BY SCOTT
HADDOW
SportLink Greater Sudbury Sport Council is moving full steam
ahead with plans to pump up the city's reputation across the
province when it comes to athletics.
SportLink recently launched its website,
www.sportlink.ca
, designed to bring city sports groups together with the goal
of working together for major athletic events like the Canada
Winter Games.
The website features over 200 local sports organizations each
of which has its own web page, promoting club information and
contacts. Key assets on the website include sports events
calender, online directories for groups and facilities, a
resource centre that includes information to assists groups
with bidding on events, access to funding resources,
educational opportunities, help with website development and a
download centre.
"We are here for the sports groups of Sudbury," said SportLink
executive director Susan Levesque.
"This website is a powerful marketing tool for us. We're going
to be a central agency for all these groups. The goal is to get
all these groups working together so we can bid and host major
sporting events."
It was a challenging project to pull together but worth every
second.
"There was a lot of old-fashioned work...getting on the phone
and just making call after call to people," said Levesque. "It
was a great learning process for SportLink...as we talked to so
many different organizations and got a lot of information. We
have over 200 groups involved...that's a huge success. We
totally encourage any other groups to contact us and get
involved...it can only benefit them."
"We will keep the information about local groups flowing
freely," said SportLink president Lisa Kivinen. "This website
is good for the whole community. Sudbury is poised to be the
centre of excellence, not just in Northern Ontario, but the
whole province."
SportLink hasn't been overly aggressive for the first few years
of their existence, but in the last while, they have become a
big mover and shaker.
"We took the time to ensure we had a good infrastructure...and
that's made the difference for SportLink," said Kivinen. "We've
listened to the groups and assessed the needs. We can be
accessed now any day at any time."
SportLink is on solid footing.
"SportLink is where it's supposed to be," said Kivinen. "We
have big visions. We see big events coming here and bringing
millions of dollars in."
