Every parent from Sudbury (a major city with a population of over 160,000 people) who has taken their children to southern Ontario for sports has gazed in awe at the facilities, including modern indoor soccer fields, basketball courts, swimming pools, hockey pads, etc. Every parent has asked themselves “Why don’t we have those things here?” when they have come home.
The adults are failing the sporting youth of this city.
My children are aging out of youth sports. They have left (or are leaving) Sudbury for university, with no expectation of returning. My spouse and I moved here 20 years ago for work and we raised our family here. Every parent wants their children to reach their potential. My kids were never going to go to the Olympics but they loved competitive sport - and this city failed them. This despite passionate and expert coaches that do their best in the face of the crumbling or non-existent sport infrastructure.
For years, I watched as my son, so passionate about soccer, was forced to play winter soccer in small, dark elementary school gyms. The city refused to build an indoor turf field until finally a school board built one. Now, the local soccer club can use the LancerDome, but scheduling is constrained by school board policies.
Sudbury’s legacy of competitive swimming excellence is evaporating before our eyes as the Jeno Tihanyi pool at Laurentian University reaches the fourth anniversary of its closure. My daughter was a competitive swimmer, training and competing at the pool until the pandemic closed it, and the university’s insolvency kept it from re-opening. Over a year and half ago the pool began leaking, with no fix in sight. A pool that was a hub of activity including hosting numerous local and regional swim meets, lies dark. Local city pools, all over 50 years old, are heated for aquacise classes and not up to specifications for hosting any swim competitions. And yet the local swim club soldiers on, hoping Laurentian will finally fix and open the pool.
I regularly hear similar frustrating anecdotes from friends who are parents about basketball courts in schools (the only courts available in the city) that are difficult to book because of school board policies, and dilapidated hockey arenas. No doubt there are similar stories for other sports.
What are we doing here? Who is in charge of sports facilities in this city? Why do smaller towns have far better facilities than we do? If the city wants to grow, and for people (and especially children) to be happy living in Sudbury, access to sports facilities is critical. Ironically, the city had a sport tourism strategy, and had even applied to host the Canada Games. This all seems laughable now.
The sports and recreation leadership in this city has failed. City politics is dominated by a rural and geriatric constituency whose priorities are potholes and lower taxes. There appears to be little political will to actually make the city attractive for families to move here – and that includes having proper sporting facilities.
I hope that Mayor Paul Lefebvre and city council exhibit the political leadership to push this city into the 21st century. Mayor Lefebvre has stated that the city has a goal of increasing its population to 200,000. I would argue that if this is an aspiration, having the underlying infrastructure including sporting facilities is required to attract and keep people here.
On a final note, I will say that both my children are enthusiastic Nordic skiers. This would not have been possible if we had lived in southern Ontario. The municipal infrastructure costs for this sport are minimal (it is outdoors, after all) and so Sudbury excels.
Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde
Sudbury