Cost barriers persist for Calgary sports groups as school gym rentals set to resume post-strike

After ratifying new deals last week, custodial and maintenance workers at Calgary's public school boards are officially back on the job and facility rentals are slated to resume on April 1.

It marks more than a month of disruptions for groups who rent the facilities and say they would explore other locations to avoid future disruptions but cost is a barrier.

In northwest Calgary, the Dynamic Karate Association of Alberta moved all its classes online during the strike. Its classes are typically held at two Calgary Board of Education (CBE) schools on weekday evenings.

Owner and chief instructor Darren Humphries said he worries the disruption could lead to long-term impacts to the association, as it's still rebuilding its membership from the pandemic.

"When you have disruptions to your program, they start doing other stuff and then they stop attending…. We could lose more of our membership," said Humphries.

Rentals were cancelled on Feb. 22, two and a half weeks before a guest instructor flew in from Austria to train students. Humphries said he scrambled to find a new, more costly location that day — and had to pay out of pocket.

"Finding facility space in the city — it's next to impossible. The prices are out of reach for a lot of people that run community programs," he said.

It's why he said he plans to continue working with the CBE to continue running the program there.

"Unless I win the lottery, there's not many other options available."

Jens Lipper, president of the Calgary Rockies Football Club, agrees that cost is a barrier.

"There's just simply no direct option that you have…. Without an option to even look elsewhere, you're kind of stuck," said Lipper.

Many players of the minor soccer club spent the last few weeks of their indoor season crammed into non-school spaces with other teams. Lipper had to squeeze more kids into spaces or cancel practices altogether during the strike, he said.

"Space there becomes tighter, which is a challenge in general when you deal with the older players because they need more space for their bodies. They also need it because their passes are harder, longer and more effective in a bigger space."

He said it was manageable, especially now that the weather is turning and kids will start playing outdoors soon, but it wasn't ideal.

"We're back to the same topic in all of this, and this is the lack of facilities that are sport-specific in Calgary. That's where it really gets to — there is no more buffer anywhere so that when an association like CUPE goes on strike, minor sports are not affected."

According to an email sent by the City of Calgary to facility renters, refunds will be issued for cancellations between Feb. 22 and March 31.

A spokesperson with the city says users whose rentals will resume on April 1 will have the refunded amount applied to their future rentals.