Forward

The Aurora Minor Soccer League is a non-profit society registered under the Societies Act based in Yellowknife, N.W.T. The objectives of the Aurora Minor Soccer League include the development, promotion, and regulation of youth soccer. The League is essentially an indoor soccer league although at times there has been a short outdoor season in July/August. Players range from 5 years old to 18 years old and are separated into ten divisions (approximately 560 players). The League is totally dependent on volunteers. The Executive, consisting of President, Vice-President, Registrar, Secretary and Treasurer are elected at the annual general meeting held in June of each year for a one-year term. Co-ordinator positions, appointed by the Executive, include a head coach, head referee, volunteer co-ordinator and division coordinators. Games are played in school gymnasiums. Teams play on average twice a week (one hour time slots) and the indoor season runs from October to March break. The indoor season ends with a wind up tournament.

At its June 2001 annual general meeting the Aurora Minor Soccer League struck a committee to look into the feasibility of constructing an indoor soccer facility in Yellowknife. The committee determined that the first role of the committee would be to prepare a needs analysis for indoor soccer in Yellowknife.

The Aurora Minor Soccer League would like to thank the Whitehorse Minor Soccer Association, with special thanks to Doug Hitch, for permitting us to extensively draw upon a report prepared by Luigi Zanasi, Economist, and Malcolm Taggart – Research Northwest. The Whitehorse Minor Soccer Association is actively pursuing an indoor soccer facility in Whitehorse and has been very generous in their assistance to AMSL in the preparation of this report.

Needs Analysis for Indoor Soccer in Yellowknife

1.0 Introduction

Soccer is the world’s most popular team sport. There are more people who play it in some form than any other sport. This has also become true in the Northwest Territories, where more people participate in soccer than in any other team sport. In Yellowknife, more than one-quarter of all boys and girls under 14 played in organized soccer in 2000. Soccer has unquestionably become the most popular team sport in the Northwest Territories.

In much of the world, soccer is played outdoors year-round, but this is obviously impossible in northern winters. Indoor soccer, played in gymnasiums or in specialized indoor soccer facilities, has become increasingly popular in Canada. It should be noted that indoor soccer is not only a Canadian phenomenon. One version originated in Uruguay in the 1930s, has internationally recognized rules, and is played in many countries where it is called “futsal” or “5-a-side football”.

The indoor game is different from the outdoor one. Because of smaller indoor spaces, there are fewer players on the playing surface. Depending on the size of the space and local custom, there may be as few as three players per side with no goalkeepers. And, depending on the facility and local practice, the walls may be “live,” that is, considered part of the playing surface or they may be out of bounds. Yellowknife youth generally play with four “out” and a goalkeeper, while adults generally play with four and no goalkeeper. The walls are “live” in Yellowknife practice.

A standard dedicated indoor field has a playing area of approximately 180’ by 80’ with live boards similar to those in a hockey rink. In a full sized space such as this, six-a-side soccer (five “out” plus a goal-keeper) with hockey-like substitutions, is generally played.

This paper is a needs analysis of indoor soccer, including forecasts of facilities use and needs. It analyses the current patterns of use in the school gyms where soccer is played and outlines issues and problems with that use. It also analyses the current demand for gym space and the demographics of that demand, and forecasts likely future trends.

2.0 Review of Current Demand

The growth in the popularity of soccer in Yellowknife can be seen from the table below. The figures shown are the total number of registered participants in the Aurora Minor Soccer League.

Table 1 - Number of Registered Participants and Growth Rates, Aurora Minor Soccer League

Year	Number of participants	Percentage growth
1998/99	439	-
1999/2000	450	2.5
2000/01	526	17
2001/02	560	6.5
Total growth 1998-2002	+121	27.6%

Source: Aurora Minor Soccer League

2.1. Indoor Leagues & games

There are a number of different groups and leagues playing indoor soccer. Minor soccer is the largest group, but there is a co-ed adult league and both men and women play regularly though not in a league format. There is currently no adult men’s league. In addition, there are various youth elite teams. The following table shows the number of indoor participants and scheduled gym hours.

