Councillor Michael Thompson pushes for strategy outlining future of Aurora sports

YorkRegion.com
Feb. 20, 2015
Teresa Latchford

Aurora needs a plan when it comes to sports.

That’s the message Aurora Councillor Michael Thompson had for those attending the Sport Aurora annual general meeting earlier this week. Sporting facilities, sport tourism and physical activity for all Aurora residents have been hot topics in town for a long time and Thompson said it is the right moment to forge ahead.

“We need a strategic document to help us decide what our vision for sport is in Aurora and how we are going to get there,” Thompson added.

Now is the perfect time to pursue such a plan, as the town has already decided to overhaul the Aurora parks and recreation master plan and a sport plan could be rolled into the project.

Not only has the town proclaimed 2015 the Year of Sport in Aurora, but it has also been identified as a potential Canadian Sport for Life Community, two more good reasons to get a plan hashed out and implemented, Thompson said.

Ideally, Thompson envisions a document that will act like a playbook, spelling out the sporting needs of the town, programing, facilities and laying out specific actions to help keep everyone on the same page, as sport initiatives become reality.

While he wants to see the plan developed specifically for Aurora’s situation and vision, Thompson also pointed out there isn’t a need to reinvent the wheel completely.

Mississauga developed and implemented a sport plan in 2013. The 33-page document clearly spells out the purpose of the plan, the current state of sport in the city, existing strengths, opportunities and challenges, as well as seven strategic goals to reach.

These seven goals fall under the headings sport leadership, sport for all, sport for life, celebration and promotion of sport, building capacity of our sport system, sport tourism and sport infrastructure.

Mississauga’s plan also clearly laid out specific targets and what the next steps could be to further advance the culture of sport.

Thompson’s proposal to have town staff come up with a sport plan for Aurora was supported by fellow members of council and final approval will be considered at the next council meeting.

If approved, he expects the report to come back to be discussed fairly quickly and hopes to see full implementation of an approved plan in 2015.