Grande Prairie Regional College has officially opened its High Performance Training Centre. 1,700 square feet of space was renovated over the summer, with a $150,000 investment from the college and community donors.
The space is meant to give local athletes what they need to get to the next level of their sport. Touring the centre on opening day October 10th, midfielder on the Wolves Women’s Soccer team Jess Winterford said it will be huge for her training.
“It’s awesome that GPRC has created this space for us to train and improve our skills to better ourselves as a player and as a team. I can’t wait to get in here and start using all the new equipment.”
As part of the renovations, old equipment and flooring was removed, drop-resistant flooring was installed, and the walls were repainted. The facility now has Olympic lifting stations, squat racks, power-lifting stations and other tools to help with strength conditioning.
Physical Education and Kinesiology department chair Ron Thomson heads up the centre. He says that while the centre is still in its infancy, the progress is exciting.
“Our intent is to take some time and continue to learn about the facility with our Wolves Athletes. The long-term plan is to grow this into a Regional High Performance Training Centre that will meet the needs of the emerging athletes and high performance athletes in our region.”