Table 2 - Indoor Soccer Participants and Gymnasium Use, by League, Yellowknife, 2001/02

League/team	Number of participants 2001/02	Current Hours of gym use per week
Minor Soccer	560	69
Co-ed Adult	25	3
Youth elite	69	25.5
Total	654	97.5

Source: Participant figures provided by the Aurora Minor Soccer League and interviewees. Gym use data from gym use schedule provided by City of Yellowknife Community Services Department

2.1.1. Aurora Minor Soccer League

The Aurora Minor Soccer League runs a very large indoor league through the winter. The league is divided by the age of the players into 10 divisions. The divisions are: 18 and under males; 13-18 females; 13-14 males; 11-12 males; 11-12 females; 9-10 males; 9-10 females; 7-8 (mixed); 6 year olds (mixed); 5 year olds (mixed). Including the elite teams, more than 600 youth play indoor soccer in Yellowknife.

Minor soccer uses the gyms at St. Patrick’s High School, Weledeh, Sir John Franklin High School, Range Lake North, William McDonald, J. H. Sissons, and St. Josephs School. The schedules are designed so that each team has either 2 matches or 1 match and 1 practice each week.

Table 3 below lays out some of the details of the minor soccer indoor league.

Table 3 – Aurora Minor Soccer League Divisions, Teams, Start Times and Match Lengths

Division	No. of teams	Usual start times	Match length
7-8	9	Weekend afternoons	15min halves
9-10 M	6	Weekend afternoons	15min halves
9-10 F	6	Afternoons; 6:00 pm	15min halves
11-12 M	8	Afternoons; 6:00 pm	25min halves
11-12 F	8	Afternoons; 6:00 pm	25min halves
13-14 M	8	Weekend aft; 6 pm	25 min halves
13-18 F	6	6:00 pm	25 min halves
15-18 M	3	7:00 pm	25 min halves

Source: Aurora Minor Soccer League

Aurora Minor Soccer has a total of 69 hours per week of scheduled school gym time.

2.1.2 Co-ed Adult League

The co-ed adult league is non-competitive. There are approximately 25 players registered for the 2001/2002 indoor season. They are not organized into teams – they drop in and assign teams each night. The co-eds play their games in Weledeh School.

As recently as the 2000-2001 season there was an active men’s league with a number of fixed teams. The League dissolved when certain key organizers left Yellowknife in 2001.

The present co-ed adult league plays two evenings each week, from 9 to 10:30 p.m. Total scheduled gym time adds up to 3 hours per week.

2.1.3 Other Soccer

This heading takes in a variety of other soccer uses of gym space, including the Arctic Winter Games teams and various youth elite teams. Between them these various teams appear to have 25.5 hours a week of scheduled gym time per week. The predominant gym used is Weledeh, but they also use St. Patrick’s High School, Sir John Franklin High School, and Range Lake North School.

2.2. Player Demographics

Given the absence of organized adult leagues and the prevalence of pick-up games, we do not have data on the age and sex of adult participants in indoor soccer.

Detailed information on youth indoor soccer was obtained from the Aurora Minor Soccer League. The League has kept statistics since 1998, although it had been in operation for a number of years before that. There has been phenomenal growth in this sport in the last few years. The number of players has tripled since the inception of the League. The following table presents summary data on the number of players and teams. Note that these numbers exclude referees, coaches and other non-players.

Table 4 - Minor Indoor Soccer Players by Sex, Yellowknife, 1998-2002

	Boys	Girls	Total Players	Number of Teams
1998/99:	251	176	427	28
1999/2000	270	180	450	39
2000/01	309	197	506	44
2001/02	331	229	560	55

Source: Aurora Minor Soccer League

We can also examine participation rates, or the percentage of people in each age group playing indoor soccer. The evolution of participation rates can also give an indication of the demand that can be expected in the future, as these people age. There has been a constant increase in participation rates for all age groups for both boys and girls. The following table shows the approximate percentage of the population in each age-sex group who play indoor soccer in 2000-2001. These were calculated based on the population in each age group in Yellowknife in 2000.

