Rain? No longer a problem for this local lacrosse club with covered facility on the horizon

A new multi-use sports facility in Port Coquitlam is going to keep young lacrosse players on the floor throughout the year, says a local coach. 

Shortly before the provincial election on Oct. 15, BC NDP leader David Eby pledged $3 million towards a covered facility that would house lacrosse, ball hockey, basketball and volleyball, among many other sports in Port Coquitlam. 

The city later announced it was moving ahead with the project, which is estimated to cost between $10 and $12 million. Funding from the city is expected to come out of money that was previously allocated in its capital budget. 

The facility, located on the current Shaughnessy bike park, will include one hockey rink-sized dry floor, a few stands and washrooms, according to Travis Cornwall, head coach of the Port Coquitlam Jr. A Saints. 

The lacrosse club expects it to ensure that youth teams with players aged five to 16 — who frequently practise in one of the city’s three outdoor boxes — won’t have a practice cancelled due to inclement weather. 

“A lot of their practices get cancelled because of the rain during the season,” he said. “But this just increases the number of facilities that we know where practices won’t get cancelled.” 

He also views the facility as a place that can host alumni practices, encouraging active players to connect and learn from former generations of Saints. He credits the city for moving the issue forward. 

“They’re investing in PoCo and we’re hoping to show them a return on their investment, whether that’s us constantly using those facilities but then the positive outcomes of kids being involved in sports from a young age can bring to a community,” he said. 

The Shaughnessy bike park will be moved to a new location, the city wrote in a press release. 

The announcement of a new multi-use sports facility comes a few months after the Port Coquitlam Saints experienced their best season in six years. 

The Saints, who compete in the eight-team B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League (BCJALL), finished the regular season 12-5-1 and reached the Minto Cup, a national Junior A lacrosse tournament that features winners from leagues in B.C., Alberta and Ontario. 

The Coquitlam Adanacs won the BCJALL title in the regular season, but were already guaranteed a spot in the Minto Cup as hosts of the 2024 tournament. Port Coquitlam received an entry as runner ups in the B.C.-based league.

Although Port Coquitlam fell one win shy of the Minto Cup Finals, the campaign marked a 23-point improvement from 2022, when the Saints finished last in the league with one win and two points in 14 games. 

Josh Wahl, president of the Saints, said he believes the rise of the Jr. A team is buoyed by interest in lacrosse from young children, an age group that the club has targeted in recent years with multiple visits to schools in the community to promote the game. The sport is becoming increasingly popular with kids under the age of 11, he says, which can also be credited to word of mouth and changing demographics. 

“PoCo being a sports town, young families are moving here and having children, they’re putting them in lacrosse,” Wahl said. “It’s kind of what you do here.” 

It remains to be seen how the new multi-sports facility will be split between clubs and the public. 

The Port Coquitlam Sports Alliance, a collection of people from local sports clubs, city council and SD43, will likely come together as the plan progresses to discuss how the facility will be distributed, Wahl said. 

There are a few similarly covered sports boxes in nearby jurisdictions like Port Moody and Burnaby. 

Burnaby has a schedule for organized and drop-in sports at its two multi-use boxes. It has blocked out time for pickleball drop-in, basketball sessions and regular public play.

Port Moody’s Westhill Sports Box is also split between the public and sports groups. 

But Cornwall said sometimes the box can feel like a “free for all” until the space has been booked. Without a set schedule, he says it can be intimidating for lacrosse players to join. 

“Everyone should be able to share the facility, but it’s very difficult for a lacrosse player that shoots the ball at 100 miles an hour,” said Cornwall, adding that he’s heard there are plans in the works for the Port Coquitlam site to have a curtain dividing the facility to allow groups to play multiple sports.

“The main thing I want to see is a lacrosse player that shows up there on a rainy, February Sunday gets to play,” Cornwall said. 

A final design of the project is expected to be complete by the end of 2025. Construction is tentatively scheduled to start in 2026.