This turf field at the Steve Omischl Sports Complex is game ready despite rain prior to game time. PHOTO BY CHRIS DAWSON.
It has been a frustrating season for scheduling sporting events in the city of North Bay.
According to Melinda Fry, North Bay’s Manager of Sports and Events, the summer of 2014 will be remembered as a summer of outdoor sports cancellations.
“We haven’t seen this many cancellations in 10 years due to rain,” said Fry.
“It’s been very consistent, as it seems to be the same every single Tuesday.”
But there is one place that has been immune to the soggy situation, and that’s the turf fields at the Steve Omischl Sports Complex.
On those Tuesdays where consistent rain has made grass fields unplayable, the turf fields have allowed soccer to play on.
“That’s been the brilliance of those fields as they drain within minutes,” said Fry about the two porous turf fields at Omischl, with one that can be split into 2 fields for younger age groups.
“The surface may be a bit damp but there’s never any pooling.”
Youth soccer coaches have noticed the difference.
“The fields play really well even in the wet conditions,” said U-9 Rapides Boys Development team soccer coach Ryan Gould.
“The kids can really learn how to control the ball on the nice flat surface instead of the ball bouncing around on them all the time. Hopefully the indoor turf field comes into town and we can play all year round like the south.”
Fry says the Omischl fields have been also been offered to youth and adult soccer teams as make-up game destinations on the weekends.
“Luckily, if we can’t reschedule during the week we have the weekends for them,” she noted.
Overall, Fry says the turf fields have exceeded expectations, but this summer its value was recognized more than ever before.
