Sport Facilities and Equipment 2010-2000 - Arctic Winter Games

119 Pages·2012·24.02 MB·English

by  Courtney Northrup

Sport Facilities and Equipment 2010-2000
2010
H. Sport Facilities and Equipment

1. Alpine Skiing, Free Style Skiing, Snowboard
• All events held at Nitehawk Recreation Area.
• Event required construction of Half Pipe Run. (Legacy Item).
• Nitehawk Recreation area is a 15 minute commute from Grande Prairie.
• Placed 9 ATCO office trailers to house contingents and Race offices.
• Nitehawk Recreation Area increased Parking area in preparation for Games.
• Nitehawk Recreation Area incorporates Snowmaking technology so snow
retention was not a concern.
• Incorporated Park and Ride buses from Grande Prairie for spectators and
volunteers.

2. Arctic Sports
• All Arctic Sport Events were held at the Grande Prairie Regional College
Gymnasium.
• Gymnasium size allowed multiple categories of each event to happen at the
same time.
• Gymnasium had large and comfortable seating for spectators.
• Grande Prairie Regional College had large parking areas and was located on the
City transit route to give spectators good access.

3. Badminton
• All events were held at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School.
• St. Joseph’s Catholic High School was equipped for 8 Badminton Courts.
• Badminton was co-located within St. Joseph’s High School which was also a
Care and Comfort Accommodation.
• Gymnasium was equipped with large and comfortable seating Bleachers.
• St. Joseph’s Catholic High School was located on the City transit route.
• Used St. Joseph’s parking area for Park and Ride staging area.
• Badminton venue located close to Hockey Speed Skating and Gymnastics
venues.

4. Basketball
• All Basketball Games were held at Maude Clifford Public School except the
Medal Round Games.
• Maude Clifford Public School was a new school with two large Gymnasiums.
• Basketball Games were held in the Public School Board Gymnasium.
• Public School Board Gymnasium was equipped with Bleachers.
• Basketball venue was co-located with Volleyball venue.

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• Maude Clifford Public School was located on City Transit route.
• Maude Clifford Public School had limited Public Parking for Spectators.
• Medal Round Games were held in the Grande Prairie Regional College
Gymnasium.

5. Cross Country Skiing, Ski Biathlon, Snowshoe Biathlon
• All events were held at The Wapiti Nordic Ski Centre.
• Located 10 minutes commute from Grande Prairie.
• Equipped Wapiti Nordic Ski Centre with 8 ATCO Office trailers to house
contingents and security for Biathlon weapons.
• Provided Park and Ride system for spectators and volunteers.
• Wapiti Nordic Ski Centre uses natural snow.

6. Dene Sports
• Most Dene Games events held in Muskoseepi Park.
• Constructed 110’ x 72’ Cover All Building to house indoor events.
• Placed Rig Mat floor sheathed with 5/8” OSB covering.
• Heated with Certek Hot Water Heating.
• Lighted and Powered with ATCO Electric Commercial Power.
• Snow Snake Competition moved to St. Joseph’s Catholic High School due to
lack of suitable snow conditions in Muskoseepi Park.

7. Dog Mushing, Snowshoeing
• All events held at Evergreen Park.
• Intention was to use same trails for both events.
• Extensive trail system developed to incorporate Games.
• Weather conditions negated use of trail system built. Trail system had to be
shortened to 4 km loop from 13 km loop.
• Incorporated rodeo grounds and Chuckwagon race track for portions of races
• Large spectator seating and parking facilities.
• Dog Handler Accommodations were provided at Wapiti Shooters Club.
• Texas Camp Facility and ATCO office trailers were provided for sleeping
accommodations.
• Wapiti Shooters Club is located 2 miles from Dog Mushing Venue.
• Electrical power for trailers, was provided by ATCO Electric Ltd.
8. Figure Skating
• All events were held at the Crystal Centre Facility in the Canada Games Arena.
• The Crystal Centre Facility also held the Games Trading Post.
• Crystal Centre located on City Transit route.

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9. Gymnastics
• All Gymnastics events were held at the Grande Prairie Gymnastics Centre.
• Grande Prairie Gymnastics Centre located close to St. Joseph’s Catholic High
School Accommodation and Cafeteria.
• Gymnastics venue located close to Hockey, Speed Skating and Badminton
venues.
• Grande Prairie Gymnastics Centre located close to City transit route.

10. Hockey, Speed Skating
• All Hockey and Speed Skating Events were held at the Coca Cola Centre
• Coca Cola Centre is equipped with large seating area for Hockey and smaller
seating facilities for the Speed Skating Events.
• All Hockey Equipment was stored and dried on the premises.
• Two ice surfaces allowed both sports to utilize the facility to its fullest extent.
Both ice surfaces were North American Regulation Size, 200’ x 85’
• Coca Cola Centre has a large spectator parking area with overflow parking
located in the St. Joseph’s Catholic High School Parking Lots.
• Hockey and Speed Skating venues were located beside Badminton and
Gymnastics venues.

11. Indoor Soccer
• Indoor Soccer events were held in two venues. The Leisure Centre and the
Grande Prairie Soccer Centre.
• Both Venues are located beside each other and within close proximity to the
Composite High School and Peace Wapiti Academy Accommodations and
Cafeteria.
• Both venues are artificial turfed soccer pitches with the Grande Prairie Soccer
pitch measuring 180’ x 65’ and the Leisure Centre pitch measuring 200’ by 85’

12. Table Tennis
• All Table Tennis Events were held at the Mother Teresa Catholic School
• Mother Teresa Catholic School was a brand new school in 2009
• It holds two large Gymnasiums
• The Table tennis events were held in the City of Grande Prairie Community
Gymnasium.