Table 5 - Percentage Participation Rates in Indoor Minor Soccer, by Age Group and Sex, Yellowknife, 2000/2001

Age group	Both Sexes	Girls	Boys
5-9	9.2%	5.4%	13.5%
10-14	20%	17.7%	22%
Total 5-14	14.2%	10.8%	17.7%

Source: Calculated from data provided by the Aurora Minor Soccer League

and the NWT Bureau of Statistics for the Northwest Territories

It is clear from the above table that older pre-teens and young teens (10-14) have the highest participation rates in indoor soccer. The participation rate of teenagers (15-19) is likely to increase as those now under 15 get older. However, the growth in participation by this age group is severely limited by the availability of the large gyms they require.

3.0 Review of Facilities

3.1. Facility usage

Soccer is the single largest non-school user of school gym space in Yellowknife. Soccer takes up 44% of the scheduled time in all school space, compared with 23.5% for volleyball, the next largest user. This percentage includes not only gyms suitable for indoor soccer, but also all other gyms. However, not all available spaces are suitable for indoor soccer. The school gyms that can be used for indoor soccer are: Weledeh, St. Patrick’s High School, Sir John Franklin High School, Range Lake North School, William McDonald, J.H. Sissons and St. Joseph’s School.

When we examine only those school gyms in which it is feasible to play soccer, the sport takes up just over 50% of scheduled non-school use of suitable space as shown in the table below.

Table 6 - Scheduled School Gymnasium Use in Yellowknife by Sport or Activity, Gyms Suitable for Indoor Soccer, 2002

Activity	Hours per week	Percentage of available time
Speedskating	1.5	.8%
Floor Hockey	1.5	.8%
Guides/Scouts	3.5	1.8%
Tennis	4.0	2.1%
Other	4.5	2.3%
Judo	6.5	3.4%
Yoga/Meditation	8	4.2%
Badminton	8.5	4.4%
Dance	15.0	7.8%
Basketball	18.5	9.6%
Volleyball	23.5	12.2%
Soccer	97.5	50.6%
Total	192.5	100.0%

Source: Calculated from schedules provided by City of Yellowknife Community

Services Department. Note: Includes the following 7 gyms: Weledeh, St. Patrick’s

High School,Sir John Franklin, Range Lake North, William McDonald, St. Josephs,

J.H. Sissons

3.2. Facility availability

Could soccer expand its use of the school gyms to allow more youth and adult indoor soccer? The table below shows the total unscheduled hours available in the 7 gyms where it is feasible to play indoor soccer. Unscheduled time was calculated by adding up any blocks of at least one hour between 6pm and 9 pm on weeknights and between 10am and 9 pm on weekends.

Table 7 - Unallocated Weekly Gymnasium Time Suitable for Indoor Soccer, Weekdays and Weekends

School	Weekday hours	Weekend hours	Total Hours
Weledeh	0	0	0
St. Patrick High	2	0*	2
Sir John Franklin	0	1	1
Range Lake North	0	2	2
William McDonald	1	1	2
J.H. Sissons	4	16	20
St. Joseph’s	1	11	12
Total	8	31	39

Source: Calculated from schedules provided by City of Yellowknife Community Services Department

* at times, there is additional space at St. Patrick’s High School when school or special events are not scheduled.

Notable in the table above is that there is very little unscheduled time available in the three larger gyms, namely Weledeh, St. Patrick’s High School, and Sir John Franklin High School and in the one mid-size gym, Range Lake North. In effect there is no available time in the three large gyms most suitable for soccer as well as sports such as basketball, badminton and tennis. These larger spaces are absolutely necessary for the older divisions of minor soccer, for competitive adult play, and for youth elite teams.

It is not simply the raw number of unscheduled hours available that is important in determining how much or whether soccer can expand its use of the schools, however. Equally important is how those hours are distributed through the day and through the week. As can be seen above, most of the unscheduled time is available on weekends.

In the overall then, if soccer wishes to expand its programmes using existing gym space, it must do so only in the smaller gyms and largely on weekends. For adult and teenager players, the small gyms become the stumbling block, and weekend time for the older teenagers become an obstacle for scheduling due to part-time employment.

