Goodbye, Glen Cairn? Farewell, Farquharson? Sayonara, Silverwood?
The London Free Press wrote on December 14, 2015 that ‘London’s hockey community — players, coaches and especially parents — could be forgiven if they jump for joy as city hall moves ahead with plans to get rid of those three aged rinks. The trio — with good ice, but little else — are easily the least popular hockey venues in London, and likely near the bottom for the entire province, with small viewing spaces, few if any amenities and comically small locker rooms.’
The City of London could make other local organizations, such as London Lacrosse, jump for joy at the opportunity to have a year round venue for our sport. As one of many groups that are forced to take a hiatus when the ice is in, London Lacrosse would welcome a place to call home year round! Our timeframe to access concrete arena floors is currently the latter part of April, at which time our 600+ minor players, along with our Junior B team and the London Werewolves Masters players, are finally able to start their lacrosse season, well behind many other centres.
During the winter months, our most dedicated and competitive players travel the snowy roads to other communities that do have appropriate facilities to offer year round lacrosse. Small towns, including Paris and Ohsweken, host such programs, which makes one wonder why a city the size of London has nothing comparable in the way of winter use dry or turf pads. Even the village of Aylmer is a step ahead, replacing their ice surface with turf for the summer.
In order to stay competitive with other lacrosse clubs across Ontario, London is forced to make due on gym floors for our spring camps and rep try outs due to the lack of appropriate venues in the city. Lacrosse parents would gladly use the small viewing spaces of an aging Silverwood arena versus the open gym at North London Optimist Centre, where there is no glass to protect them from flying hard rubber balls! Goalies would gladly squeeze into the ‘comically small locker rooms’ of Farquharson if it meant having an actual crease around their net!
The lacrosse community of London and area looks forward to the opportunity to engage in talks with the City of London as part of the repurposing process for these aging arenas. We, along with other users of dry pad arena floors, are excitedly looking forward to the day when we have space to play our sport year around, and not just during the hockey offseason.
Be sure to follow us on Facebook (London Lacrosse News) and Twitter (@London_Lax) to learn how you can support us in this endeavour!
Story submitted by London Minor Lacrosse Association
