Kamloops Canada's Tournament Capital?

Kamloops ‘Canada’s Tournament Capital’.

By its recent action to rezone a recreational area at 697 Cowan Street (the top of 7th Ave). from P-1 (Parks and Recreation) to RM-1 (Multiple Family – Low Density), Kamloops has become not ‘Canada’s Tournament Capital’ but rather the ‘City Council’s Tournament Capital of Canada’.

The city claims that a ‘dilapidated’ tennis court on this property has deteriorated and requires significant repairs to make it usable.  What the city has failed to recognize is that although the tennis court has deteriorated as a tennis court it has not deteriorated as a usable recreational area.

The tennis court has taken on a life of its own.

The court during the summer has become a venue for a number of pickup ball hockey events, small unorganized tournaments.  During the summer, at least two groups of young men and women come together weekly to play ball hockey.  There are very few venues in Kamloops, and none in this area, that provide an environment for this type of unorganized sport.  With the loss of this venue, kids that currently play pickup ball hockey will no longer have a place to do so.

Many local kids that use this court are too young to drive and do not have the ability to use other recreational sites due to distance.  With the loss of this venue, they will not be able to enjoy the level of activity they current enjoy.   In this act the city is condoning a lower level of activity by its residents and the associated health affects.

South Kamloops Secondary School gym classes regularly use this court for practicing and playing field hockey.  The surface on this court is more forgiving than grass and allows the students to learn the skill of stick handling more readily.  With the loss of this venue, the school will no longer be able to take advantage of this facility and its features to help teach students basic field hockey skills.

This court is used by people who are not tennis players, but who would like to learn the game.  They use this court to hit a ball back and forth, without a net, to learn the basic skills of ball control.  These people do not go to organized tennis courts, in part because of their lack of skill.  With the loss of this venue, those who are learning the basic skills of tennis will no longer have a place to do so.

It has also become a safe site for small children to learn how to ride bicycle.  Local parents bring their small children to the court to practice riding where they do not have to mix with traffic.  These parents and children are not only practicing a safe method of teaching their children to ride but are practicing the heart of a green way of living.  Instead of these parents loading their children and bicycles into vehicles to take them to city designated riding areas, these parents and children are walking to the court to exercise and learn.  With the loss of this venue, local kids will not have a place to learn to ride their bicycles in a safe environment.  The city will have placed its residents in a position of increased risk of injury, or made them increase their carbon footprint in order to safely practice this learning experience.

In this act, the city is telling us that because a sport is not organized or not run as a tournament, it has no health benefit and is no benefit to the city.  The site is better used for housing than for sport and recreation.  This is a blatant contradiction to ‘Kamloops the Tournament Capital of Canada’ and the underlying benefit of sport and recreation.  The loss of this venue will not only lower the health of Kamloops residents, but will also increase the carbon footprint for those who continue to play sports but must now drive to do so.

Groups that use this court may go elsewhere to play sports, but they may not.  Parents that regularly bring their children to practice and play, for the most part will not.  If these parents were in the practice of driving their children to purpose built facilities, they would not be using this ‘dilapidated’ tennis court.

If the city is concerned about their liability due to someone being injured while using the court in its current condition, they need not.  It would cost the city next to nothing to bring the court to a safe level of repair.  If allowed, local residents would affect the repairs at no cost to the city.

To make this site safe for the activities practiced here, the costs would amount to the labour required for an employee to take a side grinder to cut the tennis net posts off at ground level.  I will offer to do this at no cost to the city.  There is less than 200ft of crack in the pavement on the court.  The cost to repair would be the cost of cold mix asphalt and the labour to place it, less than $2000.  The fencing around the courts could be made safe by attaching painted one half inch fir plywood or similar material on the inside to a height of four feet.  The court is 105ft x 120ft; it would take 60 sheets to cover this area.  The cost for the plywood and paint is $1200 ( Rona Building Supplies). Using a multiplier of 3 for total cost vs material cost, this would be $3,600.  The total cost to bring this facility to a safe usable condition would be less than $6000.  This would not only protect the users from injury, but would enhance the activities practiced there.

With the loss of a venue that provides its residents a place to learn the basic skills of sports that one day will allow them to play at a ‘tournament’ level, the city in this rezoning application contradicts one of its basic tenets.  If the city continues to proceed with this rezoning application, it should also proceed with changing its status away from ‘Canada’s Tournament Capital’.

For more information email tournamentcapital@gmail.com