I understand from my university days a long time ago before career and parenthood etc, that Loughborough University was pretty competitive in most sports and indeed a de facto sports oriented university? While Oxbridge was also pretty good at many sports including less popular ones like lacrosse and real tennis which is rarely played by university students elsewhere. The Varsity Games against the other blue team afforded us much appreciation and training to complete also against other former junior internationals attending university and competing for numerous universities nationally. Loughborough stood out in my day as being the one to beat in many sports. I believe they offered USA style scholarships for those with particular sporting abilities and provided good coaches and facilities.
Nottingham University from memory provided many excellent better than most sporting facilities especially hosting many events. Although not my sport, I believe for instance there is the national canoe facility nearby in Nottingham.
Not sure if Loughborough is still excellent in sport these days or not. At Oxbridge we had internal collegiate competitions and then it was the goal to make the Varsity squad and hopefully selected in the first full Blue team in Varsity and at national universities tournaments.
Sports in university in therefore another option to further and push sporting potential while studying and yes working part time to stay financially healthy and more independent!
On the senior school front I recall Millfield in Somerset being relatively more sports orientated than most schools of note but again that was decades ago and much may have changed.
In the mass popularity sports such as boys and men’s football there is of course the well established football youth academies root attached to most professional football teams.
Again post university to continue various amateur sports and particularly in London there are the various local leagues and a stand out for my sport is the civil service leagues and sporting facilities open to representatives from outside of the civil service too as long as your were competitive in your chosen field and a good social networking platform with a shared common interest.
Sports for most is unknown personal achievement without fame nor fortune but all that hard dedication and crafting is good for a solid healthy foundation for life long participation if not also occasional competition if still relatively up to scratch! Only a few popular big media spectator and sports betting sports make it into the big money leagues as most sports is at your own time, energy and expense and that is if you had a very high skill level to begin with! It’s hard work for only personal satisfaction and minimal financial reward but big out of own pocket expense unless it is the usual televised professional sports with big business sponsorships etc. The Olympians particularly in the smaller UK participation sports without big financial competition prizes deserve more admiration for their skill and sheer determination against all the odds and much personal investment with possibly little return other than some branded national
team kit etc.