Ambitious plans for Prince Rupert Racquet Centre, as officials look to increase visibility and use of Ninth West Facility

The Prince Rupert Racquet Centre
at the west end of the golf course parking lot 

Tucked away as it is in a corner of the parking lot of the Prince Rupert Golf Course, the Prince Rupert Racquet Centre sometimes tends to fall off the radar for Prince Rupert residents, though if a plan outlined for City Council on Monday moves forward, the visibility of the facility may soon be something to take note of in the community.

Three members from the Racquet Centre attended the Monday Council session, led by Richard Haley who provided for the majority of the overview of the Racquet Centres past history and some exciting plans to make it one of the top attractions for locals and visitors in the future.

Officials from the Prince Rupert Racquet Association spoke to Council
about the facility and its plans for the future

With Bill Nicholls and Tamar O'Rear beside him, Haley outlined the state of the facility which is owned by the City of Prince Rupert, taken over in the mid nineties when it ran into financial difficulties, the centre is now leased back to Prince Rupert Racquet's Association as part of a three year agreement.

"I really feel  that the Racquet Centre is one of those forgotten jewels in the city's crown of facilities,  it's existing, it's a great facility, it's been kept up well and it's probably just under-utilized." -- Richard Haley from the Prince Rupert Racquet Centre speaking to Council Monday on the plans ahead for the facility.

The Centre which has been in operation since the early 1980's has seen the ups and downs of racquet sports, with squash now the dominant sport, racquetball for the most part now banished to the history books for the community.

Bill Nicholls provided the financial snapshot for Council making note of the revenue streams, which include an annual grant of 8,500 dollars from the City of Prince Rupert.

To help to keep the facility operating, Council heard of the work done to attract some user groups to make use of what the Centre has to offer, with K2 cycling and yoga among some of the activities that now take place on site.

And as they look to the future, the PRRA has some ambitious plans ahead to not only improve the atmosphere for the city's enthusiastic squash community, but to attract other users to increase usage for the Centre over the course of the next seven years.

Among some of the concepts outlined Monday:

Renovations to install clear walls for the squash courts to allow for expanded viewing opportunities for visitors to watch the games as they take place, that initiative one which the Centre is looking to achieve through funding with Northern Development Initiative Trust, the Port of Prince Rupert and the City.

Removal of defunct hot tub and sauna to create additional space for seating and locker room facilities.

A longer term vision also would see the Rock Wall Climbing group currently making use of the Russell Gamble Gymnasium in the Civic Centre relocate to the Racquet Centre, where one of the old Racquetball Courts would be turned over for a dedicated Rock Wall space, designed to meet the requirements of those who participate in that activity. The project would be one which attracts younger users of the facility and may give them though to take up some of the other activities taking place there.

Expanding on the numbers of those who use the facility from the upper age range is also on their list, with hopes of bringing pickle ball and bocce ball to the Centre, sports which have become a popular with those nearing their Senior years.

It was also noted that as the Centre holds a liquor licence, an expanded plan to attract groups to make use of that space is something that the Association is working on.

The Review was well received by Council members, who praised the group for their thorough approach to improving on the facility and how they had been creative in keeping it operating during challenging times in the community.

"I appreciate the fact that you guys have worked hard to keeping this place going and I think that over time, a lot of the groups whether it be the Curling Club, or the Golf course, they have all struggled because of the decline in population and membership ...   and all have had to come up with creative solutions to keep things operating and it sounds like you guys have come up with some really good plans to keep things going in the future"  -- Councillor Wade Niesh

Among the other observations from Council were thoughts on recruitment of younger members offered up by Councillor Randhawa; while Councillor Adey observed that without such facilities as a Racquet Centre, potential residents may not choose to live in the community owing to a lack of activities that it might have to offer.

The Racquet Centre presentation was part of a new initiative of Council to have those groups which receive funding from City come to Council to provide an update on their operations.

You can review the full presentation to Council from the City's Video Archive, starting at the nine minute mark.



For more information on the Racquet Centre see their Facebook page.

A wider overview of Monday's City Council Session can be found from our Timeline feature.

Further notes on City Council Discussions can be found here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.