Scheduled for completion in January 2015, the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport will be available for use by the University of Toronto community. The Goldring Centre will be a new, state-of-the-art sports facility that will include sport laboratories for teaching and research, a sports clinic, a strength and conditioning centre overlooking Varsity Centre, and a dazzling 2,000 seat field house for volleyball and basketball.
One of the innovative features of the facility will be on the fourth floor, which will house faculty members focused on sports science research. Beth Ali, the director of Intercollegiate and High Performance Sport at U of T, said that “the connection between intercollegiate athletes [and] coaches and sports science research is extremely important, and having this genre of research happening right on campus will be very beneficial.”
U of T president David Naylor stated that: “the Goldring Centre will build upon a proud tradition at the University of Toronto — a culture of fostering and nurturing innovation, and of creating and sharing knowledge. The result, as always, will be dramatic breakthroughs in many disciplines, a pool of remarkably talented graduates, a growing number of new products and services…and, not least, we hope, many proud spots for Canadian athletes on podiums around the world.”
Nevertheless, the multi-faceted centre’s most important feature, however, may be its potential benefit to the University of Toronto student community. The university has been criticized by students for its lack of a strong, communal feel. When asked how the facility might help to foster a stronger sense of community, Beth Ali stated that “the athletes, coaches, and staff are working hard to make our varsity teams more competitive, and our hope is that better teams, better facilities, and better promotion will connect with our U of T students, and we will have full houses at all our games.”
Whether or not the centre will serve as a hub for fostering a stronger sense of community remains to be seen; a dazzling sports facility, however, is a good start. Many schools across North America use sports as ways to bring their respective student bodies together and to foster a sense of school pride; the facility looks promising to both effects.
In January 2015, students can look forward to the mess of construction currently on Devonshire Place being cleared up, and a state-of-the art sports facility, accessible for all, being erected. In the meantime, students can attend regular season games for free, including the Homecoming football game on Saturday, September 14 at 1:00 pm at Varsity Centre.
Correction, September 11 2013: A previous version of this article said The Goldring Centre would host artistic rollerblading and handball for the 2015 Pan American games. This information was outdated, the Centre is not hosting any events for the 2015 Pan American games, except to act as a potential training facility for athletes.
