Proposed sports facility —

waits for funding

By Jessica Johnson

One of the main focuses of LegaciesNow,
the society in charge of funding in relation to
the 2010 Olympics, is the development of
sport in BC, and this is what UNBC is play-
ing on to reach their goal of a Northern
Sports Centre.

UNEC first started proposing for a new
sports facility in 1999, but were not able to
secure the funding and the deal fell through.
Now, with the prospect of the government
handing over large sums of money for
sports, committees are again able to address
the idea, but from a different perspective.

Tuppy Hoehn, a project coordinator for
this proposal, says that to make it different
from the first, they are choosing to focus on
sport development and what it could mean,
not only for the university, but also for the
community of Prince George.

“The idea behind what we're doing right
~now, with the Northern Sparts Centre,
involves a proposal for a new facility at
UNBC,” Hoehn says. “It involves gymnasi-
ums and things like that, which you would
see in a traditional sport facility, but the core
of the idea is to have a training centre.”

As the government turns its attention to

the development of athletes in the province,
a training centre is integral to this goal.
Hoehn, a 1998 Olympian in biathlon, says
that this would consist of a basic network of
support for the athletes and coaches, such as
physiotherapists, sports physicians, and
nutritionists, etc.

The facility itself will provide the environ-
ment for the training, and the support staff
for the athletes to make sure that they get
everything they need to make their training
as effective as possible.

Since health and well-being is something
that the committee places importance on for
the Sports Centre, there is a key connection
to UNBC’s medical program. To monitor the
athletes’ performances, the centre will
include space for physiological testing and
laboratories.

“There are a lot of possibilities there with
the development of the northern medical
program and having those students working
with the athletes in sports medicine and
things like that,” says Hoehn.

Another idea behind the proposal is the
combination of education and training,
because as Hoehn says, the decision
between pursuing a sport and continuing

The facility itself will provide the environment for
the training, and the support staff for the athletes

8

DECEMBER 3, 2003

to make sure that they get everything they need to
make their training as effective as possible.

their education is a big obstacle that many
athletes eventually face. The Sports Centre
will provide them with the opportunity to
stay here and pursue both.

By developing sport at the university,
youths will see the path that leads them to
their goals without having to leave Prince
George. This should, in effect, allow the city
to retain much of its homegrown talent as
well.

The steering committee for the proposal,
which has been in the works since last fall,
consists of people from UNBC, the commu-
nications and development offices, as well
as different organizations of the city, includ-
ing Initiatives Prince George, the City of
Prince George, and Pacific Sport Northern
BC.

The concept document that they have
been working on will be submitted to the
provincial government in December. The
government has yet to set the criteria for the
many proposals that are expected to be
turned in, but this should be done by the
beginning of the new year. Once this is
decided, the committee will have to submit
their revised copy yet again, but if all goes
well, Hoehn hopes to have the Sports Centre

completed by 2007.

The proposal focuses on the natural attrib-
utes of Prince George, what the city expects
as far as health and well-being goals, com-
munity renewal efforts and generally, as
Hoehn says, “why it just makes sense to
have the Northern Sports Centre here.”

Ideally, the Sports Centre will start with
gymnasiums and the training centre, includ-
ing a strength training area and much of the
facilities currently in the fitness centre, as
well as offices for the coaches and health
professionals, and will later expand to
include a multi-purpose indoor field and
possibly ice rinks. The benefits are infinite
for developing UNBC’s varsity teams, but
the plans for extensions on the facility are
not definite yet.

“We have to wait for the province to
decide how they are going to evaluate each
of the proposals,” says Hoehn. “We've had
very positive feedback from people we’ve
spoken to at the provincial level so we’re
pretty hopeful that_this is going to go
ahead.”