Barrhead area residents might soon have a new place to play volleyball — especially if Calvin Schultz has anything to say about it.
On Tuesday, May 24, councillors voted unanimously during their regular meeting to ask administration to investigate the possibility of creating a beach volleyball court in Cecile Martin Park after hearing from a delegation headed by Schultz. The other members of the delegation included Sherri Rose Ratledge and Shawn Elgert.
Schultz said originally the group was looking to replace the old volleyball court with a lower cost grass court solution, but after further investigation it was decided a sand court suitable for beach volleyball would be a better solution.
“The original court, which is now grassed over, is facing east-west which causes a glare situation in the daytime hours, which is the time most people play volleyball,” he said, adding a north-south orientation would be better.
As for the reason why the group is proposing sand instead of grass, Schultz said the main reason is that they believe it is a better surface.
“People have a lot more injuries on grass - cuts, abrasions, scratches - when they are sliding or diving for a shot,” he said, adding often the result is a lot of grass courts are not used.
Coun. Roy Ulmer asked if there were any other problems with the current grass court at Cecile Martin Park.
“Was it a lack of maintenance or was the base on the old court a problem?” he asked.
Schultz said as a relative newcomer to volleyball he really didn’t have a chance to see what the old court looked like.
“But I have talked to a lot of people who were familiar with the court and they said most people did not use the court because of the type of sand,” Schultz said, adding the old court didn’t have a border. “So if you are diving and all of a sudden you are hitting dirt, there was a good chance of getting hurt and because it had the wrong type of sand, people were chewing up their skin on their feet and knees and coming up with a lot of injuries that way.”
Elgert then gave a short explanation on the types of sand with the help of samples the group brought.
He said there are a number of suitable types of sand, adding they have certain characteristics in common.
“It needs to not compact too much and have some give so when a person dives, they have the ability to slide,” he said, adding the other consideration is the coarseness of the sand. Elgert noted that some sand can have traces of gravel in it, which is a safety issue for volleyball players.
Elgert said as a general rule the less coarse the sand is, the higher the cost. During their research the group found the cost of gravel ranged from $25 to $35 a tonne.
Ulmer asked the group if they had anyone specific in mind to do the work, i.e. if it would be volunteers or if they hoped to have the town build the court.
Schultz said because of liability issues they felt it would be better if the town did the work, but added the group does have a number of volunteers who are willing to do much of the work.
Ratledge said she has a lot of the heavy equipment needed and is willing to donate the work.
Coun. Ty Assaf asked what the cost of the project would be.
Schultz said based on their estimates it would be in the neighbourhood of $10,000 for one court. Elgert suggested one way for the town to recoup some of the revenue is to build an additional court, in an effort to attract or hold tournaments.
Coun. Ryan Warehime said it is one thing to build the court, but council needed to consider the potential maintenance costs.
“Is this something you are asking the town to maintain or is this something your group is willing to take on?” he asked.
Schultz said he has had preliminary talks with the parks and recreation department and that they told him they would be willing to rototiller the court a couple of times a season, adding the group also has volunteers willing to do the same.
“We also want to put up some signs asking players to rake the court after playing a game, similar to that of a golf course,” he said, adding this would help keep the court in good condition.
Coun. Shelly Oswald said another issue the group would have to consider is Cecile Martin Park is a multi-use facility that attracts a wide variety of users and that might affect its maintenance.
“Players may go to use the court and find that some kids have made sandcastles in it or that their rake has gone missing,” she said.
Coun Don Smith and Ty Assaf asked the group what the timeline of the project would be as the project wasn’t included in the 2016 budget.
Schultz said because of the limited outdoor volleyball season if the court were going to be completed this year, work would have to start soon.
“Ten thousand dollars is a substantial amount of money, but we move money around all the time and if we are able to shuffle some things around I think this is a worthwhile project for administration and our recreation department to look at,” Smith said.