Keeping regular schedules is often difficult. Weekend times are even more problematic for regular league play. Gyms are often required on weekends for special events and tournaments. The Aurora Minor Soccer League has been unable to use its weekend Weledeh gym time for regular league play due to the number of cancellations. The League uses this time as back up and practice time.

The lack of available facilities is also a large impediment to holding tournaments. Tournaments require large blocks of time, usually in the larger gyms, over an entire weekend.

3.3. Safety concerns for each facility

Safety concerns in the facilities currently in use by soccer include:

· A number of schools have climbing walls or wall bars that constitute a potential hazard and that create wild bounces.

· Spectators sit on the stages in a number of gyms. This creates a hazard as balls often hit spectators.

· Bleachers are both a safety and quality of play issue in all gyms that have them, especially when they are in a partially pulled out position.

· Basketball nets in the down position are also a problem in all gyms as they interfere with high kicks. While this can be seen as largely a quality of play issue, it can also be a safety issue as with anything that creates wild and unpredictable bounces.

· Almost all gymnasiums have doors along the walls that form part of the playing area for soccer. These doors inevitably have projections (handles, crash bars, or simply metal jambs) that are a hazard during play.

· The stairs up to the stage create a hazard in some gyms

· The tracking of snow over playing areas by spectators can create a slipping hazard in gyms such as St. Joseph’s School, where access for spectators is difficult.

3.4. Other facility issues

The small size of many of the gym spaces was a recurring theme in the interviews with soccer users. Some coaches believe that JH Sissons and St. Josephs are too small for all except the 7-8 division, and the William McDonald gym is only of adequate size for the 9-10 and younger divisions. The lack of consistent soccer markings on the various gym floors is a quality of play issue raised frequently. Some gyms lack markings entirely while others have wildly inconsistent crease marks, for example.

Clean up of the gym facilities can become an issue for users. While in some cases the custodians uncomplainingly take care of any extra clean up of the gym, others resent the work required and complaints are made to the City. Another related issue is the removal of such things as benches by the first user of a gym in the early evening and the failure of the final user (who is unaware that they have been moved) to replace them. This has caused some friction with school administrators.

Although minor soccer coaches are technically only responsible for the conduct of their players, they also have to deal with the conduct of any other people (e.g. siblings, friends) that the players bring along to practices and games. This can also become a security issue.

4.0 Forecast Demand

At this point, we are unable to provide precise forecasts of the demand for usage for indoor soccer. Demand in Yellowknife is currently constrained by the availability of facilities, so we know that there is still room for growth, especially in adult leagues. It is clear that current

demand is not being met by existing facilities.

4.1. Demographic forecasts

The following table summarizes the results of the population projection exercise for boys and girls between 5 and 24 years of age and for adults between the ages of 25 and 44. These form the majority of soccer players. The number of boys and girls in the 3 age groupings of 5-9, 10-14, and 15-24 is expected to increase. The following table illustrates the expected growth in Yellowknife by age groups.

Table 8 – Yellowknife Population Forecast,

Ages 5-44, 1999-2019

Yellowknife	1999	2004	2009	2014	2019
5-9 years	1,562	1,602	1,557	1,563	1,677
10-14 years	1,355	1,613	1,655	1,664	1,719
15-24 years	2,687	2,864	3.260	3.527	3,558
25-44 years	7,116	6,698	6,418	6,840	7,308

Source: The NWT Bureau of Statistics for the Northwest Territories

Over the 10-year period from 1999-2019, the number of children between the ages of 5 and 9 is expected to increase by 7.4%, between the ages of 10 and 14 by 26.9% and between the ages of 15 and 24 by 32.4%.

The population of people between the ages of 25 and 44 is expected to decrease and then increase slightly. This is a result of the offspring of the baby boomers as well as the tendency for in-migration to Yellowknife to be composed of younger adults. The population of adults in this age group could reach 7,308 by 2019.

4.1.1 Implications of demographic projections for indoor soccer demand.

Even assuming that the percentage of youth who play soccer does not continue to increase, the demand for indoor soccer facilities is likely to expand. As Yellowknife’s population in these age groupings is expected to increase, it is expected that the overall demand for the sport will increase.

