The new Capilano University turf field has stood the test of time (or hundreds of feet) and came out unscathed after the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Women's Soccer National Championships.
The turf was given a $1.1 million revamp, especially for the national tournament held on Nov. 6 to 9. which saw the Capilano Blues take home the bronze medal.
“It looked fantastic; you'd never even know that it was used,” CapU athletic director Georgette Reed told The Squamish Chief.
“The field itself is phenomenal, and it's one of those facilities that is probably one of the best, I'd say, in Western Canada.”
What’s next for the field?
Reed hopes that following the success of the national tournament, CapU will be able to bring more events to Squamish in the future.
“I don't know if other people feel this way, but my hopes are to be able to start transforming that facility into something that not only can be used by the community through rentals and other programming but also where we're able to bring in international soccer groups that want to maybe have that space for a training camp,” she said.
“Or to be able to run other kinds of camps, whenever they do the FIFA [International Federation of Association Football] international soccer here, so that maybe Squamish could be a training location for it.”
She said she would love it if CapU could bring the new women’s professional league to Squamish to do an exhibition game or a practice for the community to get involved with.
“It would really give an opportunity for all these groups to learn about Squamish, about the community, and then hopefully bring some events into the community,” Reed said.
There’s also talks to potentially expand the facility further to create a bigger community hub.
“I'd love to expand the facility, where we could actually even do more with it, and have a real gym outside,” Reed said.
“To have some rooms that overlook the field, multi-purpose rooms, a weight room and some other things to really make it a world class facility and a community hub, that would be fantastic.
“I'm in talks with our executive leadership, and telling them that this is the way that I think we should go. So it's just up to them if they think that's in the cards.”
Can locals use it?
The turf field is complete (minus some lettering still to be added), so can the average Squamish resident use it recreationally?
Yes and no.
Local sporting teams and leagues will be able to rent the field out, as well as schools wanting to use the space for a sporting purpose.
“It's done through rental because it is owned by Capilano University, so it's not a community field, but we're working with the community by rental to have access to it,” Reed said.
“It's not something that's just open, and people can access it anytime that they want to play casually, or to walk their dogs on or anything like that. It may have been used that way in the past, but because we've put such an investment into this facility, we want to make sure that we maintain it to the highest standards possible.
“So, casual use will probably not be allowed, but it will be allowed for teams and maybe leagues to rent it on a regular basis for a period of time, to be able to have their games, or to have organized practices or those types of things on it.”
Schools will also be able to book the field through the CapU rentals.
“This way, we can hopefully open up to as many groups as possible to be able to use it, as long as they want to use it in a positive way that's going to help promote sport,” Reed said.
A CCAA recap
Following a slightly unsuccessful season, the CapU Blues were able to show off their skills at the 2024 CCAA Women's Soccer National Championships to bring home a bronze medal.
In the all-Quebec final match-up, Nomades de Montmorency clinched the gold medal with a score of 3-0 over Aigles d'Ahuntsic, who took home silver.
“It was an up-and-down year for us. We really hadn't had a whole lot of success, even though the team fought really, really hard,” Reed said.
“So for them to be able to only win two games through the season, but then go through nationals to the point where they lose their first game and win the last three games in a row, by playing four games in less than four days and coming home with a bronze medal—it was amazing.
“You hope that when you host something like this, that you'll have that kind of an opportunity, and we did, and they took every opportunity ... to really show up and get on the podium.”
The tournament saw over 400 daily spectators as well as 12,000 viewers who streamed the games online.
