Fields ease soccer crunch
The citywide squeeze on sports facilities was eased Tuesday as a Calgary soccer club added two more minifields to its indoor training centre.
In what was once an abandoned warehouse, Foothills Soccer Club officials announced its top-notch facility had expanded to 44,000 square feet.
It’s now being billed as one of the largest of its kind in Western Canada.
“It’s a great day for our kids,” programs director Danny Hay said after the ribbon cutting. “We’d like to see other clubs emulate the same thing.”
By moving all of the club’s operations out of school gymnasiums, Hay said the space crunch should be lowered for other sports.
“This alleviates the pain,” he said. “There’s a shortage of facilities — whether it be basketball, volleyball or soccer.”
Soccer’s growth has been at a breakneck pace over the past decade. Registration spiked by upwards of 20 per cent annually, before dropping to match population growth in more recent times. More than 15,000 kids enrolled in minor soccer last year.
The boom has fuelled a need for clubs to find alternative places to practice.
It’s also prompted the Foothills club to convert a manufacturing plant into what’s now been dubbed the “football factory” last year.
The facility uses state-ofthe-art FieldTurf similar to what lines the field at McMahon Stadium and Shouldice Park.
It allows the club to train with their outdoor cleats year-round, and use real balls versus the fuzzy yellow ones sanctioned for school gymnasiums. Foothills players gave the new pitch rave reviews after a friendly scrimmage.
“The ball doesn’t bounce as much,” said Samara Whittmann, adding her knees didn’t hurt as they often did after playing in gyms.
Hay also lauded the fake grass for cutting down on the bumps and bruises that come from playing on hardwood floors. Eight inches of rubber provide an ample cushion, he said
Nathan Bullock, the club’s new head of sport science and conditioning, expects the new space to pay dividends come game time. Bullock was recently brought in from the league champion Manchester City F.C. to lend his expertise to local squads.
He’s clearly impressed by what he sees.
“This is comparable to the English Premier League academy systems,” he said.
Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai also praised the site during a speech. The Harper government covered half of the project’s $156,000 price tag.