As the large number of today’s young soccer players reach adult age, the percentage of the adult population wanting to play soccer will almost certainly increase dramatically. An important point to remember is that for most 30-40 year old adults raised in Canada, soccer was not a significant part of their childhood. They may have played a small amount in gym class, but probably not as part of an organized league. The penetration of soccer has changed dramatically over the past several years. Most Canadian children have been exposed to soccer and participate actively in soccer programs. This points to an increased demand for adult indoor soccer, a demand that needs larger spaces. As is pointed out above, the larger gyms in Yellowknife are presently fully utilized. If no new facilities become available, an expansion of soccer can only be done at the expense of other sports, or by decreasing the time for youth soccer for example, so that adults may play.

4.2 Participation and Demand Experience of Other Communities

In general, the experience of other communities shows that Yellowknife has very high youth participation rates for indoor soccer — even without a dedicated facility. Other communities have reported that participation jumps after a facility is opened, and in particular adult indoor soccer participation rates respond tremendously to the building of a facility. Given the constraints faced by adult and older youth players in gyms, this is not surprising. All of the communities below quickly approached or reached full capacity of their centre shortly after opening it and nearly all wish to or are planning to expand as soon as possible.

Table 9 - Indoor Soccer in Western Canadian Communities

Community	1996 Population	Indoor Soccer facility	Indoor Soccer program
Fort McMurray/Wood Buffalo (Alta.)	36,124		Yes – limited
Grand Centre/Bonnyville (Alta.)	35,161		Yes
Grande Prairie (Alta.)	31,140	1 field opened Jan 2001	Yes
Lethbridge (Alta.)	63,053	Yes	Yes
Medicine Hat (Alta.)	56,570	Yes	Yes
Red Deer (Alta.)	60,075	Yes opened Jan 2001	Yes
St. Albert (Alta.)	46,890	Planning	Yes
Dawson Creek (B.C.)	11,125
Fort St. John (B.C.)	15,021		Yes
Williams Lake (B.C.)	38,552		Yes
Prince George (B.C.)	75,150	Under discussion	Adult
Whitehorse (Yukon)	19,157	In active planning	Yes
Estevan (Sask.)	12,656		No
Lloydminster (Sask. / Alta.)	18,953	Planning	Yes
Moose Jaw (Sask.)	34,829	Planning – fundraising started	Yes
North Battleford (Sask.)	17,987		Yes
Prince Albert (Sask.)	41,706	Yes	Yes
Swift Current (Sask.)	16,437	Under discussion	Yes
Carlton Trail/Humboldt/Lanigan (Sask.)	~10,000	Under discussion	Yes – no outdoor
Yorkton (Sask.)	17,713	Under discussion	Yes

Source: Population figures from Statistics Canada, 1996 Census. Information on soccer obtained from Provincial

and local soccer associations.

4.2.1 Grande Prairie, Alberta

Grande Prairie’s one field facility is a separate building owned by the city but administered by soccer associations. Construction cost was $950,000. A number of companies donated equipment. The centre was full to capacity in the first year.

In 2000-01 there were 291 women playing, and one team was turned away. The men had 180 players. More than 700 youth played last year. The soccer association would like to expand this immediately to 1,000 but cannot because of lack of space. There are 1,600 players in outdoor soccer. Another sign of success is that Grande Prairie — despite its small population — won five provincial soccer titles in 2001.

4.2.2 Lethbridge, Alberta

The Lethbridge Soccer Centre is a two-field facility that opened in December 1997. It was built and is owned by the municipality but is operated entirely by the soccer association. The centre has operated at a profit from the first season on, generating revenue both through soccer, its restaurant and bar, and renting out the facility to a wide variety of users.

The first indoor season saw the registration of 1,200 youth to play in the centre. In addition there were 26 adult teams playing in 4 leagues.

4.2.3 Medicine Hat, Alberta

The Medicine Hat Soccer Association plays indoor soccer in a one-field facility built as part of a larger community centre and opened in 1998. The number of youth playing indoor soccer jumped from approximately 200 in 1997/98 to 400 in 1998/99 and increased to 475 for the 2000/01 season. The youth teams play 2 to 3 games per week.

