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Vancouver Whitecaps partner with province and UBC to build national soccer centre
The Vancouver Whitecaps have unveiled plans to build a national soccer development centre on the campus of the University of British Columbia.
The $32 million project will feature a brand new fieldhouse serving five new, refurbished or upgraded training fields on the Point Grey campus. The Whitecaps will provide $15 million of the funding while the provincial government will contribute up to $14.5 million. The Whitecaps may also ask the province for an additional $3 million to resurface the artificial turf fields 10 years from now.
When completed, the facility will serve as the practice base for the Whitecaps men’s and women’s teams along with the organization’s youth residency teams. It will also provide upgraded facilities for UBC’s men’s and women’s soccer programs as well as serving as the West Coast home base for Canada’s national teams. Additionally, the Whitecaps are pledging that the facility will be available to youth soccer organizations and leagues.
The Whitecaps will move into the new training centre in the spring 2013 when the first phase of the project is completed.
The remainder of the facility will be ready in advance of Vancouver playing host to games in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
You can follow Jeff Paterson on Twitter at www.twitter.com/patersonjeff/.
I thought the province was broke?
It sure would have been nice to have real grass on which to train for the new fields, especially for the kids and the national teams. We do have green grass year-round here--along with unfrozen ground, for the most part--and a well-drained facility would incur minimum maintenance costs.
Soccer the way it is supposed to be played!