13. Volleyball
• Volleyball Events were held at two locations, Maude Clifford Public School and
Grande Prairie Regional College.
• Maude Clifford Public School and Grande Prairie Regional College were located
on the City Transit Routes.
• Volleyball was held in the City of Grande Prairie Community Gymnasium.

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• Maude Clifford Public School Gymnasiums had a ceiling height of 10 meters.
• Maude Clifford School was a new school opened in 2009.
• Grande Prairie Community Gymnasium required temporary bleachers to seat
spectators.

14. Wrestling
• All Wrestling events were held at Montrose Junior High School.
• Montrose Junior High School was located within 5 minute drive of St. Joseph’s
High School Accommodations site.
• Montrose Junior High School was located on the City transit routes.

15. Mission Centre, Poly-Clinic
• Grande Prairie Regional College, as a major contributor and backer of the
Games, offered the use of their facility in any and all ways that they could offer.
• Grande Prairie Regional College offers a Nursing Degree program and their
classrooms and facilities, lent themselves perfectly to the Poly-Clinic
requirements.
• The Mission Centre was arranged and handled by the College Staff and
Students and numerous rooms were allocated for the Mission Centre
requirements.

Recommendations
• Incorporation of GPS co-ordinates for each venue in maps and communications was
tried to see if mission staff and spectators could use navigation devices (Garmin Nuvi,
Tom Tom etc.)

• Dog Mushing Venue was created in a Green Area of the County of Grande Prairie.
Ensure servicing of trails can be easily done, for example, hauling of snow if required.

• Use of Venue Teams Concept ensures cross divisional communication are maintained.

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2008
2008 Arctic Winter Games
SPORTS FACILITIES COMMITTEE
FINAL REPORT
2008 ARCTIC WINTER GAMES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Overall goals and objectives of the committee.

The goal of the Committee was to ensure that the host society provided
sports facilities that are safe and enjoyable for the athletes and spectators,
and meet the needs of the intended sport.

This goal was achieved through regular meetings with the Sport Chairs,
Yellowknife Fire Division and the City of Yellowknife facility staff.

2. Structure of the committee.

The Committee included the City of Yellowknife Director of Community
Services as Chair and two other members.

The City of Yellowknife Facilities Manager was responsible for the set
up of outdoor venues, Community Arena and the Multiplex.

The City of Yellowknife Programs Manager was responsible for the set
up the school gymnasiums and the distribution of the variety of
equipment that was needed for the Games.

3. Highlight the growing pains of your committee.

Establishing the Committee was relatively easy but keeping roles clear
was more of a challenge. Each member of the Committee is very
knowledgeable in all aspects of the Committee’s responsibilities which
resulted in some duplication efforts at the outset. This was solved
early by clearly establishing who was responsible for what amongst the
Committee members but it was perpetuated by sport groups, Care and
Comfort Committee members, Culture and Ceremonies Committee
members and others approach one of the three members of the Sport
Facilities Committee for equipment and/or venue needs. Again, after
some effort was made in clarifying that the primary contact for all
equipment and venue needs was the Chair, it made for a clearer
direction and easier planning.
2008 Arctic Winter Games
Budgets for hosting the Arctic Winter Games are typically limited in
terms of new facility development. One venue that Yellowknife had to
develop was the Snow Board venue. This was the most challenging
facility due to constraints of our topography, therefore an abandoned
quarry pit was utilized. Throughout the planning and developing
phase, this facility took a lot of attention and resources to construct and
ultimately it was necessary to fly in the experts to construct the venue.

4. Overview of the committee’s work.

Year I –
- Attended a lot of meetings
- Attended the 2006 Games in Alaska to gain a familiarity
of the venues required
- Evaluated the Yellowknife facilities against the sports
that were being hosted to ensure the needs of the
sports could be met. This was the basis of the budget
preparations for the Sports Facilities Committee.
- Upgrades and repairs were identified and conveyed to
the appropriate responsible party ie: school districts
- A full inventory list of equipment needed was developed
and compared to the equipment that was available.
This also was the basis for the Committee budget.

Year 2 -
- Attended even more meetings
- Draft venue plans were developed and
circulated to Sport Chairs. The venue plans
were a working document that under went
several revisions right up until the start of
Games ie: dog mushing, snow boarding, snow
shoeing. There were others that were pretty
constant from the outset such as the arena
sports, basketball, volleyball.
- The equipment list was also in a constant state
of change. This included the needs of sports,
culture, as well as the care & comfort needs.
As March 2008 loomed closer the list was
finalized and the various needs were
addressed through existing inventory or
through purchases.
2008 Arctic Winter Games
- During Games it was mostly reacting to
situations and filling in wherever needed to
ensure the event ran as smoothly as possible.
- Took two months to write report

5. What were the five best decisions made by the committee?

I don’t know if they were the best decisions but the decisions that
served us the best were those that helped to streamline processes and
keep the venue planning on track.

Developing venue plans that included all aspects of what was needed
for each particular set up was important. For example the site plan
included not only the sport needs but also security, medical and guest
services.

The Committee’s responsibilities were divided up early in the planning
process to streamline decision making and information gathering.

Bringing the School District Maintenance Managers into the planning
process early was clearly a benefit to ensure the venues were well
prepared.

6. What were the five decisions made by your committee that you
would do differently today and why?

- Clubs that operate their facilities were asked to indicate what
upgrades were needed to their facilities to prepare for the
Games. The committee received requests that were over and
above what the Host Society could provide through sponsorship
or the regular budgeting process and therefore could not be
achieved. This started the process off with a bit of a negative
spin. In hindsight the Clubs should have been approached with
budget parameters to achieve realistic requests.