The Toronto Rock Athletic Centre (TRAC) in Oakville is set to re-open its doors to resume its Rock Elite Development League. One of the facility’s indoor pads will look much different this year as the facility received over 9100 lbs. of 100% nylon turf that has been laid down, showing that TRAC is one of the premier lacrosse-first facilities in Canada.
When TRAC opened in 2012, the central 200ft x 85ft pad was made of a turf playing surface. The secondary area, however, was a concrete floor which allowed many other sports to be played on that pad. With burgeoning TRAC Athletics programming and more offerings that will be coming in the future, it was time to add a second turf pad to their state-of-the-art facility.
"Our TRAC Athletics menu is expanding, and we needed a second turf to give all the players the same thrill of playing on the identical surface the pros play on," said TRAC owner Jamie Dawick. "I think all of our TRAC Athletics players will really embrace the new playing surface."
The new upgrades to the facility will do more than just help lacrosse players. One of TRAC’s biggest tenants other than the Toronto Rock is women’s soccer. This upgrade will be beneficial to the women’s soccer program also because now they will have an indoor facility to play on along with outdoor pads.
TRAC owner Dawick also believes this upgrade will be a huge help to all high-level lacrosse players around the GTA. He said, "Our focus is to provide kids with an opportunity to train and practice and play."
"We operate from September to March and then we turn the kids back to their local centres in order for them to prepare for the OLA (Ontario Lacrosse Association) season. We want to give players whose main focus is lacrosse to learn from the best, train from the best and do it in what we believe is the best facility in the country."
Asked when the facility will open up for summer camps, Dawick said, “We’re ready to go the moment we get government approval. We’re ready for anything they might throw at us."
"Obviously, we would love to be out there," he continues. "We’ve got some evaluations going on and plans for the summer and we would love to do some more events but it’s all going to be dictated by government regulations. The one beauty about our facility that it is a private facility and we don’t have to answer to anyone outside of the government regulations."
If and when things do get back to normal, the TRAC facility will be offering summer camps and introductory days for those who have never played before along with camps for higher-level elite talent. The introductory days are free and are for parents to bring their young kids out and introduce them to the game and put a stick in their child’s hand.
