Posted on June 16: Race for athletic and recreational space begins

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/athletics_facility.jpg” caption=”Recreation Complex rendering”]McMaster has responded to the need for new athletic and recreational facilities by announcing plans to build a new $43-million athletic and recreation centre and stadium.

Scheduled to open for the fall of 2006, the $30-million Athletics & Recreation Complex will be an addition to the University's existing Ivor Wynne Centre. This new centre will provide: a new sports hall, an indoor running track, a wellness and fitness centre twice the size and capacity of the current Pulse, international standard squash courts, new locker rooms, an expanded sports medicine clinic, as well as other teaching and training facilities. In addition, the new complex will be capable for use in hosting exams, movies, speakers, conventions and other community events. Construction of the complex is set to begin in March 2005.

A future $13-million McMaster stadium to replace the existing Les Prince Field will have seating for 7,000 and will include varsity locker rooms, meeting space, storage areas, food preparation and concession facilities and seasonal multi-purpose training areas. The stadium field will be a high quality soft-surface artificial turf. The outdoor track will also be refurbished with a new track surface and new multi-seasonal artificial turf.

“Together, the Athletics and Recreation Centre and the Stadium will provide a centre of excellence that redefines the role of Athletics and Recreation within the University and helps build strong communities, promote innovative learning and showcase outstanding research,” says McMaster President Peter George.

Colleen Cupido, Sport Injury Clinic manager and physiotherapist at McMaster, is especially excited about plans to include a sports medicine clinic in the facility.

“We want to set up a one-stop shopping model for sport medicine,” says Cupido. “From a clinical perspective, it would serve the patient population of students, varsity athletes and high performance athletes, along with employees, faculty, staff, hospital employees and the surrounding community.”

McMaster's students have already agreed to contribute $20 million towards the $30-million cost for the Athletics & Recreation Centre. Another $13 million needs to be raised for the stadium, for a total of $23 million to be raised through donations by the end of 2006.

The Athletics and Recreations Centre and Stadium fundraising team has announced that Ron Foxcroft, president of Fluke Transportation Group, will lead a campaign cabinet of 26 high profile community leaders.

This project will enable McMaster University to become a national leader among universities in terms of its ability to provide services and facilities to its core campus communities of students, faculty and staff; to recreational users; to the broader Hamilton community; to high-performance athletes, coaches, and sports officials; and to researchers in the areas of human movement and sports medicine.

McMaster's strategic plan, Refining Directions, encourages the University to take a more active interest in the health and wellness of its students, faculty and staff as part of “building community.” The new athletics and recreation centre and stadium represent a comprehensive solution to meet McMaster's goals in these areas.

To read more in this month's McMaster Review, click here.

Rendering: A conceptual drawing of the proposed new Athletics & Recreation Centre as viewed from Stearn Drive, with the existing Ivor Wynne Centre to the right and Michell Crescent to the left.