Allen Douglas/KTW
Expect campus recreation to get a boost at Thompson Rivers University this fall.
Andy Williams, Kamloops This Week
The university has announced it will add two multi-sport playing surfaces to the campus this fall, both of which are expected to open in the middle of September.
The outdoor facilities will be installed on the campus green to the west of the Old Main building and will be marked for pickleball, basketball, volleyball and ball hockey. A grass volleyball court is also being installed.
“Our big thing with it is it’s a great opportunity to grow our recreation program and to grow our on-campus life,” said Ken Olynyk, TRU’s director of athletics and recreation.
“We want to try and keep kids on campus and run programs for them.”
The surfaces are being installed in response to student demand, TRU said in its announcement of the project.
The university has not added any recreation facilities to its campus since the Tournament Capital Centre was opened in 2007.
Olynyk said the facilities aren’t expected to be a significant boon for TRU’s WolfPack athletics programs, though they will provide extra space for summer sport camps.
Instead, the project will primarily benefit the more than 1,500 students involved in university recreation programs and is expected to grow the school’s offerings.
“We’re pretty excited about that,” Olynyk said of the recreation department’s size, adding that more than 1,000 of the university’s students are also members of the TCC.
“In terms of programming and our recreation and our student usage, it only helps and it only grows it.”
He noted an additional benefit from the surfaces may come in the winter. The school has tried for roughly five years to build an outdoor ice rink and these facilities may make that dream a reality.
Construction has yet to begin on the project, though its future home has been fenced off in preparation. The trees residing in the space will be relocated to other areas of the campus.
According to Matt Milovick, TRU vice-president of administration and finance, the project comes with a price tag of roughly $200,000. Drainage issues in the area, along with relocating the trees, added additional costs to the project.