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Photo from the Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection Facebook page.
By Curtis Galbraith
Community

Gap in recreational and drop-in sports opportunities says local official

Jan 17, 2021 | 7:00 AM

A local sports official says this area has a gap when it comes to drop-in and recreational sports.

Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection executive director Karna Germsheid says a large portion of the population cannot access sports, and there are not enough spaces for the ones who can.

“We have some really strong clubs in some of our traditional sports, volleyball and basketball up here in the north. They are all clubs that you have to try out for and, of course, they have only limited spots available for those clubs. I get phone calls from parents with children that have engaged, tried out but didn’t really find a spot on any of the clubs and now have nothing to do recreationally.”

Germsheid says she is referring to a need for what she calls “low-cost inclusive sports” where kids play for an hour or so with minor supervision.

She adds it would take a collective effort to fill that gap.

“We have awesome volunteers that are running awesome organizations, right? So, I think that we let them do what they do best and keep encouraging that, creating spaces for them to do this. I think there is an opportunity for us as a region, you know, our municipalities and perhaps even potentially organizations like the Sport Connection. We are not currently programmers, but (there are) opportunities for partnerships to create recreational programming.”

Germsheid says that programming would include making sure there are time and space available at facilities. She adds partnerships with schools would be important as well.

by Curtis Galbraith