FIELD OF DREAMS
St. Clair College opens its new Sports Park
St. Clair College Fratmen football players Josh Allen, left, and Jared Hayes-williams test out the turf following Tuesday's official opening and ribbon-cutting for the $25.8-million Sports Park at St. Clair College's Windsor campus.
The St. Clair College Saints officially reclaimed home-field advantage on Tuesday.
Nearly a decade ago, a land expropriation of part of St. Clair College for the Rt.-hon. Herb Gray Parkway sent several Saints athletic teams scattering around Essex County to play.
“It definitely has been our wish for the past decade to see the Saints come marching home onto campus on fields and diamonds reflecting their excellence and to provide an atmosphere and amenities, which would encourage substantial fan attendance,” St. Clair president Patti France said.
Many of those teams now have that new home after Tuesday's ribbon-cutting for the Sports Park, which is on 14.75 acres of college land and officially cost $25,808,658.
“Once we get through this pandemic, this will be the premier sports facility in the Canadian college system,” said Ron Seguin, St. Clair's vice-president of international relations, campus development and student services.
The facility features a 1,500seat stadium for football and soccer, a women's softball diamond, a four-court indoor tennis centre that will operate year-round and four beach volleyball courts. However, men's baseball at the college will continue to play out of Lacasse Park in Tecumseh.
“There is no question that this sports park is a game-changer as we continue to strive to be a destination college in Ontario,” said Nancy Jammu-taylor, chair of the school's board of governors. “We look forward to all of the opening days for all of the different sports represented here at our sports park and it will happen.”
The college had hoped to have its ribbon-cutting in August, but the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to the OCAA conference season for all sports as work on the Sports Park continued.
“From concept, to drawings, to choosing a contractor, to getting to this day, it's been about six years,” Seguin said. “We would have liked to have done this in late August. We wanted to close (the work on) this facility this fall. We told the board of directors we would finish this fall and cut a ribbon. It's a little deeper in fall than we thought, but it's done.”
The Sports Park comes just over six years after the school completed building its $25-million indoor Sportsplex.
“The huge crowds, which have turned out for our basketball and volleyball games since we built the Sportsplex several years ago, clearly demonstrate that if you build it, they will come,” France said.
But it also took the work of corporate and local sponsors to get this project to the finish line along with the school's Student Representative Council (SRC) and the Student Athletic Association (SSAA).
“SRC and SSAA have been the driving forces behind this development,” said France, who noted that students will help operate the facilities. “I cannot commend the student leaders enough for the contribution that they've made to their fellow students, to students yet to come and the community at large, which will also benefit from this athletic complex.”
The school extended the recreation and fitness centre capital fee for students that funded the Sportsplex and Seguin noted students supported the project to the finish.
“Every time we had an idea that cost a few more bucks, they were there to support it,” Seguin said.
And SRC president Jorge Gutierrez Calzada says he can't wait to see what's next.
“We've got a meeting ( Wednesday) to figure out what we can build next,” he said.
Whether it was lighting, turf, seating capacity or scoreboard, the school did not hesitate to shoot for the stars on the project. And while a few small details still need to be completed, 38 varsity team practices have already been held at the complex.
“For a college in today's world to come up with $(26) million that this took, it took the co-operation of a lot of groups,” Seguin said. “The end product is much bigger than the original design. It's kept growing.
“People may not understand: college is competitive and kids have choices. More so, kids want to be proud of where they went to school and I think facilities play a huge role in that. Our phone's ringing off the hook.”