FORGET for a moment that Ultimate Frisbee enthusiasts and senior walking club members may all have an additional venue to enjoy their pursuits year-round with the inclusion of a $1.8-million polyvinyl fluoride dome in the revamped David Asper stadium proposal.
Instead, think of the implications when it comes to the training options for provincial and national programs and professional athletics in this town. From the perspective of one of the athletes that would potentially have access to a field year-round with the advent of a bubble dome in the new stadium, I say it's about time somebody came up with an idea for some more indoor facilities in this winter wonderland.
In fact, I would bet you dollars to donuts that the conditions and length of our winter months and the absence of indoor alternatives is something that has always restricted levels and degrees of athletic success and achievement in Manitoba simply because there are precious few alternatives for training during our two stanzas of winter each year.
And I'm not just speaking of professional footballers being forced to run on treadmills until the month of May, I'm talking about all those other sports that are dictated as seasonal pursuits by the environment and a lack of appropriate facilities.
For example, it reminds me of the advantage in my former career of rugby that players in British Columbia came to have over the rest of the nation when it came to the playing seasons. Anyone who has ever played at a provincial or national level in the game of rugby understands how successful and well represented players from the B.C. rugby union have always been in terms of national championships and membership on national teams, and this isn't simply the by-product of some scrumming gene that has manifested itself exclusively on the West Coast.
No, the reason us B.C. ruggers used to enjoy such an advantage over the rest of the nation was that we were able to play the game pretty much year-round. Our winter break basically consisted of time off only in December and January and for the better part of the rest of the year we were able to continue to hone and develop our skills at our discretion.
When you compare that kind of extended season to the limited opportunities in Manitoba for outdoor sporting pursuits, it is little wonder that the most moderate province in Canada happens to also be the most dominant in so many amateur outdoor athletics.
And it's not just amateur athletes whose training and sporting endeavours would benefit from access to a full size, year-round, covered multi-purpose field.
As someone who has played and lived full-time in Winnipeg for some number of years now I have to tell you, trying to conduct any kind of football camp or equivalent program at the grass roots level in the winter months in this province has seemingly the identical amount of red tape to wade through when it comes to space and availability as asking Vic Toews to pitch in $40 million from the federal reserves.
It's not like I ever thought the David Asper proposal was anything but a no-brainer from the moment of its inception for the city of Winnipeg, and that's not just because the biggest game in town has the poorest standard of accommodation at its disposal.
The idea of adding a brand new stadium with winter-accessible facilities -- which are a virtual misnomer in this town for outdoor enthusiasts -- could prove to be beneficial on many more levels than anyone has probably even considered for the future of more than just one sport in this province.
Doug Brown, always a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.
PREVIOUS