On the adult side, the opening of the facility sparked an extraordinary boom in demand. There was no organised adult indoor soccer in the community prior to 1998. There are now approximately 250 adults registered and playing 1 to 2 games per week in the facility. The facility is fully booked throughout the winter season.

4.2.4 Red Deer, Alberta

Red Deer opened a two-field soccer facility as part of a larger community multiplex in January 2001. Prior to the opening, the youth indoor soccer program had approximately 380 youth registered to play in the local gyms. There was also an active men’s indoor soccer program playing in a space adapted to soccer in a local college. The facility is now just beginning its first full indoor soccer season, and they have just over 500 youth registered to play. The men’s league consists of 16 teams, largely unchanged from previous years. They had anticipated more growth than that in both youth and men’s soccer. Other adult leagues are also expected to begin play soon. One factor that may have resulted in lower than expected demand is the substantial registration fees charged.

4.2.5 Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

The Prince Albert Soccer Association opened a one-field indoor soccer facility in a converted warehouse in 1995. Indoor soccer was played prior to the opening of the facility but the program was relatively small — 200 to 300 youth playing in the school gyms and no adult indoor soccer at all. By the 2000/2001-winter season, 650 youth were registered to play. The number of registered youth playing has now risen to 700 for the current season. The soccer association has made it a priority not to turn away any youth who wish to play. Because of the numbers now registered, regular league play has had to be dropped from 3 games every 2 weeks from October to March to one game per week.

The facility is also used on a regular basis by approximately 6 adult teams who are self-organised rather than part of an association program. The adults are confined to the late-night time slots as the association gives priority to its youth program. The facility is fully booked every weekday evening from 5:30 till 11:30pm and all day and evening on weekends.

4.2.6 St Albert, Alberta

St. Albert does not have its own indoor soccer facility, but uses facilities in nearby Edmonton. Its indoor program has grown substantially, from 800 youth in 1999 to 1,100 in 2000. There are currently about 1,500 indoor soccer players in St. Albert: 400 adults and 1,100 youth. This represents a considerable increase over 1999 when there were 1,200 players. The following table presents the number of players and participation rates for Indoor and Outdoor Soccer in St. Albert in the 1999-2000 season.

Table 10 - Indoor and Outdoor Soccer Participation, St. Albert, Alberta, 1999-2000

	Youth (6-19)		Adult (20-54)
	Number of players	Participation Rate	Number of players	Participation Rate
Indoor soccer
2000	1,100	8.9%	400	1.6%
1999	800	6.5%	300	1.2%
Outdoor Soccer
2000	2,850	23.1%	720	2.8%
1999	2,600	21.8%	480	1.9%

Given St. Albert’s larger population (46,890 in 1996), it is not surprising that it has more players. When we divide the number of players by the relevant population, St. Albert has youth indoor soccer participation rates lower than Yellowknife. However, it has much higher adult participation rates.

The St. Albert Soccer Association has about 140 hours a week of indoor soccer, of which 40 hours are in local gyms and about 100 hours are in Edmonton area soccer centres. The SASA still has no firm plan to build an indoor centre, but is contemplating a 3 or 4-field facility.

5.0 Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1. Summary and Conclusions

The popularity of soccer and indoor soccer in particular has increased phenomenally in the last decade. Soccer is now the most popular team sport in the Northwest Territories gauged by the number of participants. That popularity is likely to increase, both because of demographic growth in the relevant age-sex groups and as a result of the aging of current young soccer players. An important point to remember is that for most 30-40 year old adults raised in Canada, soccer was not a significant part of their childhood. They may have played a small amount in gym class, but probably not as part of an organized league. The penetration of soccer has changed dramatically over the past several years. Most Canadian children have been exposed to soccer and participate actively in soccer programs.

The phenomenal growth of minor indoor soccer in the last few years has resulted in taking up almost all available suitable school gym space. And even that is not enough. The development of adult leagues has been severely constrained by the unavailability of suitably large gym space.

The popularity of indoor soccer has also put serious constraints on the growth of other sports that require large gymnasiums, such as basketball, volleyball, and badminton.

