Construction Begins On Sports Training & Rehabilitation Facility

Burnaby To Be Home of Canada’s Premier High Performance Training Centre

May 14, 2008: Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan and sports celebrities Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison and Mattias Ohlund were on hand today to assist in pouring the first concrete slab to celebrate the commencement of construction for the MultiSport Centre of Excellence.
At a media conference held at the future site of the Centre, at the north west corner of the Sprott Street and Kensington Avenue intersection, founders of the MultiSport Centre of Excellence, Mayor Corrigan and the sports personalities immortalized their participation by adding their handprints to the first concrete slab poured for the project.

Scheduled for completion in the summer of 2009, the MultiSport Centre of Excellence will provide training, diagnostic and rehabilitation services relevant to athletes of all ages and abilities who participate and compete in all types of sports, fitness and recreational pursuits.
The Centre will include leading edge diagnostic technologies and rehabilitation equipment, a strength and conditioning centre, a purpose-built gymnasium with sport specific training areas, a FIFA standard turf soccer field, and a 120-bed athletes village for athletes from across the nation and around the world.

Back in 2003, former competitive athlete Scott Cousens was looking into the possibility of building a high performance soccer training facility. Not only would this serve as a venue for his young sons to develop their skills, but also it would enable Mr. Cousens, a successful venture capitalist, to give back to his community. Scott Cousens enlisted the help of Loyal Makaroff, a business consultant and local entrepreneur. They soon discovered that athletes, coaches, trainers, and sport organizations at every level said the same thing: that British Columbia has
long needed a major training, performance enhancement and sports rehabilitation facility.

Through much research and many discussions it emerged that the centrally located and very sports-oriented City of Burnaby was the ideal location for such a centre, building on that city’s history of athletic success and complementing existing sports venues offered by the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex East and West. As an athlete whose own career had been sidelined by injuries,Mr. Cousens realized that access to the proper facilities and personnel might have enabled him to continue his sports career. What a great gift it would be to the community to
enable another generation of athletes to have such a valuable resource.

Offering dynamic, high-end professional services and state-of-the-art strength and conditioning equipment for both winter and summer sports, the Centre will bring together under one roof a collaborative team of world-class, high performance sport science specialists, sport medicine professionals, coaches and team trainers. Recognizing that injury prevention, primary care, rehabilitation and therapy are all inter-connected, the MultiSport Centre of Excellence will be a
fully integrated facility. Professionals will be able to share information and education, refer athletes to other professionals working under the same guiding philosophy, and ultimately develop a unique brand of education and programs.

All aspects of the Centre will be integrated with grass roots community development of sport, encouraging healthy lifestyles and promoting physical activity as a fundamental element of health and well-being. Reaching out to the community through educational programs and collaboration with local school activities, the Centre will nurture and support athletes at every level.

The MultiSport Centre of Excellence project began with the purchase and rezoning of an approximate five-acre parcel of land in Burnaby, located at the northwest corner of the Sprott Street and Kensington Avenue intersection. The land was purchased in March of 2008 from the City of Burnaby, at prevailing market values, following a public hearing and final adoption of the rezoning bylaw. Twelve months of turning a vision into a reality will see the doors open in the summer of 2009.

“We are very excited about the plans for the MultiSport Centre of Excellence,” said Mr. Cousens. “We have done our homework and believe that this project is very viable and will provide our community with the sports training facility that we have needed for many years. The MultiSport Centre of Excellence will create an unparalleled legacy for the advancement of sport in Canada and provide significant assistance to Canada’s athletes far beyond the 2010 Olympics.”

“We look forward to bringing our vision to the sports community and the wider public and enlisting their enthusiastic support as this project moves ahead.”