. – Pharap Feb 07 '17 at 01:33
  • I was at school in the 60's and 70's. To my mind, "a sports hall" is bigger than a "gym" - but neither had weights or exercise machines. A gym is surrounded by climbing bars, but a sports hall just has a few. The picture is definitely of a sports hall - but if the OP is learning English and may wish to talk to American's, "Gym" is definitely the word to use. – Martin Bonner supports Monica Feb 07 '17 at 11:13
  • In my experience (a) an indoor space used exclusively for sports in a British school is generally called a gym, and (b) the kind of high-tech facility full of exercise machines found in expensive hotels and leisure centres is also called a gym, but is not normally found in schools because it's far too expensive. – Michael Kay Feb 07 '17 at 16:24
  • @MartinBonner I specified 'British School' because I have no idea what it would be called in America. – Σωκράτης Feb 07 '17 at 17:41
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In the US, we definitely call the pictured facility a 'gym,' or 'gymnasium.' We also very often refer to the room with weights and such as 'the gym,' though never 'gymnasium,' which would refer to the 'sports hall.' The room with weights and such is often referred to as 'the weight room' in schools. However, when referring to a fitness club, we also call that 'the gym,' colloquially.

I'd never heard the term 'sports hall' before reading this post, though it makes sense.

Stephen C
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I'm nearly 42 and British. Sports hall is the term I would use for an indoor space for sport in a school with floor markings. We also used to call it the gym and that was because it also had equipment in it like crash mats and ropes and bars.

My school had another structure that was vast and used for sport with a sloped roof and was called the dutch barn, but that was so school specific I think anyone who went to my school is now going 'she went to my school' in their heads.

so sports hall or gym are both fine

Jen
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We called the room pictured "sports hall", we had several of these in different buildings of the school but we'd differentiate between them by saying "the sports hall in D-block, F-block" etc. we also had a building devoted to one large sports hall which was THE sports hall, part of the same building was a room with running machines and weights etc and that's what we called the gym (I went to a sports specialist school in case you couldn't tell lmao).

The hall where assemblies were held was called the main hall (I've never heard "auditorium" outside of American media), which was also next to the canteen (cafeteria for Americans) so that's where the long tables were during lunch. We sometimes had dance lessons in there tho and dance/music/drama shows on the stage but that one was never used for sports as far as i remember. However almost all of them doubled as exam rooms during exam season lmao. I attended school in South east England 2000s-2010s if that helps anyone.

n1ghtma3
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There are several terms that might be used. It can be called a gymnasium (gym for short) or an indoor court. Such structures are also often used to hold assemblies, and are therefore auditoriums. And since they can be used both as a sports venue and an auditorium, often they are called a "multipurpose room" (often a multipurpose room also has a stage so that it can be used to put on plays).

Acccumulation
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A Grammar School (Selective secondary school age 11-18) in Yorkshire 1971 to 1978 it was called the "Sports Hall"

shin
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MGM
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Another British English term not mentioned here (perhaps more commonly used in Scotland) would be "Games Hall".

A quick Google search confirms that this is used by Glasgow Clyde College and in Shetland among other places, as well as images of the same kind of room.

Nick stands with Ukraine
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