In its current configuration, indoor soccer uses just under 100 hours a week of gymnasium time. With the advent of adult leagues, this could easily go to 150 hours. Most of the elementary schools gyms are too small or otherwise inappropriate for indoor soccer, especially for older children and adults. All the larger high school gyms in Yellowknife are fully booked and there is no room for expansion. A number of gyms have safety hazards for soccer players.

Based only on current demand, even without any consideration for future growth, additional facilities for indoor soccer are clearly required.

It appears that just with the current demand, a single field indoor soccer facility would not be sufficient. One indoor soccer field would provide about 50 hours of “prime” playing time per week. This includes 5 hours per day on weekdays (from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm) and 12 hours per day on weekends (10:00 am to 10:00 pm). This is based on the assumption that all games are played full field. The youngest divisions of minor soccer might be expected to play half field games. It should be noted that an indoor soccer facility might allow larger teams to play, but this would only slightly reduce the gym time required, given the number of age divisions. Fifty hours per week is half of the current gym utilization by soccer. Two fields would be sufficient to meet current use, but would not allow for growth. Growth could be accommodated through possibly using the freed-up gymnasium time.

An indoor soccer facility in Yellowknife could be used for regional and territorial tournaments such as Super Soccer. This would allow smaller northern communities the opportunity to play in an indoor facility without having to absorb significant travel expenses to southern provinces and would enable northern teams an opportunity to be more competitive when attending southern tournaments.

Although it is anticipated that soccer would fill the centre nearly entirely for weekday evenings and all day and evenings on weekends during the indoor season (roughly from October to March), this does not preclude the use of the facility by others. Schools could be a major user of the large indoor space during the day. The sports that can be played on indoor soccer pitches include floor hockey, tennis, lacrosse and touch football. Other communities have used their centres for special events such as trade fairs to generate revenue. The inclusion of a running track would allow use by everyone from high performance athletes in training to senior citizens engaged in indoor walking programs.

5.2. Recommendations

1. Data should be kept on the demographics of adult soccer participants.

2. Soccer associations should keep data on the size of waiting lists and the number of applicants.

3. The Aurora Minor Soccer League in conjunction with the City of Yellowknife, the Government of the NWT and Sport North should proceed with a feasibility study that would examine and recommend options for an indoor soccer facility.

4. Forecasts of demand based on the experience of other communities should be developed for the feasibility study. This would entail obtaining better information on participation rates in similarly sized communities in western Canada.

5. The feasibility study should consider options for a one-field, a two-field and a three-field facility, and the impact of each option on gym utilization and on other sports.

6. The feasibility study should examine the effect of costs on the popularity of the sport and estimate the effect of different fee regimes on participation. This might be done through a survey of the motives of soccer players and/or their parents as well as the examination of fee structures in other similar-size communities with indoor soccer facilities.

7. The feasibility study should review and evaluate different location options for a soccer facility. The options to be considered should include

· a stand-alone facility, either new or a renovation of an existing structure;

· integrating the soccer facility with the arena complex;

· attaching the facility to an existing school.

8. The feasibility study should examine operating costs under the different location options as well as facility management options. The management options to be evaluated could include: management by the City of Yellowknife, by a GNWT Department, or by a soccer association.

9. The feasibility study should examine what would be required to make the facility self-sufficient, as soccer facilities are self-sufficient in a number of other communities.

6.0 Appendix: List of contacts

Aurora Minor Soccer League - Yellowknife

Sandra Aitken President

Kelly Moore Registrar & coach

Vivian Hansen Coach

Mike Doyle Coach

Mark Aitken Coach

Yellowknife Adult Soccer

Mike Doyle Co-ordinator – Adult League

Yellowknife Elite Teams

Vivian Hansen Manager – Arctic Winter Games U14 girls; Manager – U21 Canada Games girls

Whitehorse Minor Soccer

Doug Hitch Director

Grande Prairie

Michelle Summers Grande Prairie Soccer Association

City of Yellowknife Contacts

Brian Kelln City of Yellowknife Community Services Department

Alecia Callahan City of Yellowknife Community Services Department