Park board passes motion proposing new field hockey turf in south Vancouver

After much deliberation by councillors and speakers from the public Monday and Tuesday evening, the Vancouver Park Board has passed a motion asking for a new synthetic turf field in a south Vancouver park.

A new synthetic turf field was recommended to be installed at Moberly Park on East 59 Avenue primarily for field hockey users, with $8.3 million in funding approved.

There was an influx of speakers during the meeting in support of the turf field, many of whom addressed the lack of facility and material upgrades in the park.

Speakers said the youth requires a modern and safe facility to lead a productive lifestyle, adding that their children have to redirect themselves to parks farther from their neighbourhoods to fulfil their recreational needs.

Among the speakers, many members represented field hockey professionals who were in support of the motion.

President of the Vancouver Hawks, Penny Cooper was also present and in support of the motion.

“It’s been recommended for over 10 years that the next turf build in Vancouver be a field hockey turf,” she said. “We are saying, as a community, this is something that is overdue.”

She says Moberly Park is a great location for this turf because there are a lot of young people that require the space in that area as an alternative to travelling all the way to UBC.

“So there’s an equity thing there,” she said.

A field hockey delegate of the Hawks, Ian McKenzie also spoke in favour of the turf. He said the location of Moberly is important because research that was done in 2020 showed that a lot of registered players lived in the Moberly area.

“Back in 2020 I got a list of postal codes from the provincial body, downloaded them all into a little mapping thing, and they had a very nice little map… Moberly is really hit a huge chunk of those registered players,” he said.

Alex Bale, the Executive Director of Vancouver Hawks Field Hockey Club, also spoke in favour of the motion, saying the proposed motion would also cover other sports players along with field hockey players.

“All other sports can be played on a field hockey turf. All other sports that can use the turf can be played on a field hockey turf. There is no problem playing soccer, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, all of them,” he said.

Bale also says that field hockey is a female-led sport, and supporting it would be very important.

“We have a total unique membership of 798, 80 per cent female, and 20 per cent male… This is an era where women’s engagement, especially young, young women and girls, is declining. And it’s a serious issue. I think, supporting a sport that is so strongly female-led would be very important,” he said.

Teresa Schwartz, a field hockey player in the Vancouver Women’s Field Hockey Association says, that a synthetic turf would be safer for players.

“A synthetic turf dedicated to field hockey provides a safe environment for all players of all ages,” she said.

Schwartz says that a dedicated field hockey-specific turf would facilitate the development of sport-specific skills.

“Would you ask an ice hockey team to play on a curling rink? No, or maybe you would if there were no other options,” she said. “As a parent of a daughter who plays with the junior women’s national team, it was important to have a smart, specific field in our neighbourhood to start her at the grassroots level in the community.”

The board meeting started at 6:30 p.m. Monday evening and an overwhelming number of speakers spoke over four hours, unanimously in support of the motion. The motion was then passed Tuesday evening after the council reconvened.